This Thanksgiving, we’re so thankful to call you a Sojourner. You -- our activists, readers, and supporters -- are a vital part of this movement!
Here's a quick wrap-up of all that you were a part of this year!
Our year-long campaign to support a moral budget inspired thousands of you to participate in a public fast and send “What Would Jesus Cut?” bracelets to every member of Congress. This campaign resulted in a meeting with President Obama and national faith leaders where the president agreed to our Circle of Protection principle to not reduce the deficit on the backs of the poor. Check out this video of the media coverage of our moral economy work.
You helped mobilize the Human Circles of Protection on November 16th at noon in every U.S. time zone! People of faith streamed into the streets to encircle and pray for the poor in the midst of our nation's fierce budget battle. Watch this video from Jim Wallis’ visit to the Chicago Human Circle to get a sense of the events.
You provided a strong faith voice against inhumane immigration policies and worked to educate Christians about the biblical imperative to love the stranger through our Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform campaign.
Your support helped create the “War No More” video, reflecting on the costs of the war in Afghanistan and raising awareness of the war’s 10th anniversary on October 7th, 2011.
You helped stall the Keystone XL Pipelineby supportingSojourners’ own associate editor Rose Berger as she was one of the lead faith-based organizers protesting against this climate-killing project.
Sojourners has always been a donor-supported organization that relies on your charitable contributions to support our work! Nearly 2/3 of our $4.8 million budget comes from our generous donors. Sojourners received over 10,000 charitable donations of all sizes in 2011.
The Sojourners Sustainers Circle is a group of donors who’ve committed to our work by making monthly gifts. These monthly gifts make a huge difference for Sojourners and provide over 10% of our budget! We are so grateful for the 2,320 of you who provide us with faithful, monthly support.
• With the help of our new website, it’s easier than ever for our readers to engage on our God’s Politics blog, the most widely read Christian progressive blog. Take a minute to read our top-rated blog entry from 2011!
• You’ve started conversations with new SojoStore resources: posters, bumper stickers, and discussion guides.
• It’s been a good year for Sojourners magazine. This year, we launched Digital Sojourners, an electronic version of our award-winning magazine that includes hyperlinks to videos, websites, and related content.
• Sojourners magazine won numerous awards this year, including two gold medals from the prestigious FOLIO awards, competing against publications from across the nation.
Forty years ago, Sojourners published the magazine out of a communal house near a seminary, and we kept the names and addresses of our subscribers on 3x5 index cards in a shoe box. Today, Sojourners reaches a quarter of a million people each month through our magazine, blog, and advocacy media coverage. We've come a long way in the past 40 years!
Your faith, prayers, and support have made the Sojourners movement relevant, prophetic, and far-reaching in 2011. We are so grateful for all that you have done to further this movement of faith in action for social justice.
We can’t thank you enough.
Sincerely,
All of us at Sojourners
Got something to say about what you're reading? We value your feedback!