Many have expressed concerns around opportunists taking advantage of the devastation in California. Before you donate to CWS or any other charity, please take a moment to examine our credentials:

Thanks to the 8 layers of functional materials with heat insulation, this fireproof bag can withstand high temperatures up to 5200°F.

These hand cords are compatible with Apple 8-Pin, Micro USB and Type C devices. When USB is plugged into ample power source, cord can charge multiple devices at one time.

Available in an easy-to-carry, organized case, this portable wound care kit contains 80 essential first aid items and comes in a convenient size that is ideal for storing in car or luggage

Bright and Long-Lasting: With a single LED light source, these flashlights boast a maximum brightness of 100 lumens and a beam distance of up to 90 feet, powered by 3 AAA batteries that provide up to 2.5 hours of bright lighting or several weeks of normal daily use.

Comfortable Design: inflatable camping pillow is made of polyester fiber and elastic TPU fabric, comfortable to touch, U shaped design, with thick back and sides for the curves of the head, neck and waist.

Five Layers of Protection: These respirators feature a multi-layer construction, including two non-woven layers, two melt-blown layers, and one hot air cotton layer. Designed in a 3D shape to contour the human face, they provide a secure fit while enhancing breathability.

The ER-V1 provides five versatile power options, ensuring you’re prepared for any situation. You can operate the radio using AC/DC power, solar energy, a hand crank, a 2000mAh rechargeable battery, or AAA batteries. The 2000mAh power bank is especially useful, allowing you to charge your phone during emergencies. With multiple power sources available, you’ll never have to worry about being without communication or power when it matters most.

A foil emergency blanket, also known as a space blanket or Mylar blanket, is a lightweight, compact, and heat-reflective sheet designed to help retain body heat in emergency situations. It is typically made from a thin plastic sheet coated with a metallic, reflective layer, often Mylar (a type of polyester).

  • Heat Retention: Reflects up to 90% of body heat, helping prevent hypothermia.
  • Weather Protection: Provides a windproof and waterproof barrier.
  • Compact & Lightweight: Folds down to fit in a pocket or emergency kit.
  • Multi-Purpose Use: Can be used for shelter, ground cover, signaling, or even insulation.
  • Emergency & Survival Use: Common in first aid kits, survival gear, and disaster preparedness kits.

Financial Accountability

Church World Service is committed to transparency and makes available a range of information related to our governance, our finances and our relationship with partner organizations. If you don’t see what you’re looking for here, we hope you’ll contact us.

3rd Party Nonprofit Accreditations

CWS in the News

The CWS Mission

Church World Service is a faith-based organization transforming communities around the globe through just and sustainable responses to hunger, poverty, displacement and disaster. We offer help to all people, regardless of their beliefs, without evangelizing or requiring a statement of faith.

Our vision is a world where everyone has food, voice and a safe place to call home.

Poverty. Disaster. Displacement.

When we team up with communities around the world, we are working together to move against hunger and poverty. We’re proud to be the toolbox communities need to make sustainable change.

As we combat these main two challenges, the community we are working with is at the helm. They weigh in on what their most urgent challenges are. As the program unfolds, CWS provides expert guidance, supplies and funding. Communities provide the time and effort to make the program successful. They care for shared gardens, help with construction, attend workshops and mobilize their neighbors.

Every two seconds, someone in the world is forced to leave their home and everything they know. With the threat of violence, persecution or disaster knocking on their door, they make the only choice they can to find safety—they run.

In recent years, fewer and fewer of the 100 million people who are forcibly displaced have access to the protection they need to rebuild their lives. Many nations that are hosting asylum seekers and refugees—including the United States—deny them access to fundamental rights and critical services or have effectively closed their borders.

We believe every family has the right to live in safety and dignity. That is why we welcome refugees and asylum seekers with open hearts and helping hands. Faith leaders and refugee communities lift their voices to advocate for better policies, and by standing in solidarity, we are helping keep immigrant families together. Whether through the U.S. asylum system or refugee resettlement program here at home, or by aiding communities overseas, we help the vulnerable build lives free from fear.

In a few minutes, your life can be torn apart. Winds, rain, waves or tremors can take away everything you love. War can erupt and completely change the life you once knew.

In the natural disaster cycle, we make sure we are with our neighbors in every stage. CWS programs help people prepare for the worst, making plans and gathering supplies.

Whether it’s a natural disaster or a humanitarian one, we team up with other responders to meet immediate needs. And when the time is right, we shift our focus to long-term recovery. When people are forced from their homes, we work hard to make sure they have safe and dignified lives.

The road to recovery and safety may be a long one, but no one should walk it alone.

CWS United States Offices

Results: Making a Difference

Over the decades, the specifics of our programs have shifted and evolved. The CWS family has grown. And our foundation of collaboration and welcome has remained unshakable. We proudly serve as the toolbox that our neighbors near and far use to build healthy, dignified and safe lives. Here are a few examples:

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Individuals

across 11 countries have gained better access to safe water and sanitation at home

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Individuals

were reached with life-saving services after a humanitarian emergency or natural disaster.

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people

are better equipped to put food on the table through food security and livelihoods programs

We have responded to deadly emergencies in dozens of countries around the globe. In the late 1950s, serious floods hit Cuba in the midst of a political crisis. CWS provided financial support and worked with the U.S. military to airlift food, multivitamins and clothing to the island. As a severe famine swept through Ethiopia and the rest of the Horn of Africa in the 1980s, the CWS family mobilized a relief effort of over $17 million. In 2010, the world watched in horror as Haiti suffered one of the most deadly disasters in recent history during the earthquake on January 12. We responded to help people rebuild homes and livelihoods…and to make sure that they were better equipped to face the next disaster.

We have walked with families all over the world as they put food on the table, connect to clean water and build the businesses they need to thrive. CWS began to focus more and more on long-term development in the 1960s. By the late 1970s we were also building long-term programs into our disaster response work to make sure that families would not just recover but thrive. Today our food security, water, sanitation, hygiene, health and livelihood programs focus on everything from crop diversification in Honduras to renewable energy in Bosnia to water access at health posts in Myanmar.

We stand for welcome today, just like we did nearly eight decades ago. When the Refugee Act of 1980 passed, we had already resettled 350,000 refugees in communities across the United States. Today that number is over 865,000. In recent years fewer and fewer of the 100 million people who are forcibly displaced have access to the protection they need to rebuild their lives. Many nations that are hosting asylum seekers and refugees—including the United States—deny them access to fundamental rights and critical services or have effectively closed their borders.

We have worked alongside partners ranging from small community organizations to the United Nations to welcome, protect and support people on the move worldwide. In 1964, our emergency feeding program in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo reached 21,000 newly-arrived Angolans. We also distributed seeds and agricultural tools for longer-term food security. In the 1980s we recruited medical teams to work in refugee camps in Somalia. We have partnered with a refugee- and women-led organization in Cairo since 2013 that reaches tens of thousands of refugees annually through legal, medical, food, educational and mental health programs.