New ways to tackle Quaker giving
Oliver Robertson reports from Meeting for Sufferings
Meetings struggling to send out the annual appeal for Quaker work will be able to get help from Quaker Communications Department (QCD) next year. Meeting for Sufferings agreed to a pilot scheme in which a ‘limited number’ of Area Meetings can have Friends House staff support the mailing and administration of the annual appeal, rather than having AM treasurers deliver them. The change came as part of a wider discussion on ‘using our resources well’, one of the seven priorities in A framework for action 2009-2014.
The appeal decision required Sufferings to change a ten-year-old policy of not using Britain Yearly Meeting’s (BYM) central database for direct mail-shots for fundraising. The database information belongs to the Area Meetings, not Britain Yearly Meeting, and can only be used for mail-shots with the permission of the Area Meetings concerned. Some Friends raised concerns about the leakage of information or that Quakers might feel pressured to donate when they don’t have the money. However, Rachel Rees of QCD assured Sufferings that ‘we hold all data in line with the Data Protection Act’ and that the aim was not ‘to send extra paper to anybody’ but to help struggling Meetings to send out something that goes to Quakers anyway.
The donations that are given for centrally managed work are in decline, warned Robert Gibson, clerk to Quaker Communications Central Committee. He praised the ‘steadfast giving’ by many Friends, but noted that ‘we continue to benefit from the sensitivity and foresightedness of our forebears’ who left enduring legacies. ‘Are we putting out money where our hearts are?’ he asked.
One Friend felt that Quakers are more likely to give when they are clear about the purpose of the funds, citing a successful appeal to ecologically refurbish his Meeting house. Another described how she used to receive a statement that listed all the Quaker causes and how much she had given to them last year, with spaces for her to say how much she wanted to give this year.
Jonathan Fox from BYM trustees described the ways trustees are using the framework to guide centrally managed work next year, but added that there was a responsibility on all Friends. ‘It’s not just trustees who hold it in trust for the future, it’s all of us’, he said.
For more news from Meeting for Sufferings, see Equality Bill raises hopes of a religious character for civil partnership ceremonies and Quakers and the press move a little closer.
