On Oct. 15, in a special members meeting, PWRDF approved a new name for the organisation: Alongside Hope. The organisation’s new tagline is “Anglicans and partners working for change in Canada and around the world.” In French the new name is Auprès de l’espoir, and the tagline is “Anglicans et partenaires œuvrant pour le changement au Canada et à travers le monde.”
PWRDF, or the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund, was founded in 1959 by the Anglican Church of Canada, following a mining disaster in Springhill, NS, that killed 75 men. Originally known as the Primate’s World Relief Fund, the focus initially was on providing assistance quickly during emergencies.
However, over the next decade the organisation began to see the link between development needs and the suffering caused by natural and human-caused disasters, and in 1969, the word “development” was added to its name. PWRDF now works with more than 70 partners in 32 countries.
In a presentation on the new name, Cynthia Haines-Turner, a parish priest and PWRDF board member, speaks about first hearing discussions around the need for a new name back in 2001, when she became a diocesan representative. She also spoke about her own journey from being initially resistant, to being reluctant, to ambivalence, to finally being convinced a name change was needed.
Finally, in 2022, the PWRDF board approved a budget, and a task team was created to identify a new name. The task team included staff, board members and volunteers from across Canada. The team met on Zoom to try and identify a name that better reflects PWRDF’s work, and that would both honour its legacy and sustain its work into the future.
PWRDF engaged creative agency Cyan Solutions to lead conversations with the task team and other volunteers. In all of these discussions, one clear theme emerged: partnership. PWRDF partners with local organizations; with membership organizations, such as the Anglican Alliance, the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and KAIROS; with funding agencies; with the Anglican Church of Canada (PWRDF became a separately incorporated agency in 2000), Anglican dioceses and ecclesiastical provinces; and of course with clergy, volunteers and donors.
The task team looked to stories of partnership in the Bible and was particularly drawn to the story of the road to Emmaus. Days after Jesus died, the disciples were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, when the resurrected Jesus came alongside them. But they did not know it was him, until he accepted their hospitality to dine with them. In the breaking of bread, their eyes were opened and they recognized him.
Cynthia states that these discussions generated over 200 possible names. “Many of us had an idea of what we might have liked to have seen,” says Cynthia in her presentation. “But there are a whole bunch of complicating factors … Many names that we might have liked have been taken, or copyrighted by somebody else … It became apparent that our scope was much more limited than we might have hoped.”
The new name, Alongside Hope, grew from the discussions around partnership and walking alongside one another in order to embody hope for a better world. “It speaks to our aspirational endeavors,” says Cynthia. “But it also speaks to the practical part of our ministry. Hope is a necessary element to our work. It is something we are called to as people of God, to be people of hope.” On a very practical level, it is also hoped that the new name will be easy to pronounce and will avoid the need for acronyms.
“Alongside Hope conveys what is so important for us as a ministry of the Anglican Church of Canada,” says Will Postma, executive director of PWRDF. “Alongside Hope is about walking alongside our partners and many supporters, learning, listening and being together. As a faith-inspired agency, we want to support projects that demonstrate a love for our neighbour in real-life, real-context ways … Alongside Hope is a new name that builds on a legacy of many years of partnership and inspires us forward to care for creation and build hope for the well-being of communities and generations to come.”
The transition to a new name will take place over the next year. Changes to the website and social media will come into effect on March 1, 2025, for the very practical reason of allowing time to complete tax receipts for 2024 under the PWRDF name.
If you have any question about the new name, send your questions to [email protected]. For media requests, please email Janice Biehn, communications and marketing coordinator at [email protected].
