diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a79fa6467..5e02a5f75 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ Syntax highlighting available for [Atom](https://atom.io/) by installing the [la
     - [Comments](#comments)
     - [Whitespace](#whitespace)
     - [Helpers](#helpers)
+      [Global Properties](#global-properties)
     - [Custom Tags and Attributes](#custom-tags-and-attributes)
     - [Async Taglib](#async-taglib)
     - [Layout Taglib](#layout-taglib)
@@ -642,7 +643,7 @@ Input data passed to a template is made available using a special `data` variabl
 <var name="name" value="data.name.toUpperCase()" />
 ```
 
-To asign a new value to an existing variable the `<assign>` tag can be used as shown in the following sample code:
+To assign a new value to an existing variable the `<assign>` tag can be used as shown in the following sample code:
 
 ```html
 <assign var="name" value="data.name.toLowerCase()" />
@@ -1232,6 +1233,34 @@ Usage inside template:
 <div>${data.reverse('reverse test')}</div>
 ```
 
+## Global Properties
+
+The `$global` property is used to add data that is available to all templates encountered during rendering by having the data hang off the wrapped writer.
+
+```javascript
+template.render({
+    $global: {
+        name: 'Frank'
+    }
+}, res);
+```
+
+Given the following template:
+
+```html
+<div>
+    Hello ${out.global.name}!
+</div>
+```
+
+The output would be the following:
+
+```html
+<div>
+    Hello Frank
+</div>
+```
+
 ## Custom Tags and Attributes
 
 Marko supports extending the language with custom tags and attributes. A custom tag or a custom attribute __must have at least one dash__ to indicate that is not part of the standard HTML grammar.
diff --git a/runtime/marko-runtime.js b/runtime/marko-runtime.js
index 03e6fcbcb..d372c96fb 100644
--- a/runtime/marko-runtime.js
+++ b/runtime/marko-runtime.js
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ Template.prototype = {
     renderSync: function(data) {
         var out = new AsyncWriter();
         out.sync();
+        out.global = extend(out.global, data.$global);
         this._(data, out);
         out.end();
         return out.getOutput();
@@ -120,10 +121,7 @@ Template.prototype = {
             shouldEnd = true;
         }
 
-        var $global = data.$global;
-        if ($global) {
-            extend(out.global, $global);
-        }
+        out.global = extend(out.global, data.$global);
 
         renderFunc(data, out);
 
@@ -236,4 +234,4 @@ exports.createWriter = function(writer) {
 
 exports.helpers = helpers;
 
-exports.Template = Template;
\ No newline at end of file
+exports.Template = Template;
diff --git a/test/api-tests.js b/test/api-tests.js
index cf5b316c9..c88337739 100644
--- a/test/api-tests.js
+++ b/test/api-tests.js
@@ -81,8 +81,6 @@ describe('marko/api' , function() {
     });
 
     it('should allow a template to be rendered to a stream', function(done) {
-        
-
         var output = '';
         var outStream = through(function write(data) {
             output += data;
@@ -196,6 +194,32 @@ describe('marko/api' , function() {
         expect(output).to.equal('Hello John!');
     });
 
+    it('should allow a template to be rendered synchronously using global attributes', function() {
+        var template = marko.load(nodePath.join(__dirname, 'test-project/hello-global.marko'));
+        var data = {
+          name: 'John',
+          $global: {
+              greeting: 'Greetings'
+          }
+        };
+        var output = template.renderSync(data)
+        expect(output).to.equal('Greetings John!');
+    });
+
+    it('should allow a template to be rendered asynchronously using global attributes', function(done) {
+      var template = marko.load(nodePath.join(__dirname, 'test-project/hello-global.marko'));
+      var data = {
+          name: 'John',
+          $global: {
+              greeting: 'Greetings'
+          }
+      };
+      template.render(data, function(error, output) {
+          expect(output).to.equal('Greetings John!');
+          done();
+      });
+    });
+
     it('should throw an error if beginAsync is used with renderSync', function() {
         var template = marko.load(nodePath.join(__dirname, 'test-project/hello-async.marko'));
         var output;
@@ -233,4 +257,3 @@ describe('marko/api' , function() {
     });
 
 });
-
diff --git a/test/test-project/hello-global.marko b/test/test-project/hello-global.marko
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a5d65c4d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test-project/hello-global.marko
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+$out.global.greeting $data.name!