Seven amazing days
Christian Aid Week is seven amazing days of fundraising, action and prayer. It’s a time when communities all over the country get together to raise funds to make real and lasting changes in the lives of some of the world’s poorest people.
The beginnings
The week started out as the churches’ response to the horrors of the refugee crisis in Europe after the Second World War.
The different churches in the UK and Ireland got together and started fundraising – sending the money through partner organisations who were best placed to make a difference on the ground.
Christian Aid Week
It has now become the country’s biggest ‘house-to-house’ collection – with 300,000 volunteers going from door to door every year delivering envelopes and picking them back up from householders in the week.
The Christian Aid Week envelope
The little envelope gets everywhere. Hand-delivered by volunteers and landing on over 10 million doormats, it raises about £9 million each year – and nearly £1 million in Gift Aid alone.
The envelope is an iconic symbol of the generosity of people in the UK and Ireland – giving money to those who need it most.
And now…
The week continues to go from strength to strength. This year we hope to raise over £14 million – enough to effect massive change. 300,000 people will go door-to-door in their local communities – making sure that the Christian Aid Week envelope reaches as many people as possible.
Christian Aid supporters will also hold thousands of events – plant sales, book sales, sponsored walks, bridge crossings, talent competitions and much, much more.
With 22,000 churches all working together, it’s no wonder the week is such a success.
And it’s not just the churches who are involved – schools, workplaces and individuals are all getting involved – whether through fundraising or by giving directly.
You are Christian Aid Week
It’s the passion and dedication of hundreds of thousands of you who give, act and pray every year that makes Christian Aid Week such an extraordinary stand against world poverty
Ways you can give
Your donation will make a difference to people’s lives.
You can donate to Christian Aid Week online, over the phone, via text or by making a postal donation.
Telephone donations
Call 08080 006 006 to make a telephone donation.
Text donations
Text “POVERTY” to 70300. Text will cost £3, of which Christian Aid will receive an average of £2.30.
Online donations
www.Christian-aid.org
Postal donations
Send a cheque to Freepost Christian Aid (no stamp required)although please do not send cash by post.
Your donations will make a difference.
Whatever you decide to give this Christian Aid Week, your donation will change people’s lives.
Your money saves lives. Here’s how.
Christian Aid works with local organisations that we know are best-placed to tackle the poverty they see every day, respond during emergencies and challenge their governments.
So in the slums of Kenya, we support Maji na Ufanisi (MNU).
In turn MNU works with smaller community groups to help people in Nairobi’s slums clean up their water supplies, transform their neighbourhoods and gradually work their own way out of poverty.
Last year, each Christian Aid Week collectors raised an average of £30 each.
This could help pay for a month’s salary for a sanitation block worker in Kenya, who clean the block, collect a nominal fee from people using it and ensure it’s well-maintained.
Your donations in 2008/9 – penny by penny
80% of our spending in 2008/9 was on charitable activities. The rest paid for the general running of the charity, including things like fundraising – and we couldn’t run without fundraising!
Charitable activities
Long-term development projects £43.6m (46%)
Emergencies £16.8m (18%)
Campaigning, advocacy and education £14.9m (16%)
Total spending on charitable activities £75.3m (80%)
Other expenditure
Fundraising £18m (19%)
Governance £0.9m (1%)
Total expenditure £94.2m
An example of what Christian Aid is doing
Haiti earthquake appeal
On 12 January, an earthquake the magnitude of 7.0 hit Haiti just 10 miles from its capital Port-au-Prince. According to the UN, more than 200,000 people were killed, and around one million people made homeless.
This is the worst earthquake Haiti has experienced in 200 years, devastating the country’s infrastructure and essential services.
Since the quake struck, Christian Aid has been working with its long-standing partner organisations to respond to the urgent needs of those affected by the disaster.
Working alongside our partners in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and our ACT Alliance colleagues, we continue to meet the needs of the survivors as we move from emergency relief into long-term rebuilding and rehabilitation.
Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we have raised £4.3 million for our Haiti earthquake appeal. This vital support is allowing us to feed and provide basic relief items to those who lost everything. So far we have reached approximately 150,000 people.
How we are responding
Christian Aid partners are providing medical assistance, cash, food, daily meals, basic shelter, hygiene supplies, blankets and medical supplies to the survivors of the quake.
The earthquake has posed exceptional challenges to aid agencies, and the main concern now is the arrival of the rainy season in May. Without proper shelter and adequate sanitation, there is every possibility that disease will break out in overcrowded settlements.
Our long-term support
In the months ahead, your donations will help us restore people’s livelihoods by providing support for agriculture and income-generation activities to help people feed themselves and make a fresh start.
Our activities will include:
▸ cash grants to help start small businesses
▸ provision of relief items and shelter for those who fled into the rural areas
▸ distribution of seeds, tools and livestock
▸ payment of school fees for children
▸ art therapy with young people suffering from the psychological impacts of the disaster.
Christian Aid is also lobbying for long-term support for Haiti.
We handed a petition of 15,000 signatures to the UK Treasury on 4 February, and within two days the G7 had pledged its backing for our calls to cancel Haiti’s estimated $890m international debts.
What is Christian Aid Week?