Bringing bright ideas into dark spaces

Brilliance Ignited

Brilliance Labs is a Christian nonprofit innovation lab based in Portland, Oregon.

Where faith, technology, and entrepreneurship meet.

Portland Grants · 2022 to Spring 2026

Five Years of
Portland Micro-Grants

Every round and every recipient since our first round in 2022.

$263,710Awarded
53Grants
42Organizations
9Rounds
Read the Five-Year Report →

Our Mission

We equip Christian leaders to discover and deploy upstream solutions to hard and neglected problems.

Our lab is where it all comes together. Research surfaces a hard problem. Consulting and grants put solutions into practice. Media spreads what worked. The network brings the next problem to our door, and the cycle turns again.

As freedom technology like Bitcoin and open-source AI reshapes how money and information move, we’re building the trusted bridge that carries the best of it to the global Church, especially where it’s needed most and where traditional systems fall short.

Our aim is simple: to be the people Christian leaders turn to when the problem is hard, neglected, and upstream, and the place the freedom-tech world turns to when they want their tools to serve the vulnerable and advance the gospel. We scale upstream work for the sake of what flows down: strong families, flourishing communities, thriving churches, and the good news of Jesus carried from our own backyard in Portland, Oregon, to the ends of the earth.

Bringing bright ideas into dark spaces. We call that Brilliance — Ignited.

In the Field

Design Labs in El Salvador, Kenya & India

In 2023, a $50,000 innovation grant from Missio Nexus asked us one question: how might Bitcoin be used to advance the Great Commission? We answered it in the room with missionaries, technologists, and national leaders.

Missions practitioners and technologists seated in a circle during the Bitcoin for Missions design lab in El Zonte, El Salvador
El Zonte, El Salvador24 participants in a five-day design sprint at Bitcoin Beach
Participants sketching prototypes around a table at the Bitcoin for Missions design lab in Naivasha, Kenya
Naivasha, Kenya21 participants, with practitioners from Nigeria, Sudan, and the U.S.
Ministry leaders reviewing sticky-note boards on a window during the Bitcoin for Missions design lab in India
India25 leaders from more than a dozen organizations
Missions finance leaders listening to a speaker at the Bitcoin for Ministry Summit in Arlington, Texas
Arlington, TexasOur first Bitcoin for Ministry Summit, April 2026

Our
Initiatives

What We're Building

Next · Tampa Bay · February 17–18, 2027

Hopeful 2027 A hope and a future

Two days of hands-on AI workshops for leaders of churches, ministries, nonprofits and companies. Short talks, then you build, with coaches at your table. Saving a seat is free, and nothing is charged today.

With Ligonier, Pioneers, Humble Beast, ViaForge and Bitcoin Bay Foundation.

Four tracks at Hopeful 2027: Hopeful, new to AI; Power user, already building; Founder, starting something; Leader, deciding for an organization.
Announcement · Partner Event

Announcing Hopeful 2027

Two days of hands-on AI workshops for leaders of churches, ministries, nonprofits and companies, February 17–18, 2027 in Tampa Bay, Florida. Saving a seat is free.

Read the Announcement →
Now Open · Portland Grants

Fall 2026 Micro-Grant Round

Our tenth round is open to nonprofits, churches, and grassroots projects across the Portland metro area. Applications close Friday, October 23, 2026.

Apply by Oct 23 →
Research

A Christ-Centered Framework for Using AI

Our living guide to using AI faithfully in ministry. It keeps prayer, discernment, community, and the people God made at the center of the work.

Read the Framework →

Support the Work

Give 
to Brilliance 
Labs

Our endowment and consulting revenue cover part of the work. Gifts from people like you pay for the rest: grants, design labs overseas, research, and training for ministry leaders. Tell us which initiative you care about most and we’ll honor that whenever we can.

Choose How to Give →

Card · Bank Transfer · Check · Stock · DAF · Bitcoin