Meaningful Gifts Create a Tradition of Thankfulness

By on November 6, 2018   /   Family and Finances   /   Leave a comment

Being a husband and a parent has made me realize you only get one shot to make life as special as you can. Days pass into years so quickly, you can easily miss opportunities to make life more meaningful. So we have made time to build traditions with our family that are fun, make people feel special, and most of all make our family feel a part of something bigger than ourselves. Several years back, my wife and I were encouraged to create a tradition to honor our supporters. Our support team is so faithful to give and pray, and […]

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How Our Asking Has Evolved Through a Contextualized Approach

By on October 16, 2018   /   Culture, Leaders   /   Leave a comment

  In 1 Chronicles is a detailed account of the mighty men who joined David in order to “turn Saul’s kingdom over to him, as the Lord had said.” It mentions a small group of men from Issachar, “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do–200 chiefs, with all their relatives under their command” (1 Chronicles 12:32). One of the challenges we face as Partnership Development professionals is prayerfully seeking wisdom to understand the times. We must stay aware of the context in which we live and minister, discerning how it affects our relationships with those we are […]

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It’s Time to Get Personal

By on October 2, 2018   /   Special Asks   /   Leave a comment

If you are a new missionary raising support or a veteran missionary living on support, there is an important time of year quickly approaching I wanted to remind us of. There are more charitable donations given between November and December than any other two months in the year. Check out these statistics from www.neoncrm.com. Nearly one third (31%) of annual giving occurs in December. 53.8% of nonprofits start planning their year-end appeal in October. 28% of nonprofits raise 26–50% of their annual funds from their year-end ask. 59.9% of nonprofits make between 1-3 donor “touches” for their year-end campaign. We […]

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Graciously Letting Underfunded Staff Go

By on September 18, 2018   /   Leadership   /   Leave a comment

  My friend Melissa has been homeschooling her ten-year-old son Ethan since he was five. This past school year was a rough one. Ethan is strong-willed, and he fought his mom at every turn about doing his schoolwork. Melissa, normally a calm, laid-back woman, found herself yelling at Ethan multiple times a day. The fighting wore her out, and she knew she wasn’t honoring God. She prayed, did some research, and came up with a new plan. If Ethan didn’t have all of his schoolwork done by 5pm on Friday, he would lose his screen time for the weekend. Brilliant! […]

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Saving Face: Asking in Shame-Based Cultures

By on September 4, 2018   /   Ethnic and Gender   /   Leave a comment

“The real decision we have to make when confronted with cultural shame in support raising is this: are people’s opinions more important than Christ’s?”   “Tonight, I want all of you to call 10 of your closest friends, share about your situation and invite them to pray about giving to your outreach.” I vividly remember thinking my leader must be joking. Except he wasn’t. And that’s when I started freaking out. Is he serious? Does he know how awkward that is? What are they going to think of me? And what if they say no? If you come from a high-context, […]

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Painlessly Training Staff Online

By on August 21, 2018   /   Leaders, Training   /   Leave a comment

Some people seem intimidated by the very concept of adult education. In reality, it’s not all that different from what most of us remember (or wish we had experienced) in our own childhood educational experiences. The main difference is now your students get the joy of balancing learning with raising kids, running a household and juggling a job. The natural reticence of adults to learn new things, plus the logistical challenges of training staff online, means as distance learning facilitator you act as motivational coach, content expert, and tech adviser. Reaching them is going to be a constant effort on […]

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Ditch the Fundraising Drudgery

By on August 7, 2018   /   Strategy and Planning   /   Leave a comment

You can set goals all day long, but if you don’t know where they are taking you—they are just chores. Drudgery. Items to check off an unending to-do list. And if you’re anything like me (and the rest of the Western world), we don’t need extra items there. As a fundraiser, it can be easy to think once you reach an initial financial goal your work is done, and naturally shift into maintenance mode. But that’s not the way it should be. You might be surprised to know, fundraising has little to do with money—and more to do with how […]

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Double Duty Fundraising

By on July 17, 2018   /   Leaders, Training   /   Leave a comment

Raising personal support is its own brand of crazy, but raising your salary plus organizational funds is madness multiplied! If you are tasked with raising operational or special project funds in addition to your own salary, or you lead leaders who do, perhaps you have felt overwhelmed by this doubly daunting task. So how can you best help those fundraising leaders in your organization who are pulling double duty? First, encourage leaders that organizational support raising doesn’t detract from their personal support raising but instead often enhances it. It’s natural to think that approaching the same partners who make up […]

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Why a $10,000 Buffer Isn’t Enough

By on July 3, 2018   /   Leaders, Thriving for a Lifetime   /   Leave a comment

Being fully funded means more than just being at full monthly support. It also means having healthy and appropriate reserves. Why do we need a buffer, also known as reserves? Living paycheck to paycheck is stressful for families. Missionaries in cross-cultural and other settings face many stresses, and it’s best to avoid adding unnecessary financial stresses. Families need a buffer in their checking and savings accounts for their personal living expenses and to manage cash flow. They also need reserves with the organization in which they serve. How much does a missionary need as a buffer? $10,000? $20,000? It depends […]

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Practicing What You Preach

By on June 19, 2018   /   Leadership   /   Leave a comment

I was riding with my local campus minister and good friend “Mark” as he raced through traffic to beat the clock and pay his debts “just in time.” It was during this particular excursion that Mark inquired about my plausible future as a full-time minister. To the best of my ability as a student, I had carefully counted the cost of becoming a missionary and didn’t mind some of the more challenging aspects of ministry. It seemed par for the course to be ridiculed as a Christian or stood up now and then for Bible study or an evangelistic event. […]

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