This year we're asking rich nations, like ours, to honour a pledge they made in 1970 to give 0.7% of their national income in overseas aid to poor nations. That's just 7p in every £10. It's really not very much when you work it out. The question on our lips has to be: what are they waiting for?
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Money matters
More than one billion people live on less than 60p a day with nearly half the world’s population (2.8 billion) living on less than £1.10 a day. Aid can make a massive difference to their daily lives. From clean water and better sanitation to hospitals, medical centres, free education, better transportation systems and roads, it’s time for rich countries to make good on their 2000 pledge to halve world poverty by 2015.
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
In 2000, members of the United Nations agreed eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to halve world poverty by 2015. Achieving these targets would lift millions of people out of poverty. One of the targets is to halve the number of people in the world who do not have access to clean drinking water and safe toilets. We in the West can't imagine drinking dirty water, but this is the reality for billions around the world.
Sadly, the majority of poor countries are way short of their own targets. Worse still, rich nations have often attached conditions on how aid is spent rather than allowing developing countries to decide how best to spend it themselves.
The UK government currently gives just 0.34% of its national income in aid and plans on reaching 0.7% by 2013. This will be too late for millions of people dying of preventable diseases such as cholera, typhoid, worms, malaria, and scabies (to find out more about water-borne diseases visit Water Aid's website) simply because they do not have access to safe drinking water or clean sanitation.
If the UK met their 0.7% target by 2008, an extra 1.5 million people could beat poverty. The MDGs are still achievable but only if countries honour their past and future promises of aid.
'Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great... you can be that great generation.' Nelson Mandela 2005. 
A Tearfund activist challenges the UK government to face up to their responsibility to 'Make Poverty History' at the Edinburgh rally on 2nd July 2005. Photo: Peter Caton, Tearfund.
Do you keep your promises? Sometimes we all fall short of our commitments, but God never does. He is 100% committed to the poor and he calls us to be too. In Proverbs 31:9 God calls us to 'speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.' He hates injustice and poverty as they are not how He intended us as people to live. Poverty robs people of their true value and we as human beings deny one another our true worth when we allow people to remain in poverty.
Will we leave it for the next generation to speak out, or will we be that great generation Nelson Mandela said we could be, and stand up for the poor?
Dear Alistair, I'm giving it, please will you?
We want to challenge the UK government not to delay a moment longer in meeting their target of 0.7% in aid, by setting them the example of giving at least 0.7% of our own income to help meet vital needs in some of the poorest countries in the world. Click here to challenge Alistair Darling to do the same.
Talk2God
God wants us to give cheerfully. To be open-minded, open-hearted and open-handed. So why not pray about how much God wants you to give to the poor. Ask Him to challenge you and then help you to commit to giving what He wants you to give.
Think about what you can sacrifice in order to give to the poor. A CD once a month, a magazine once a week, a can of drink once a day? Think about the things you buy which you could go without occasionally and give that money to help build a well, protect children at risk of being sold into slavery or enlisted to fight in wars, to provide treatment for HIV/AIDS patients, to provide emergency food, shelter, and medicines in response to disasters. Check out our interactive map to see where and how Tearfund can connect your money to the poor.
There are two ways to join the scheme.
Online - if you're over 18 and have a current account.
You can set up a Direct Debit to Tearfund, so the money is automatically taken from your bank account. Just work out how much you want to give and then click here.
Online - if you're under 18 or don't have a current account.
You can fill in a pledge form online. Click here.
But how much should I give?
Don't panic - let our clever 0.7% Aid Adder work it out for you!