Support WSCF

Dear SCMs, Senior Friends and WSCF Supporters

For over a century, WSCF has served as an invaluable training ground of leaders for the Church, the ecumenical movement, and the social justice movement at large, both locally and globally, for the present as well as the future. But the diminishing of financial resources that are available to the non-profit sector as a whole, particularly for operational costs, is posing a formidable existential threat to WSCF and the historical role it has played as a prophetic witness for the renewal of the Church and the transformation of the world.

Guided by the framework of the WSCF Strategic Fundraising Plan, the WSCF Executive Committee is developing the All in One Boat (AIOB) campaign. The campaign is aimed beyond the immediate need for funds and towards the long-term development goal of bringing the Federation to a state of financial stability, viability and sustainability. We write to obtain your feedback and support for the campaign as it is developed and launched over the coming months.

The theme and the logo depicting the ecumenical boat on 'rough waters' convey the current state of the WSCF and the shared responsibility of SCMers and Senior Friends to keep it afloat.

In particular, AIOB aims to contribute to the following objectives:

1. Empower WSCF to sustain itself internally by putting in place a mechanism that harnesses the fundraising potential of its global network of SCMs and Senior Friends.
2. Bridge the gap between the national movements and WSCF Global by engaging SCMs in social fundraising for WSCF.
3. Demonstrate WSCF's ability to mobilise internal resources for its operational needs.
4. Develop a sustainable internal income stream for WSCF's core fund.
5. Expand WSCF's internal donor base (SCMs and Senior Friends) and deepen their engagement in the Federation's development goals.

The key activity of the AIOB will be an annual month-long pledge campaign targeted to obtain commitments from Senior Friends to become recurring donors and SCMs to become recurring fundraisers for WSCF over a multi-year period. You will receive further details on the AIOB.

Securing multi-year donation pledges from Senior Friends and mobilising SCMs to fundraise for WSCF are the two key strategies of AIOB as both help build relationships and an engaged community within the Federation, which are necessary if WSCF aims to sustain itself internally.

By asking SCMs to organise fundraisers instead of donating directly, supporting WSCF becomes for SCMs an active collective engagement in the life of the Federation. It challenges SCMs to start a conversation at the national level on why they must share in the responsibility of sustaining WSCF, in the process building the relationship between SCMs and WSCF Global.

Pledges will be made during the campaign, but realising the pledges take place within the period committed. Funds raised from AIOB will go to the WSCF core fund and allocated for specific purposes depending on need, which may be continuing or time-bound, and will be the basis of setting monetary targets for each run of the campaign.

The WSCF website will play a key role in the implementation of this campaign.

Thanks and kind regards

World Student Christian Federation

Ecumenical Centre
5 route des Morillons, P.O. Box 2100
1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
+41 22 791 62 21 (office)
www.wscf.ch