The executive committee agreed to set up the Alliance for Life fund. This endowment fund is intended to secure WARC's long-term financial future by providing supplementary income to complement the annual contributions from its member churches.

"An investment in the WARC endowment fund is an investment in life," the committee said. "The assurance of a financially secure base will ensure that the vast network of the Alliance, with more than 200 member churches and 75 million people, will be equipped, strengthened and empowered to address the evils that compromise life and the quality of life."

Individuals in the WARC family and other donors will be invited to contribute to the Alliance for Life fund, which it is hoped will raise one or two million US dollars before the 24th general council, and US$10 million by the year 2010. A final target for the new fund will be set later.

The endowment fund was just one of several fundraising ideas adopted by the executive committee.

Church members and other donors will also be offered the opportunity to contribute to three other funds: the Reformed churches partnership fund (an interchurch aid fund geared mainly toward member churches in the south), a new emergencies fund for short-term disaster relief, and a new scholarship fund for theological education for women from the south.

In addition, they will be encouraged to contribute to current expenditure on four programmes in the Alliance: work with young people, a church-centred programme on economic injustice and ecological destruction, bilateral theological dialogue with other Christian traditions, and a programme to bridge the information technology gap between member churches in the north and south.

"Our member churches already give generously to the Alliance," says Dr William A McComish, dean of St Peter's cathedral in Geneva and WARC's general treasurer. "But we need to increase our income in order to do all that they ask of us. Through the endowment fund and the other new fundraising measures, we will appeal to the goodwill of our church members and of others who share our concerns."