History

1960s

World Refugee Year (1960) inspires compassionate Christians to send gifts to the Evangelical Alliance. The terrible 1968 famine in Biafra, caused by civil war in Nigeria, prompts the public launch of the fund under the leadership of George Hoffman. The Evangelical Alliance Relief (TEAR) Fund is born. Cliff Richard gives his first fundraising concert for the cause in the Royal Albert Hall in 1969.

1970s

Tearfund expands. Supporters can give £5 per month to sponsor children in Bangladesh, providing food, healthcare and education through Christian projects. We launch a youth and student programme to inspire young people to radical discipleship. Tearcraft begins providing dignified employment for thousands of skilled workers, selling craft in the UK.

1980s

The decade of Live Aid, war in Ethiopia, turmoil in Eastern Europe. In 1980 Tearfund sends its own medical team in to work in refugee camps in Somalia. Ten million face starvation in Ethiopia, and 1985 sees the biggest charity single and event ever: Band Aid. Tearfund starts a regular giving programme for long-term support for development programmes.

1990s

Civil unrest in the Balkans, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. In 1993 Tearfund celebrates its 25th anniversary with an award-winning edition of ‘Songs of Praise’. In 1994 Tearfund launches a massive appeal and relief response following the Rwandan genocide. Tearfund focuses on world debt as a founder-member of the Jubilee 2000 movement. Hurricane Mitch devastates Central America (1998) and Tearfund joins the Disasters Emergency Committee of relief agencies to appeal for funds.

2000s

The dawn of a new millennium sees severe floods in Africa and South Asia, while conflict intensifies hardships caused by drought in Afghanistan. The Jubilee 2000 campaign achieves qualified success. In 2003, brutal conflict erupts in Darfur. The following year, a tsunami strikes 13 countries in Asia, one of the deadliest disasters in recorded history.

In 2005, as a leading member of the Make Poverty History coalition, Tearfund sees the UK church mobilised as never before to speak against injustice. Food crises, civil war and political oppression pose new challenges for Tearfund partners and relief teams in Africa, while development efforts continue.

Meanwhile, floods in Asia and a shattering earthquake in Haiti mark the start of a new decade, and the impact of climate change is increasingly felt by the world’s most vulnerable people…