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We are excited that you are partnering with Reliant to attend and fund raise for a fundraise for an international event with your local church.  To help cover program costs, each participant is required to raise financial ministry support for the mission trip. This could be attained through one large donation or many smaller ones, or you may choose to donate to the event yourself to cover the fundraising goal. Each participant is responsible to reach for reaching their support-raising goal. The instructions below will help with reaching that support-raising goal. If you have any questions regarding fundraising, please contact Reliant by emailing events@reliant.org.

Contributions given to Reliant by donors are not considered personal gifts to you as an individual. The donor is giving to the specific Reliant mission trip fund that you are attending. All contributions are the sole property of Reliant Mission; Reliant’s Reliant's desire is to honor the donor preference of the contribution, but Reliant needs to have complete discretion and control over the use of the donated funds in order for a contribution to be considered tax deductible by the IRS.

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Some Christians feel uneasy about fundraising. "I don't want to impose on others" or "Everyone struggles with money, why should they give to me?" are common objections. Here are a few key reflections to set our mind arightminds right:

Fundraising is modeled in Scripture that (God's) workers are worthy of (God's) their wages. 

• 72 disciples sent out are to depend on the hospitality of others while on mission.   (Matt 10:5-15)
• Corinthian Christians give generously towards missionary work in Jerusalem. (2 Cor 8:6-15)
• Apostle Paul thanks the Philippians for sending money towards his missionary work. (Phil. 4:14-20)
• 1/10 of all was given to Levites, full-time workers in the temple. (Num.18:21)

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Fundraising teaches us dependence of on God.

We learn to trust God to provide the needs of the mission project. Donors learn to trust God as they give generously. This can challenge our overemphasis on "self-reliance.".

Fundraising involved the whole body of Christ in the mission.

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"Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people." Colossians 3:23

Name-storming a List of Potential Ministry Partners

Begin with an open mind and an open sheet of paper or spreadsheet.

Pray that the Lord will bring to your attention to names of individuals whom you should contact.

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What to say on the phone call

Download a sample phone call script here to have a template to follow. 

Always identify yourself.  Acknowledge Acknowledge how you know them as needed. 

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Ask directly: I would like to send you some information that would explain more and give you the chance to get involved, would . Would that be okay? 

Pause. 

If they hesitate or say "no," , assure them there is no obligation and ask again. Be sensitive but bold. 

If they say "yes," , thank them. 

Confirm contact information, including: 

• • email address
  • postal mailing address
  • phone number ("Was this the best number to reach you?")
  • Confirm how they would like to receive the information.  Email Email or Post Mail

Confirm your final actions: 

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If no one answers your call, it may be because they do not recognize your number. You can immediately send a text to quickly explain why you were calling. 

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Many of us know that people are busy, and we have to talk to people multiple times before they hear our whole message. The “phone"phone-letter-phone” phone" (distance) strategy does exactly that. The first phone call is simply to introduce a letter — “I’d — "I'd love to send you some information about our ministry…” ministry…" The letter is the informational piece, and the follow-up phone call gives us a place to ask for a decision. In the process, we get three connections with a potential partner before a decision is made.

Facebook is particularly good at the first part of the “phone"phone-letter phone” phone" strategy, making it “Facebook"Facebook-letter-phone.”  " A private Facebook message “Hey – it’s "Hey – it's been a long time! I’m I'm support raising to attend an international training program, and I was wondering if I could drop you some information about what we’re we're doing? What’s What's your best e-mail email address?” " can be quick and simple.

Ministry Team Letter

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Use the template letter provided (for either a mission trip or international summer program) below to edit as your own.   Please use the highlighted portions at the bottom of the template word doc in your own letter. 

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• A specific date (ex. do not say this summer, rather use the exact dates of your event).
• Your greeting must be a specific person (not "dear friend").
• Acknowledge your relationship with the reader.  What What can you say that will help the person identify with you? 
• Briefly bring your reader up to date on what you're doing. 
• Educate your reader. Explain what the mission trip is, and the needs that are of concern.  
• Tell your part. Why you have decided to participate, and what you hope to see God accomplish.
• Explain the financial need.  The The purpose of your letter is to give your reader an opportunity to help.  Make Make sure you explain exactly what is needed. Your event needs to raise funds (in partnership with Reliant) to send people like you. Use specific dollar amounts. 
• Then involve your reader by inviting them to take specific action. "Would you prayerfully consider giving?" Give the deadline for when the funds are needed.
• Acknowledge your relationship again with an emphasis on thanks, appreciation, gratitude, partnership and commitment.  This This ties your opening acknowledgement to your request. 
• Close the letter and if on paper, sign each one personally.  Add Add a "P.S." Commit yourself to a specific action you will be taking. Ex. "I'd like to call you next week so I can answer any questions you might have."  If If you are sending this in the mail, you should handwrite your P.S. to make the letter more personal. 
• Do not delete (or change) the statement at the bottom about gifts being tax-deductible, etc. provided by Reliant.
• Highlight a few key parts of the text that are the most important parts of your letter. However, use these sparingly. 
• Add a picture especially if you have one that shows you doing similar ministry work in the past. Smiling is best!
• Your contact information should be somewhere on the letter. Many people put it in the footer. 
• Enclose the instructions for online giving or sending their gift in the mail with the HOW TO GIVE pdf/link that was emailed to you.
• If you mail out a letter, it is very helpful to include a stamped self-addressed envelope for the donor to mail back their Reliant contribution to you.

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Because you are not employed by Reliant, the gifts will be given directly to the event the event (mission trip) fund and not to you as an individual. The donor should specify your name when they give by check so that you know how much support has been raised towards your goal. Or they can also give online on reliant.org under the name of the program and they will select you as the participant. Each mission trip will have it’s it's own reliant.org webpage for receiving donations. The detailed directions for donor giving for your specific program are in the HOW TO GIVE pdf that you received in the initial email.

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Gifts to support these fundraising events sponsored by Reliant Mission are tax-deductible. Donors may give online or by check.   If Reliant received a check donation in the mail, we will then mail the donor a receipt. If a donation is given online then the receipt would be emailed and found online.

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Sometimes the donor will choose to send the checks to you with a note, etc. As long as the check is written to Reliant you can then mail the checks to Reliant (check to make sure that it has your event fund number and your name listed on the check in the memo line)- if it doesn’tdoesn't please include a note to Reliant explaining that). If the check was written out to you, you will need to ask them to re-write the check to be written to Reliant. This is for tax giving purposes.

Reliant’sReliant's address is: 11002 Lake Hart Dr. Suite 100, Orlando, Fl 32832.

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If a participant does not raise enough support and/or has to back out of coming to the event the donors will typically not receive refunds for the participant's cancellation.  The The donors gave to the event fund (the intent may have been for the participant) but the gift was given to the event so it is up to Reliant management and the event director's discretion for how to use the funds from that withdrawn participant.  

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Participants may also elect to opt out of support raising altogether and may just make a donation payment on reliant.org and and choose themselves as the participant within the event fund.  In In this case that payment would be tax deductible for the participant as well because you are giving to the event fund (not directly to the participant's fees). 

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