Members of the board of the Anglican Church of Canada’s global charity arm, until now known as the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF), have voted to rename it Alongside Hope.
The Rev. Cynthia Haines-Turner, a member of the charity’s board, says it has been discussing the need for a new name on and off at least since she became a diocesan coordinator for it in 2001. In 2022, the organization’s strategic planning committee decided it was time to make the change, she says. And the board struck a task force dedicated to picking out a name that was “easier to say and less confusing,” which the board and PWRDF members approved at two votes this year, the first in September and the second on Oct. 15, according to a PWRDF press release. The new name becomes official March 1, 2025.
Aside from being a mouthful to pronounce either in long form or as initials, says board president Mark Hauck, the meaning of the charity’s existing name has sometimes been unclear to people outside the church who aren’t familiar with the word “primate” as a religious title.
“My wedding was two years ago and in lieu of gifts, we asked people to give to PWRDF. A friend of mine, who’s not Anglican, said to me, ‘I didn’t know you guys were so interested in working with apes.’”
The new name’s emphasis on partnership underlines a growing conceptual shift in global aid work, he adds. Language and attitudes are moving away from a model of developed nations handing relief and resources down to developing ones and toward a more collaborative view.
As Haines-Turner puts it, “It’s more of a partnership of equals than, ‘We’re helping you out.’”
Hauck says the organization and its values remain the same.
“The name has changed, the program hasn’t. The name has changed, the mission hasn’t. It remains the same organization in terms of the people we work with, it’s still based in the Anglican church, based in faith,” he says. “We’ve just changed the name to make it easier for people to relate to.”
In the release, the charity’s executive director, Will Postma, says the new name “conveys the listening and learning that takes place when walking side by side, together with partners from around the world, including in Canada, with our supporters and volunteers. Alongside Hope inspires us even further in working with partners towards our vision of a truly just, healthy and peaceful world.”
According to the press release, that theme of partnership was the one that emerged most frequently in conversations, led by marketing group Cyan Solutions, with the task force members and other staff and volunteers. PWRDF’s work includes domestic projects like wildfire relief within Canada as well as partnerships with organizations all over the world, from Maison Dorcas, which provides support to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Fight for Right, a disability rights organization supporting people through the Ukraine war. To do this, it works with the Canadian church and with Anglicans, clergy and volunteers across the country to communicate that work to parishioners, bring forward Anglicans’ ideas for areas of need and raise the money to do the work. The name was chosen to reflect that collaboration and the biblical theming of travelling together reflected in stories like that of Jesus’s journey to Emmaus after his resurrection, in which he walked alongside disciples who didn’t recognize him until they stopped to eat a meal with him.
“When we walk alongside one another, Jesus accompanies us,” the release states. “We are strengthened and comforted and recognize Jesus when we share in his feast. As we walk alongside each of our partners, supporting, listening and sharing with one another, we embrace and embody the hope of a better world. Thus was born Alongside Hope.”
The charity will keep its existing logo of a globe criss-crossed by curving lines which segment it into brightly coloured panels, says the release, in an effort to retain continuity with its existing branding.
