Concern

CONCERN IS THE REGISTERED name of Concern Worldwide, an Irish nonprofit company incorporated under the Irish Companies Act of 1963. It is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. It also has offices in Belfast, London, and Glasgow and an affiliate fundraiser in New York. Concern is controlled by its members, who form the general body, maintain the Articles of Association, elect the council, appoint independent auditors, and approve annual financial statements.

The council of Concern is elected from among the membership at each annual general meeting of Concern. The council usually numbers around 35, who are rotated out of office after three years, but may be reelected later. The council meets at least quarterly. Concern is financed by donations, fundraisers, legacies, and its retail sales through Concern Charity Trading Limited, which operates in Ireland. It also provides logical and support for fundraising activities.

Concern began when people in Ireland became alarmed over the famine in Biafra in 1968, brought on by the Nigerian civil war. Starvation was affecting great numbers of people; however, thousands of Irish missionaries of the Catholic Church had served in Biafra.

A group of people in Ireland began to organize to minister to the situation. Calling themselves Africa Concern, they rallied support for relief. On June 28, 1968, Roman Catholic Bishops J.B. Whelan and G.E.C. Cockin along with Nigerian Anglican bishops of Owerri and Biafra, launched a program called the Send One Ship Appeal, or the SOS Appeal. The immediate goal of the drive was to fill one ship with relief supplies for the people of Biafra. The people of Ireland responded with money and in-kind donations. Within three months £250,000 had been donated. The money was used to purchase the SS Columalle. It was loaded with relief supplies and sailed on September 6, 1968, for Africa. The ship was unloaded at the small west African island of São Tomé. From there the supplies were smuggled into Nigeria each night. Soon other ships were loaded with supplies and sent to São Tomé for distribution in Nigeria.

With the end of the fighting and the normalization of life the board of Africa Concern struggled with its mission. Instead of accepting congratulations for a job well done and closing its doors, the board, after much discussion, decided to set a new mission for the organization that had developed. The new mission was to work on small projects in various places, but especially in Africa. In addition it would seek to provide financial and skilled human assistance to organizations already operating on relief and development projects in the poor nations of the world.

The new mission adopted by Concern was soon redefined by events. In November 1970, a devastating cyclone struck what was then East Pakistan. The natural disaster was soon followed by a civil war between East and West Pakistan. Millions of people fled into India as refugees. In response, Concern sent a medical team to Salt Lake Camp at Calcutta. In June 1971, Concern organized the East Pakistani Famine Appeal to provide relief for the refugees.

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