Tearfund

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Tearfund is an evangelical Christian relief and development organisation. Tearfund funds partner organisations involved in community development around the world. Tearfund also helps to respond to disasters and is a member of the Disasters Emergency Committee.

1 History
2 Campaigning
3 Funding
4 External links
- 4.1 In various countries
- 4.2 About Tear Fund

[edit] History

May 1959 - May 1960 was designated World Refugee Year by the United Nations. As a result, many evangelical Christians in the UK sent donations to the Evangelical Alliance (EA) in order to help work with refugees. The EA set up the Evangelical Alliance Refugeeto handle donations.

Donations to the fund increased, and in 1968 the decision was taken to go public under the leadership of George Hoffman, and the organisation was renamed The Evangelical Alliance Relief Fund (Tear Fund). The name no longer functions as an acronym, giving the current name Tearfund. It should be noted that Mr. Hoffman went on to be awarded the prestigious Order of the British Empire (or "OBE") for his stewardship of Tearfund in its early years.

Similar organisations have been founded in other countries. The Australian Tear Fund was established in 1971. This has since been renamed TEAR Australia. Tear Fund in Belgium was established in 1979. This has since been renamed Tearfund. Other Tear Funds have been established in the Netherlands, New Zealand, France, and Switzerland.

[edit] Campaigning

Tearfund, like many other Non-governmental organizations, gets involved in campaigning - particularly to change things that they see as being causes of poverty. Tearfund is a member organisation of several coalitions, including:

The European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad).
The Jubilee Debt Campaign
The Make Poverty History campaign
The Stop AIDS Campaign
The Stop climate chaos campaign
The Trade Justice Movement

[edit] Funding

In the UK, Tearfund receives most of its funding from Christians. It has an extensive network of volunteers who raise support. In Belgium, Tearfund receives most of its funding from Christians related to the Evangelical Alliance.