United Methodist Committee on Relief

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is a prominent worldwide emergency relief organization. A nonprofit agency of the United Methodist Church, UMCOR reaches worldwide to provide relief in five core areas: Hunger, Health, Refugees, Emergencies, and Relief Supplies. Since 1940 UMCOR has served people in almost 100 countries around the world. The organization is designed such that 100% of all donations are channeled directly to the earmarked project or relief effort. Therefore, UMCOR does very little advertising and is not as well known as other relief organizations like the Red Cross or Catholic Charities.

History

In response to World War II’s devastating effects around the world the 1940 General Conference of the Methodist Church (USA) passed a resolution to form a relief agency. Originally named the Methodist Committee for Overseas Relief (MCOR), it was begun as a temporary organization. MCOR was to “respond to the vast needs of human suffering worldwide” by analyzing the most critical needs in the world and relaying these needs to local churches who would in turn provide monetary assistance. From the outset, the agency promoted ecumenical partnership with other denominational relief efforts.