In 2020, The Rev. Dr. Jake Stum became ARDF’s new Executive Director. We are excited to introduce him to you. You can read more about his specific qualifications at ardf.org/blog/meet-ardfs-new-executive-director
My name is Jake Stum, and I am excited to have the opportunity to lead the Anglican Relief and Development Fund into the future. ARDF has an amazing legacy, a strong foundation, and is poised to continue our work to be the Anglican Church in action.
For over a decade, I have been passionate about both relief and development work. When relief work is meeting crisis needs and development work is solving long term problems, it is a powerful combination that can bring real change to our world in a holistic way.
When I saw the job posting for the Executive Director position, my heart leapt within me. This job brings together my passion for the local church, my education in organizational leadership, and my interest in healthy relief and development work.
Since 2004, ARDF has raised over $11 million to impact over 1.5 million lives through our strategic development projects. As we look ahead, we want to build upon this great foundation. There are two specific things that I am already dreaming about.
The first is to increase our collaborative efforts with Anglican congregations in North America. We want to deepen our existing relationships and build new connections. I firmly believe that the more we work together, the better our collective impact will be.
The second is to close the funding gap. Each year we receive a significant amount more in requested funding for relief and development than we are able to raise. We want to close that gap so that we can fund more projects and help with disaster relief in more significant ways.
We have an effective development model in place and a robust way of developing and evaluating projects. We have proven partners and relationships around the world. We have been refining our process for over 15 years. Now we believe it’s time to aggressively move into the future with audacious goals and the desire to meet physical needs in a way that can open new doors to share Christ. In short, I believe that as we continue to strengthen our partnerships in North America, we will be able to more effectively serve our partners globally.
The slogan that we have used for over a decade is still the core of our vision for the future:
Powerful Partnerships Transforming our World.
It is my prayer that we will embody this mantra now more than ever.
In Christ,
