The cornerstone of unity

25 COMMON RESPONSIBILITY CAMPAIGN 
By the time the war ended in 1945, it had created a spirit of common responsibility in Finns and an 
understanding of the suffering of others. At the same time there was an increasing feeling that the Church 
should assume more social responsibility. In the post-
war period, the main task of the Church’s new welfare 
organisation was to distribute funds and goods received as aid from abroad. Another major challenge was the 
Common Responsibility Campaign. 
In late summer 1949 the secretary general and secretary of social affairs of the Suomen Kirkon 
Seurakuntatoiminnan Keskusliitto (now the Church Resources Agency) visited the eastern and northern parts of 
Finland to evaluate the difficult circumstances created by crop failure and unemployment. The situation was dire, 
and the visitors were touched by the sight of malnourished and sick children. A decision was thus taken to start a 
massive national fundraising campaign that would be organised annually. Since the Common Responsibility 
Campaign was considered a continuation of public wartime fundraising which involved the whole nation, the 
President of the Republic of Finland J.K. Paasikivi was invited to be its patron. From the very beginning, the 
campaign has been always been opened by the President of the Republic of Finland with a speech on the radio 
or television. 
The Common Responsibility Campaign has two important missions: raising funds for aid and giving a voice to 
those in distress. It also strives to open people’s hearts and minds to distress in distant places that cannot be seen. 
Funds have been raised for international aid since 1963, and destinations and themes change on an annual basis. 
Aid has been distributed to widows, refugees, abandoned children, aids orphans, family caregivers, mothers with 
alcohol or drug problems, school drop-outs, developmentally and intellectually disabled, elderly, starving, 
unemployed, deeply indebted, homeless people, those with mental health problems, and many others. 
The campaign has also provided substantial financial support and visibility to many organisations active in 
social work. In recent years, the Common Responsibility Campaign has promoted public debate about the 
need for social loans (for people who cannot get a bank loan), about regional inequality in the availability of 
hospice care, and about the reality of human trafficking in Finland. Every year the campaign produces material 
to support ethical education in day-care centres, schools, and congregations. 
Apart from ethical education and helping people in need, the campaign’s mission is to influence society. In 
the 1990s, the Church became more vocal in its social criticism; the most renowned example of this was the 
Church’s famine group, which was created as part of the Common Responsibility Campaign’s food bank project. 
Each year, the campaign strives to start an extensive political debate about a social problem and to promote a 
workable solution.
The Common Responsibility Campaign is an annual social work campaign of the Finnish Evangelical 

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Lutheran Church that invites people to help others in need in Finland and developing countries without regard to 
to their origin, religion, or political convictions. The campaign is a 70-year-old popular movement that still has 
tens of thousands of supporters who want to help their fellow human beings.
Kalle Kuusimäki 
– chief editor of the magazine Diakonia, fundraising director of the Common Responsibility 
Campaign 2001
–2008, director of social work of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland