Partnership or Handout?

By on July 2, 2019   /   Fear and Perspective   /   Leave a comment

My biggest struggle when I first sensed God calling me into ministry was fundraising. I just could not see myself with a degree in mining engineering passing on a job in order to ask people for handouts. I equated fundraising to begging. Is there a difference between fundraising for a gospel ministry and begging? Part of my struggle was right in front of me as I drove in my car. Every time I stop at the Manda Hill traffic lights on Great East Road in Lusaka, I can’t help but notice the different people trying to make a living at […]

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Funding Principles Go Beyond Borders

By on June 4, 2019   /   Non-Westerners   /   Leave a comment

The perception exists in some Non-Westerners that the West are “rich,” and so it is easy for them to support Non-Western missionaries. This perception is fed in part by a misconception of financial realities in both cultures and currency values relative to local economies. Just as it is not true that all Westerners are rich, it is not true that there are no resources in Non-Western countries. People work and generate wealth and can give towards the work of advancing the gospel. In any culture, people have to be presented with a clear vision and a clear invitation to give. […]

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Where Are the African-American Missionaries?

By on May 7, 2019   /   Ethnic and Gender   /   Leave a comment

There are some unique barriers many African-Americans face as it relates to fundraising. Shortage of resources, limited network of relationships, pressure from family, not understanding the traditional fundraising practices and how those practices translate in their cultural context, scarcity of models or mentors, just to name a few. How about not being enlightened by the history of African-Americans engaged in missions? Could this impact the ability for an African-American to raise sustainable funding? Absolutely! If there are others who have gone before you who are similar to you or of the same ethnicity, having shared comparable experience, this can provide […]

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Color Outside the Lines: Successful Support Raising for People of (any) Color

By on March 5, 2019   /   Ethnic and Gender   /   Leave a comment

No matter the state of your partnership development efforts, you have my sincere admiration. The level of conviction and active faith it takes to live as a ministering fundraiser is worthy of cheers and thunderous applause. Thank you for honoring God by saying “yes” to His calling and launching into the “great adventure” to make an eternal difference in the lives of many. In this same spirit of reverence and as a person of color (POC) who has successfully developed and maintained a culturally diverse financial and prayer team, I’m writing to offer some tips and reminders about partnership development […]

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Support Raising from Your Pastor’s Perspective

By on February 5, 2019   /   Fear and Perspective   /   Leave a comment

  Almost a quarter of a century ago, my wife and I were fresh out of college. Our first full-time mission was reaching college students with a parachurch ministry. Our history of support raising up to that point primarily consisted of funding stateside and international summer training projects. However, in this work we needed to trust God to provide us with regular monthly support from individuals and local churches. We lived the highs and lows of this experience for eleven years on two different campuses. It was amazing to see how God provided and how He gave us a team […]

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Eat Healthier, Read More, Get Fully Funded

By on January 2, 2019   /   Fear and Perspective, Strategy and Planning   /   Leave a comment

The New Year is a time when people tend to look ahead, make goals, start fresh and consider trying new things. We want to lose weight, go to the gym, eat healthier or read more. Sometimes these New Year’s resolutions lead to the change we hope for, yet often our intentions are good, but our follow-through is not. Maybe you also have goals in support raising you hope to reach this year: “This year I will add 5 people each month to my newsletter list. I will add three people to our financial support team this quarter, or I commit […]

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How to Write an Awful Newsletter

By on December 4, 2018   /   Communication and Relationships, Preparation and Tools   /   Leave a comment

  Not again, I thought. I felt like banging my head against the wall. As Assistant Director of MPD, my job includes skimming staff prayer letters to hunt for good stories. Some staff write exceptionally powerful newsletters. But at that moment, I had stumbled onto the “What Not to Do Newsletter.” The author, “Joe Staff,” wrote with good intentions but had effectively written a newsletter most partners wouldn’t want to read. Here’s where Joe went wrong: Too Long “This is the newsletter that never ends…” sounds like the childhood ditty, “This is the song that never ends.” Some staff write […]

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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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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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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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