Tearfund

History

The charity was created out of the Evangelical Alliance (EA) and the Evangelical Refugee Fund created by the United Nations.

The organisation was originally called The Evangelical Alliance Relief Fund Committee (abbreviated to TEAR Fund).

George Hoffman headed up the fund.

In January 1969 Cliff Richard did two fundraising concerts for Tearfund at London's Royal Albert Hall. He has served as the charity's Vice President and in 1999 served as its president. In 2009 Richard gave the proceeds of his first 50th anniversary concert in Wembley Arena to Tearfund.

Tearfund was registered as a charity on 6 March 1973.

Tearfund Ireland was launched as an independent charity in 2008 and now works closely with Tearfund UK as a sister organisation.

Work

Tearfund first sent staff overseas in 1972 when nurses were sent to flood-struck Bangladesh to work with the Bible and Medical Missionary Fellowship. The nurses spent from six months to two years working in hospitals, clinics and feeding camps.

Tearfund engages in direct operational work (via its Disaster Management Unit), and in development work partnering with local Christian groups.By 2006 Tearfund was working with 297 partners, many of them church-based groups, in a total of 565 projects. In 2006–2007 it provided £9 million to partner groups working in emergencies.

In 1994 Tearfund set up a Disaster Response Unit, now called the Disaster Management Team. The first disaster responded to was the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. By 2006–2007, Tearfund had teams working in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Liberia, Darfur, Indonesia, Pakistan and Kenya, caring for people affected by conflicts and natural disasters.

Since 2014, Tearfund have been supporting Giving Tuesday. This is a campaign to counter the effects of Black Friday and Cyber Monday by asking people to support a charity on the following Tuesday.

Incidents

In 2000, four Tearfund staff were kidnapped whilst performing charity work in Sierra Leone. They were freed after four days but robbed of all their possessions.

Literature

The charity produces a grassroots development magazine named Footsteps which is produced in seven languages and has a print run of ~50,000.

The charity has also produced a booklet entitled Don't Forget Your Ethics which advises people how to travel in both an eco-friendly and fair trade manner.

Campaigning

In 1997 Global Action Network became Tearfund's first full-scale programme of equipping supporters to campaign on poverty issues from a Biblical basis.

Tearfund is a member organisation of several coalitions, including:

Inspired Individuals

Tearfund piloted an Inspired Individuals Initiative in 2008. The initiative seeks to identify, support and resource social entrepreneurs, change agents whose unique vision has the potential to transform the lives of millions living in poverty.

Tearfund’s support for these Inspired Individuals is threefold: firstly, each individual will be paid a stipend for a period of three years; secondly, Tearfund will provide a network of like-minded people to encourage and challenge; and thirdly, a support programme is offered. Members of the initiative include Kelvin Mwikya.