National Campaigns
Unrestricted contributions provide the National Spiritual Assembly the ability to direct the funds as needs arise; however, the remainder of the funds are earmarked and thus restricted for specific areas and special projects, some of which extend over multiple years. These include projects that are also important to the overall work and long-term vision of the Community. To make sure that these additional efforts are supported, the Office of the Treasurer has special campaigns in which the Friends are invited to participate as the needs arise.
Currently, the main fundraising campaigns include “The Love that Binds: raising vibrant communities” campaign (dedicated to the current National Fund Goal) and “the Bahá’í National Archives Renovation Fund” campaign. Please be on the lookout for inspiring communication about these efforts by checking this page!
Bahá’í National Fund Update
Over the final weeks before Riḍván 2024, we invite all believers, young and old, to join the Champion Builders Campaign through your prayers, acts of service, planning special fundraisers, and/or sacrificial contributions. Together we can arise to meet the goal! $2.9 million remains to reach the $48 million goal set to assist in meeting the needs of the Plan as well as our Community’s domestic, continental, and international obligations. Let us renew our commitment to the Plan set in motion by the Universal House of Justice, “to raise up vibrant, outward looking communities.” We must also bear in mind that “He Who is the Eternal Truth—exalted be His glory— hath made the fulfillment of every undertaking on earth dependent on material means.”
Unrestricted (not earmarked) contributions towards the National Fund goal allow for flexibility in supporting the many activities of the Faith.
National Archives - Update
The National Archives includes many precious items, including historic papers and even gifts from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi, such as the original copy of the Tablet of Ahmad gifted from Shoghi Effendi to the Temple when it was opened. Previously, the National Spiritual Assembly initiated a project to reconstruct the old publishing trust building and create a new permanent National Archives in order to create a more befitting and more protective location to house all these precious items and to keep them safe for the next thousand years so that Bahá’ís could visit them and researchers and scholars would be able to study the original papers or tablets. In developing the plans for the building, it was discovered that the structure was too narrow to accommodate the required preservation equipment. The amount of space needed for the equipment and the cost of the modifications needed to the building has made it impracticable to move forward with the original plans.
In consultation with the Universal House of Justice, the National Spiritual Assembly has decided to put the bulk of the easily preserved archive items in a nearby building for now and to keep an archive unit in the Temple itself so that for conventions, meetings, and for visitors and researchers, some items are readily available and easily accessible. Meanwhile, search will continue for an adequate permanent home for the archives. We will continue to update the community on the progress of these plans.
This campaign, ‘Preserving Our Spiritual Heritage’, will seek to raise $2.5 million by Ridvan, 2023.
This project will make possible a long overdue move of the National Archives, currently located in the lower level of the House of Worship, to a building that’s owned by the National Assembly. The new home for the Archives is close to the Temple and will feature state-of-the-art climate control and fire suppression systems. It will also provide access for researchers, both Bahá’í and the wider community, to access the millions of pages of historical papers housed there.
The national archives renovation fund is the most direct way that believers can assist the archives. Please feel free to click on the button below if you wish to contribute.