wfn.org | LWF Council Meeting 2003, Press Release No. 2

["Frank Imhoff" <franki@elca.org>]

LWF Council Approves over 13.7 Million Swiss Francs for 2004 Geneva
Coordination Budget
Call for Strategic Planning

WINNIPEG, Canada/GENEVA, 2 August 2003 (LWI) * At its first meeting in the
Canadian city of Winnipeg, July 31-August 2, the Council elected by the Tenth
Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) approved a CHF 13.77 million
(USD 10.1 million) for the 2004 Geneva Coordination Budget. 

Prior to the approval of the so called A-budget that covers operational costs
and some program-related activities of the LWF Geneva Secretariat, the
Director for Finance and Administration Mr. Pauli Rantanen presented to the
Council members an overview of the LWF Coordination Budget financing as well
as on the programmatic and B-budget.

Rantanen expressed the need to realign the activities in Geneva to a
sustainable level during the next two years. He noted that although the 2003
A-budget projected at CHF 14.8 million is balanced, and some member churches
and funding partners have indicated that they will be able to increase their
support, other member churches and related agencies have pointed out that
their support may decrease in 2004-2005. 

Out of the over CHF 13.77 million for the A-budget, 85 percent goes to
personnel costs. The B-budget that includes programs and projects of the
departments is about USD 82-95 million per year. In 2002, around 66 percent
of the USD 90 million income came from church and church-related agencies.
Donor governments, their agencies andUnited Nations agencies contributed a
combined total of about 25 percent, while local field offices made a
contribution of about 5 percent. 

The allocation to programs and projects in 2002 was 83 percent for the
Department for World Service, 13 percent for the Department for Mission and
Development, 3 percent to the General Secretariat and 1 percent for the
Department for Theology and Studies. In 2002, about 42 percent of the income
went to program and project work in Africa, 23 percent to Asia, 15 percent to
Europe, 7 percent to Latin America and the Caribbean, 3 percent to global
work and 10 percent to the Geneva Secretariat. 

The General Secretariat includes the Offices for Communication, Ecumencial
Affairs, International Affairs and Human Rights, Finance and Administration
and Personnel. The DWS is the LWF's humanitarian service agency with field
offices in about 30 countries worldwide, and more than 5,000 local staff. The
DMD has around 450 projects and programs among the LWF member churches
worldwide.

LWF's financial contributions are drawn from membership fees and related
assembly fees, support to the LWF Endowment Fund which is intended for future
security,block grants that are the allocated by the Geneva staff, earmarked
support to special interest areas and additional requests to cover deficits. 

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 136 member
churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7 million of the 65.4 million
Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas
of common interest such as ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology,
humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects
of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is LWF's information service. Unless
specifically noted, material presented does not represent positions or
opinions of the LWF or of itsvarious units. Where the dateline of a article
contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with
acknowledgment.]

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Editor's e-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org