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ACT campaigns: Pop music, auctions an finance bonus for Haiti February 4, 2010
GENEVA — Concerts on national TV, online donations, spectacular auctions, fundraising dinners and extra church collections are among the methods ACT Alliance has used to raise funds for Haiti. And they have produced results.
Perhaps the most pragmatic and humbling effort has come from the staff of Lutheran World Service (LWS) in India. They have offered one day’s salary for the people of Haiti. “The decision was unanimously taken in a discussion about how to show solidarity with Haiti,” said Dr Vijayakumar James, executive director of LWS.
Now the ACT members ask for more. US member Church World Service has asked the Wall Street finance executives to donate ten percent of their bonuses to Haiti.
"Now is the perfect moment for executives in the financial sector to make an equally powerful statement about corporate social responsibility, by tithing their bonuses towards the longer and arduous challenge of redeveloping Haiti," says the CWS Director, Rev. John L. McCullough. The campaign is called Bonus4Haiti. “It might seed money to jump-start the reconstruction," he says.
Gospel and hip-hop
In Denmark, top gospel singers joined forces to create a music hit for Haiti. The song was recorded over one weekend and made available on YouTube. "The inspiration for the song came when I saw a news report from Haiti, where a man was jammed in a wall. When he was asked how he felt, he replied quite calmly that he had prayed to God and trusted that his prayer was heard," says promoter Julie Lindell."We pray that many will just buy the song by downloading it for three US dollars. DanChurchAid urgently need money to get safe water, sanitation, shelter and food to earthquake victims." (The song is now available for free at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JMxOsl0ny0)
Danish international prize winning hip-hop group Outlandish donated scarves and caps to DanChurchAid for auction. We immediately thought we would give support and we therefore contacted DanChurchAid to hear if we could donate some effects from our greatest video to date - Aicha - and include them in an auction," said singer Waqas Qadri.
All over the world
In Australia, the Lutheran Church of Australia campaigned with posters, phone and online donations and established photo galleries of Haiti. All supporters were mailed. New information about the Haiti situation is spread every day. The church emailed all pastors and schools within the Lutheran Church of Australia within 36 hours.
The Canadian Lutheran World Relief had fundraising dinners, concerts, bazaars and volunteers are taking phone donations.
In the UK, Christian Aid is using its popular website to raise funds for Haiti. It also advertised in the UK press and worked closely with other humanitarian organizations.
In the US, the overwhelming outpouring continues to set new standards, especially in New Orleans. Churches there have decided to have a special Haiti offering the first Sunday of each month in 2010. It is more than four years since Hurricane Katrina and the churches continue to rebuild from devastation, destruction and pain. Now they are deeply affected by what has happened in Haiti.
Church of Sweden has raised funds among members and parishes by taking collections and using SMS campaigns, direct mail and media. The church has also received huge donations from the government.
Finn Church Aid organized a fundraising concert in the Cathedral of Helsinki, which was broadcast on a national television channel at prime time last Sunday. Finnish President Tarja Halonen was among the churchgoers.
Waive the Haiti debt
Members of ACT Alliance have appealed to their national governments to waive Haiti’s debt. They say they find it immoral to expect Haiti to pay back its loans while the international society is spending millions on relief to the same country.
