A religious or interreligious group gets together to raise funds for any interreligious project. It begins with selecting which project(s) will be allocated money and how much.  The process of jointly agreeing on which project(s) is/are to be funded and how crosses boundaries between those participating religious communities. It also allows to focus on activities that all parties involved consider worth supporting. Meeting rooms of religious communities or NGOs or individual homes can serve as a meeting place. By taking professional decisions connected to finance, participants practice interfaith engagement, collaboration and agreement and gain more trust in each other. This, in turn, can trigger a chain of solidarity between different faith communities.

A religious or interreligious group gets together to raise funds for any interreligious project. It begins with selecting which project(s) will be allocated money and how much.  The process of jointly agreeing on which project(s) is/are to be funded and how crosses boundaries between those participating religious communities. It also allows to focus on activities that all parties involved consider worth supporting. Meeting rooms of religious communities or NGOs or individual homes can serve as a meeting place. By taking professional decisions connected to finance, participants practice interfaith engagement, collaboration and agreement and gain more trust in each other. This, in turn, can trigger a chain of solidarity between different faith communities.

Activity:​ ​Structure​ ​and​ ​Needs 

This promising practice depends heavily on the availability of financial resources. While raising funds for any project may be done through fundraiser events, reaching from inviting people for coffee and cake to charity concerts, bigger amounts of investment require a strategy to target companies and stakeholders that might be willing to invest into promising particular kinds of projects (i.e. such as humanitarian or social justice projects). It is recommended that at least one person, experienced in accounting, keeps track of expenditures and revenue and bookkeeping. It is recommended to be as transparent as possible when it comes to the selection of projects to be funded and to demonstrate openness as well as increase the visibility of the selected projects. The implementing group should jointly take care of the organization of the fundraising event, which can be a source for further dialogue. It is also recommended that the participating communities also be present, in one form or another, during the execution of the project. Finally, the evaluation of the project funded also needs to be done interreligiously, as this will prove to be a deepening experience, to the extent the project was successful.  

Objectives:​ ​Impact​ ​and​ ​Focus 

This activity focuses on improving personal and interfaith relations through getting together in order to allocate or raise funds. It is necessary for every organization to secure proper funding. Therefore, dealing with this thorny issue might contribute to a swift establishment of trustful relations, as dealing with money cannot be done without trust and proper processes. A sense of collaboration between the participants who unite around this common project develops. In funding social projects, responsibilities need to be defined clearly, while this enables communities to reflect on their own traditions and responsibilities to assist other communities.

Field​ ​Data:​ ​Examples​ ​and​ ​Sources​ ​(Activity​ ​–​ ​Organisation–​ ​Location) 

1.)​ ​Thanksgiving​ ​to​ ​other​ ​faiths​ ​–​​ ​​The​ ​Institute​ ​of​ ​Christians​ ​for​ ​Religion​ ​and​ ​Society​ ​–​ ​New​ ​Delhi,​ ​India 

The Institute of Christians for Religion and Society organizes for Thanksgiving a fundraising campaign with bake sales, second-hand item sales, dinners and community gathering. It then reunites to select social projects of other communities, such as Muslim and Sikh charities, where they donate the fundraised money. Through this, they are inviting all other faith communities to further collaborate on that level and encourage greater social cohesion.

2.) Interfaith financial placement for social projects – The Religions for Peace Youth Committee – Dares​ ​Salaam,​ ​Tanzania 

The Religions for Peace Youth Committee in Tanzania meets every week to allocate money they gained through social actions such as helping young entrepreneurs involved in equity businesses. One of the members keeps track of the finances while another one organizes the meetings. The participants debate for an hour about how to manage their money and then take the decision where to invest it. Taking into account the Islamic rule for banking, they have taken particular care of making those allocations islamically right.