Hardon calls the Council’s current fund-raising goals “ambitious but realistic”. The WCC and its member churches have an “immense” potential for securing increased funding, but so far have used the potential only “marginally”, he says. Continuation of current trends will “endanger proper functioning of the World Council, and therefore there is reason for great concern”, but if proper actions are taken, it will be possible to “turn the tide”, Hardon says.

As one part of the corrective action, an effort will be made to get more of its member churches to pay the basic membership contribution that each is expected to give annually for the WCC operation as a whole. In recent years, WCC leaders have been facing up to the fact that the Council has a serious problem in this area, and have decided it must be given more direct attention. In 1998, the central committee set 1000 Swiss francs per year as the expected minimum membership contribution expected of each church.

The situation has improved slightly. But still in 2000, out of 337 churches that were WCC members, only 190 gave anything towards the membership contribution, leaving 146 (or 44 percent) of the WCC’s member churches that went the entire year without giving the Council anything at all in any category.

WCC leaders have set a goal of getting all member churches to begin paying their annual membership contribution by 2005. “We will try to convince the churches that it is in their interest to contribute, because the World Council is doing things directly important for them,” Hardon says. Although some member churches may be limited in resources, he believes most of them would be able to pay the minimum membership contribution, the 1000 Swiss francs. “The message should be clear,” Hardon says. “If you are a member of an organization, you pay your membership contribution.”

The WCC’s 1998 assembly in Harare set a goal of getting member churches to increase their total payment from the general range of 6 million Swiss francs in recent years to 10 million in 2005. These undesignated funds are especially important because they provide most of the funding for central programmes such as Faith and Order and Inter-religious Dialogue that are not supported by the agencies that make most of the designated contributions. When the topic was discussed by the WCC central committee in 1999, it concluded that “the payment of the minimum annual membership contribution must be a priority concern of all members of the governing bodies of the Council and staff”.

If there are some churches in the most impoverished areas of the world that cannot make even a small financial contribution, they will be asked to think about how they might contribute in other ways, Hardon says. Possibly, some of them might host a WCC meeting, or offer some other service as a substitute for the monetary payment they have been asked to make.

While working to get at least the minimum contribution from every member church, the WCC is also seeking to get increased contributions from those churches able to pay more. Representatives of European churches met in Geneva, 18-19 May 2000, to discuss ways the WCC could advance its financial goals in their region.

WCC officials see little possibility of increasing gifts in the designated activities category at this time. But in an effort to stop the decline, the WCC has initiated a round-table process that brings WCC leaders together with officials of agencies that contribute towards the funding of these activities. The first round table was held in 2000, with most of the major funding partners represented, and a second round table was held in May of 2001. Here, in a new form of partnership, WCC leaders explain the various programmes in which they are engaged, and listen to agency officials tell how their goals correspond to those of the Council. The round table has no governance role, but provides an ecumenical space for strengthening cooperation among various sectors of the ecumenical community. In the past, representatives of these agencies have participated in WCC advisory committees, but now they are invited to contribute to the WCC programme as a whole, and to identify ways they could be part of it all.

As a third approach, Hardon will lead a WCC effort to secure major gifts from sources other than the churches. Some efforts to do this have been made in the past, but now a new and more specifically focused approach will be taken. Jane Richardson, formerly a fund-raiser for one of the WCC’s member churches, the Reformed Church in America, has been employed to serve as fund development officer for a programme in the USA. The US has many foundations with interests that parallel several programmes of the WCC, and her job includes carrying out an action plan for approaching these foundations. Based in the WCC’s New York office, Richardson has gathered a small number of US church leaders to serve as an advisory group.

Many corporations and wealthy individuals give to philanthropies in substantial amounts, and the amounts have been increasing, Hardon says. He notes that corporations are increasingly accepting the concept of “corporate responsibility”, and in keeping with that are contributing to social causes. Many of the WCC programmes might logically be considered for receipt of such gifts if full information about WCC services were given to potential donors, Hardon says. However, he notes that there are some corporations the WCC will avoid approaching because of the objectionable activities they pursue.

Out of 150 areas that Hardon says can be identified in WCC programming, WCC fund-raisers will emphasize four specific themes in this effort: interfaith dialogue, the Decade to Overcome Violence, Africa and globalization. They correspond to the four thematic areas identified by the WCC central committee as basic emphases: being church, ministry of reconciliation, caring for life, and common witness and service amidst globalization.

“I think money can be raised for the World Council of Churches,” Hardon says. “There is no doubt a lot of money is around. And the Council is an interesting organization. But its profile is not clear to many potential donors now, and we must make it clear.”

Although Hardon is coordinating the fund-raising efforts, he says that the WCC as a whole must be its own fund-raiser. Staff and central committee members therefore should see this effort as part of their responsibility, he says.

“The World Council of Churches is doing extremely important work,” Hardon says. “We must communicate that in the right way to the right people.”

Financial overview
WCC income declined from 82 million Swiss francs in 1996 to 51.2 million in 2000, and further decreases are anticipated for 2001. Most of the decrease has come in the area of income designated for specific activities, the largest categories. Subject to revision after audit, WCC financial reports show designated activities income last year was 25.9 million Swiss francs and operating income 14.6 million. In addition, the WCC received 6.7 million Swiss francs from membership fees and 700,000 in other undesignated contributions. Three million Swiss francs was generated by the WCC itself mainly from the rental of unused office space to related organizations, publishing, and guest house receipts from the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey. A further 1.7 million Swiss francs was raised from miscellaneous sources, including reimbursement of travel expenses initially paid by the WCC. The WCC’s investment portfolio suffered unrealized losses in 2000, which together with unrealized losses on foreign exchange, resulted in a net loss of 1.5 million Swiss francs in investment income.

After enjoying a 1999 surplus of 894,000 Swiss francs because of favourable investment returns, in 2000 the WCC suffered an overall operating deficit, estimated before audit revision at some 750,000 Swiss francs. The WCC faces a projected 1.5 million deficit in 2001, according to the budget approved at the central committee in Potsdam, February 2001. But the deficit of 2000 and the projected deficit of 2001 will need to be offset against the WCC general reserves which totalled 5.5 million Swiss francs as at 31 December 1999.