Do you have a question about Barnabas Aid? We’ll try to answer it here. If you require further information, please contact your regional office.
Galatians 6:10 calls us to do good to all people, “especially those who belong to the family of believers”. The Bible is clear that Christians owe a particular duty of care to other Christians.
In many parts of the world, believers are targeted for persecution because of their faith. They endure discrimination in their communities, which can mean that they are denied help from their own governments or don’t receive international aid.
By supporting Christians, we are following Paul’s instructions and bringing hope and aid to our most vulnerable brothers and sisters. This enables them to advance the Gospel and bring encouragement and faith to their own communities.
There are many excellent Christian organisations that help all people in difficult and dangerous situations. At Barnabas Aid, we believe our calling is to help specifically the family of believers. You can read more about our work here.
Barnabas Aid partners with Christian schools, medical clinics and churches that primarily serve Christian individuals and communities. We are Christians, sending aid through Christians, to Christians.
Applications for funding are assessed thoroughly to ensure that they are consistent with our aims and ethos.
However, the benefits of our funding may not be restricted to just other believers. For example, Barnabas might fund a project to drill a borehole for a Christian community. The community might then, in obedience to the command to “do good to all people”, invite non-Christians to also draw water.
The Barnabas Aid team sources its news updates and prayer points from project partners and extensive monitoring and research. Every article we publish has been researched by our own team via third-party resources and/or individual contacts to validate the information and ensure that what we publish is the truth. If we are unsure of its accuracy, we will not publish, and we are always willing to receive questions or corrections about our material.
Many traditional media outlets overlook the issues and true motives behind anti-Christian violence and persecution. We hope to set the records straight. To read some of these articles, please visit our latest page.
The option to write and send gifts to sponsored children and families has become commonplace in the charity sector. However, it comes at a great cost. The logistics, resources, and staffing required to successfully organise these opportunities is not, in our opinion, good stewardship.
We aim for an efficient and ethical use of the resources entrusted to us, and though we understand it can be disappointing not to have personal contact with your sponsored child or family, we see it as the best decision for the ministry and your donation.
Yes, you can! Volunteers help us to advance the ministry locally so that we can provide hope and aid to vulnerable believers worldwide. Volunteer opportunities may depend on your region, but typical positions include Prayer Group Leader, Church Volunteer and Speaker. Please visit our volunteer page for more information.
We endeavour to make our efforts helping vulnerable Christians both cost-effective and efficient. Thirty years of experience tell us that providing money, food and other practical aid through our project partners – local people and organisations that understand the unique culture and challenges they face – is most economical and has the greatest long-term impact.
Sending people (supporters and volunteers) would introduce additional costs, staffing requirements, and risks that we are not prepared to handle.
Members of our staff and boards sometimes travel to the countries where we work to audit project partners, review impact and collect stories that will enrich your faith and confidence in our work.
You can find our latest available financial reports here.
The bi-monthly Barnabas Aid magazine is a primary source of information on our projects, news updates and activities as an organisation. We regularly assess the costs involved in publication and distribution to ensure it is as cost-effective as possible.
If you prefer to receive the posted publication, please share the resource with a friend or family member to extend the life of the material and spread the mission of Barnabas Aid.
Barnabas Aid runs an appeal each week because the need is so great for suffering and persecuted Christians around the world. We are privileged to serve our brothers and sisters in many places and in a variety of ways, and our weekly appeal is a key way in which we can raise awareness, request donations and, perhaps most importantly, encourage prayer on their behalf.
If circumstances keep you from being able to donate to our appeal, or if you have already made a donation to us, then we certainly do not want to pressure you into making a further gift – though we would certainly encourage you to continue in prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
If we receive more donations than are needed by the specific project featured in an appeal, we will apply discretion to ensure your gift supports a similar project or a project in the same region instead.
To add Gift Aid to your donation, please tick the relevant box when donating via our website or when completing a Barnabas Aid donation form. If you are already a regular donor but do not currently add Gift Aid, you can either download and complete this form and send it to our UK office or call our UK Supporter Relations team to confirm that we can claim Gift Aid on your donations.
If you would like to learn more about Gift Aid, please contact our UK Supporter Relations team, who will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Barnabas Aid project partners are always Christian: churches, Christian ministries or Christian NGOs.
Many partners find us – often through recommendations from existing partners – and increasingly, as we seek to maximise our impact, we will also seek out partners who are already doing work aligned to our mission. However partners come to us, they apply for funding by submitting project proposals that outline a case for support and specify how suffering and persecuted believers will be supported.
Each proposal is judged and assessed according to strict criteria, ensuring: that projects further Barnabas Aid’s mission; that they are an effective, efficient and ethical use of funding; and that they do no harm to those we are trying to help.
All partners are submitted for screening against London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) terrorism, fraud and sanctions watchlists to ensure they are not involved with organised crime.
All partners must also demonstrate that they have an adequate safeguarding policy (or adopt ours). As part of their project proposal, potential partners must demonstrate their competence and experience to deliver programmes.
Our partner management processes are continually improving. We are working to check that the partner's management and governance structures are fit for the scale of project they have proposed; that accounting procedures are transparent and accessible; and that relevant personnel are contactable. We recognise that different partners will have different capabilities, so we adopt a risk-based approach, only allowing partners to receive grants that they will find manageable. If appropriate, field visits are carried out by the Projects team or local contacts to satisfy ourselves about the necessity and suitability of the project.
Finally, for existing partners, we check that their reporting on current projects is up-to-date before allowing additional grants.
Effective monitoring and verification of use of funds plays a crucial part in ensuring that supporters’ donations reach their proper destinations and are used as intended. Our Projects team stays in regular contact with the partner throughout the project, checking that money is being used as agreed and the project is progressing well.
The first step in monitoring is to verify that the partner has received the funds: they must provide documentary evidence of this. As part of the monitoring and evaluation process, project partners are required to give Barnabas Aid regular updates as well as an interim and final report.
As well as financial and narrative reports about project activities, reports are expected to include pictures and accounts from beneficiaries about how the project has impacted them. Receipts and invoices are also required to evidence how funds have been spent.
We are working to continually enhance our monitoring and evaluation processes to ensure we maximise our impact and for larger projects we are implementing a requirement for their results to be presented to the Projects subcommittee.
To find out more a particular project, you can visit the Appeals section of our website to see how you can support ongoing projects, or the You helped section to learn more about some of our recently completed projects. You can also sign up for our Barnabas Aid magazine, which carries feature articles and shorter reports about how Barnabas Aid’s supporters have helped and aided the suffering Church.
