Who is Unto?

At Unto® we help you express the kindness of Jesus to people living in the toughest places on earth by relieving suffering, restoring dignity, and revealing hope.

As the humanitarian ministry of Cru®, we partner with Cru ministries to accomplish our mission through three programs: Food and Agriculture, Clean Water, and Critical Aid.

For nearly 30 years, Unto has leveraged strategic global partnerships and the service of dedicated volunteers to relieve suffering through humanitarian aid in more than 75 countries. Unto serves people around the world as part of Cru’s diverse, 190-country network.

Unto is the Humanitarian Ministry of Cru

PARTNERSHIPS MAKE HUMANITARIAN KINDNESS POSSIBLE

Partnerships form the heart of humanitarian work at Unto. The process begins with our field partners who create a strategy for relieving suffering and increasing the effectiveness of their service to people in their communities. We respond by involving others who can help provide the resources they need to better serve the people around them.

By engaging with Unto, generous individuals and organizations provide necessary funds and material resources that help people around the world.

Volunteers spend valuable time, and staff members work tirelessly to relieve suffering, restore dignity, and reveal hope.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:16

OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CRU

Cru serves with organizations like Unto, the humanitarian ministry of Cru, to build relationships and share the eternal hope of Jesus with people throughout the United States and in virtually every major country on earth.

The humanitarian programs at Unto are crucial to the strategy of equipping Cru partners as they seek to express the kindness of Jesus in tangible ways to people they serve.

For nearly 30 years, Unto has leveraged strategic global partnerships and the service of dedicated volunteers to relieve suffering in more than 75 countries to express the Great Commandment and advance the Great Commission through humanitarian kindness.

By enhancing the ministry of international Cru partners with humanitarian assistance and coaching, Unto helps provide them with access to people groups who might otherwise be unreachable. We also help our partners build credibility in the eyes of governments and authorities. In many cases humanitarian aid is the main reason ministry is allowed to continue.

Prior to 2020, Unto was called Global Aid Network® (GAiN®) in the United States. The ministry continues to distribute humanitarian aid internationally using the Global Aid Network moniker.

People find eternal hope in countries like Zambia when their physical and spiritual needs are met. Lives are transformed when people give, volunteers pack aid, and aid is shipped to the toughest places on earth.

History of Unto

When the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1991 led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, thousands of men, women, and children found themselves caught in the wake of economic hardship. In response, Operation Carelift was begun to address the physical needs of these impoverished people while sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. By 2003, Operation Carelift had mobilized thousands of Christians and moved countless tons of humanitarian aid to the former Soviet Union and beyond. To advance this expanding ministry, Global Aid Network® (GAiN®) was formed in 2003 as a separate agency.

In February 2020 GAiN in the United States changed its name to Unto® in order to more clearly convey our pursuit to serve people in the toughest places on earth by relieving suffering, restoring dignity, and revealing the hope of Jesus. Although we have been living out this mission for more than 25 years with many Cru ministries, God is increasing our missional momentum so we can do this work even better.

By becoming Unto we can be even more responsive to physical and spiritual needs around the world. We can more clearly convey our passion for the pursuit of sharing the eternal hope of Jesus without putting our partners and their ministries at risk. With programs focused on Food and Agriculture, Clean Water, and Critical Aid, we can help even more people like you give tangible expressions of hope to people in need.

The purpose of the name change is so the ministry can be more missionally effective and can better communicate the gospel.

  • Primarily the change took place for the sake of clarity.
  • In digital communication we could not clearly state our connection to Cru® and our work advancing the gospel. Some international partners found our association with Cru to be an obstacle for them — as they are dependent on governmental funding or they were concerned about risking their non-profit status.
  • The mission did not change — just the name. Same mission. More effective.

We continue to express the kindness of Jesus in the toughest places on earth by relieving suffering, restoring dignity, and revealing hope. We will continue to do this by providing humanitarian assistance and coaching through our three programs: Food and Agriculture, Clean Water, and Critical Aid.

Yes, Unto is still a Cru ministry. This new name and branding allows us to more clearly connect our humanitarian work to Cru’s ministry efforts.

In 2018 the GAiN leadership team approved a recommendation from Cru leadership to begin the process of evaluating our name. In 2019 GAiN leadership and the Board of Directors of GAiN and Cru approved the new name, selected through proven organizational naming processes.

GAiN leadership, Cru’s Director of Communications, and a select team of GAiN marketing team members were involved throughout the process. They worked closely with outside survey and branding agencies. A smaller GAiN leadership team signed off on all decisions. At key points in the process we invited input from all GAiN staff members.

All GAiN staff members were given the opportunity to suggest three new names and to explain the idea behind their choices. They provided a portion of the 700 name suggestions. Staff members were also invited to provide input about the most important characteristics of our brand regardless of name.

Our primary and ultimate dependence is on the Lord. We enlisted the help of like-minded consultants who possess expertise in the complexities of brand survey methods and proven naming processes. Consultants facilitated an engaging process of helping us define what we best offer our ministry partners and the people we serve. The final choice of Unto testifies to both their wisdom and their humility.

Unto is not an acronym. Like Google, Starbucks and other abstract names, we expect to fill the name Unto with meaning as it embodies all that we are as we express the kindness of Jesus in the toughest places on earth.

An arrow indicates motion — forward momentum toward the toughest places on earth. The arrow’s point represents the point of contact our field partners have with people who need to know the eternal hope of Jesus. We work in the shadow, providing our field partners with coaching and resources for personal, pivotal relationships. At the intersection of two color blocks, the point additionally represents the intersection of lifesaving aid and ministry. The color blocks correspond to our three programs — blue for Clean Water, green for Food and Agriculture, and tan for Critical Aid.

Lowercase lettering was chosen in the logo mark because it is friendly and approachable and doesn’t appear to be an acronym. The font weight does not “shout,” yet it is heavy enough to indicate strength rather than weakness. When used in printed text, Unto will be capitalized like any other proper name.