As the 2024 season comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on everything you made possible this year.
Your dedication and support have had an incredible impact, and we cannot thank you enough. Because of you, the following achievements were made possible:
We raised over £2 million from our Lent Appeal. In Lent alone, over 500 of you committed to a regular gift and we’re so grateful for you supporting our ongoing work. Read more about how many of you have got involved this year.
Your response to the emergencies we’ve been involved with this year has been astounding. Over £1.1 million for the Middle East Appeal and £1 million for Sudan. Read more
1,600 of you signed up to take part in the Big Lent Walk! Do you think it could get even more impressive, well, let us tell you.
This year CAFOD’s legacy team held events across the country, visiting supporters in their local parishes to talk about the impact of gifts in Wills. Is this your sign to get involved for 2025?
More than 13,000 of you took action calling for leaders to cancel unjust debts, support communities hit by the climate crisis and fix our broken food system. But that's only the start of what you made happen.
We had 17 runners do the London Marathon for us, raising over £65,000! Think you could do it next year?
Over 10,000 of you have signed up to receive our Advent and Lent calendars this year. Did you know we also have weekly reflections you can join?
Events for CAFOD and Big Lent Walk
The Big Lent Walk went even bigger for 2024. We raised over £400,000. Over 1,600 people signed up, and many more thousands were walking as part of a school or parish. Thank you for putting your best foot forward. Are you feeling inspired for 2025? Get signed up now!
Or you can race to the finish line for the London Marathon, the Great North Run or a festive Nativity run for 2025. Get them in the diary now!
Martin, Leia, Jess and Rami all wearing their medals after completing their runs for CAFOD. A huge thank you to our fundraisers!
Appeals and emergencies
Every year we have our Lent, Harvest and Advent appeals and, once more, you have blown us away with your generosity. Your donations are already making such a huge difference. Over 80,000 of you have made donations and over 30,000 of you are making a monthly gift. Thank you for believing in a better world. There's still time to get involved with our Advent Appeal today.
Did you know, you can look at how much you’ve donated through our website by logging into your donor portal?
You raised almost £250,000 from our two raffles this year. The winner of the spring raffle jackpot donated the entire value of the winner's cheque back to CAFOD. That was £7,000 plus Gift Aid!
Your response to our Middle East and Sudan emergency appeals was incredible and we cannot thank you enough. Our work in emergency settings never stops, even when it stops making the headlines. You can read more about our current work and we invite you to join our Emergency Response Team.
Supporters attending an event at St Joseph’s prayer centre, in Formby, where after a talk from Tom Delamere we spent time with supporters walking around the beautiful grounds which lead to the beach.
Legacies
This year CAFOD’s legacy team held events across the country, visiting supporters in their local parishes to talk about the impact of gifts in Wills. gifts in Wills. You took the steps to learn more about our global family at our events in Formby, Bath, Fordingbridge and Adur Valley.
You spoke to us over tea and cake, and we spent time together in prayer and reflection. In October we returned for our second event held in partnership with St Mary’s College Oscott. This special day included a tour of the historic college, mass and lunch with the seminarians. You also heard about how gifts in Wills can support the work of the Church here and around the world.
To receive more information about gifts in Wills email Lily at legacy@cafod.org.uk. Or, if you would be interested in attending a legacy event in 2025 you can register your interest today.
Campaigning
2024 has been a crucial year in the fight to tackle global poverty.
More than 13,000 of you have called for leaders to cancel unjust debts, to support communities hit by the climate crisis, and to fix our broken food system.
More than 5,000 candidates standing in the general election received 8,000 messages from CAFOD supporters like you, calling for them to tackle the new global debt crisis and the climate emergency. Over 260 parishes reached out to candidates or took part in local hustings.
But you didn’t stop calling for action on polling day! Hundreds of MPs have heard from CAFOD supporters since the election, with people around the country urging MPs to put people living in the world’s poorest communities at the heart of their decisions during their time in parliament.
As well as campaigning during the general election, you urged politicians to respond to Pope Francis’ call to cancel unjust debts as the Church’s Jubilee Year approaches. And we’ve continued to demand the World Bank changes its policies to protect the right of small-scale farmers to choose which seeds they use – rather than be forced to use seeds owned by big companies.
We’ve also called for fossil fuel companies to pay for polluting our common home and fund the support communities affected by the climate crisis need. You have shown that it takes all of us, working together, to make a real difference – thank you.
In 2025, get involved in a call for justice for the Year of the Jubilee.
Theology and prayer
Over 8,000 people have received our reflections by email each week, joining us in prayer and reflection for our world. Sign up to receive them too.
Were you one of 10,000 subscribers for our daily Advent and Lent reflections in the last year?
Thank you!
Your involvement has been the driving force behind our success this year, and we are so grateful for your belief in our mission.
Every single action, donation and prayer really does make a difference. You have stood with families living through a crisis all around the world.
Thank you for believing in a better world for all of us.
With heartfelt gratitude,
The whole CAFOD team
We pray for hope and peace this Christmas
As people of hope, we take heart in our ability to come together as a faith community to stand in solidarity with vulnerable communities.
As we look to the new year ahead we thank everyone again for your continued support and wish you a peaceful festive break.