Trinity Moravian Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., has erased nearly $11 million in medical debt over multiple campaigns in partnership with RIP Medical Debt. The church's most recent winter drive, announced in February 2025, converted $25,000 in donations into forgiveness of more than $2 million in outstanding medical balances.

The strategy hinges on how medical debt trades on the secondary market. RIP Medical Debt buys portfolios of unpaid medical bills from collectors at steep discounts — often pennies on the dollar — because collection rates on low-income accounts are poor. The church's donations, purchased at that discount, reach debtors as full debt cancellation with no tax liability or conditions attached. RIP limits eligibility to people earning under four times the federal poverty line or carrying medical debt equal to 5 percent or more of their annual income, targeting those least equipped to negotiate with creditors.

Rev. John Jackman has led the effort under the Debt Jubilee Project banner. The first campaign retired $1.3 million in debt for over 1,000 households. The second round, covered by CNN in April 2023, cleared $3.3 million for 3,355 local families. The Moravian Church extended the model nationally through the Debt Jubilee Project for the Healing of the World, which has raised more than $100,000 across affiliated congregations. The denomination's total forgiven debt across all initiatives now stands at nearly $11 million.

That $25,000-to-$2-million ratio reflects an roughly 80-to-1 leverage on donated dollars — a figure that substantially outperforms most conventional charitable giving in direct financial impact. The mechanics matter. Medical debt affects credit scores under federal consumer credit rules, and a forgiven account removes a derogatory mark that constrains borrowing for cars, housing, and small business formation. For households receiving cancellation notices, the relief is immediate and credit-reportable. The downstream effects on household balance sheets are tangible, even if they are harder to measure than the headline forgiven amount.

What makes this model potentially scalable is that RIP Medical Debt's partnership requires no proprietary technology or infrastructure. Any congregation or civic organization with fundraising capacity can execute the same transaction. The Moravian Church's national expansion is evidence the playbook can travel beyond one community. The limiting factor is not the structure itself; it is the supply of donated dollars available to purchase distressed medical debt on the secondary market.

Trinity Moravian Church is located at 220 East Sprague Street in Winston-Salem. Rev. Jackman can be reached at 336-724-5541.