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We are excited that you are partnering with Reliant for your International Internships. If you have any questions regarding MTD, please contact your MTD Coach or email international@reliant.org.

We wanted to provide you with all the information you might need for raising support.  

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• A specific date (ex., do not say this summer, but use your event's exact dates).
• Your greeting must be a specific person (not "dear friend").
• Acknowledge your relationship with the reader. What can you say that will help the person identify with you? 
• Briefly bring your reader up to date on what you're doing. 
• Tell your part. Explain what the internship is, why you have decided to participate, and what you hope to see God accomplish.
• Explain the financial need. The purpose of your letter is to give your reader an opportunity to help. Make sure you explain exactly what is needed. You need to raise funds (in partnership with Reliant) to participate in this Kingdom work. Use specific dollar amounts. 
• Then, involve your reader by inviting them to take specific action. "Would you prayerfully consider giving $100, $250, or $500 towards ____?" Give the deadline for when the funds are needed.
• Acknowledge your relationship again with an emphasis on thanks, appreciation, gratitude, partnership, and commitment. This ties your opening acknowledgment to your request. 
• Close the letter, and if it is on paper, sign each one personally. 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 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 in 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.

How does a donor give? 

Because you are not employed by Reliant, the gifts will be given directly to 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 at reliant.org under the name of the program, and they will select you as the participant. Each mission trip will have its own reliant.org webpage for receiving donations. The detailed directions for donor giving for your specific program are in the HOW TO GIVE pdf you received in the initial email.

You will soon receive a Google doc that will update you with who the donations have been given from so that you can know if you are meeting your fundraising goal and also who to send thank you letters to, etc. It will be automatically updated a few times a week.

All gifts are tax-deductible. Most donors will give through your Reliant.org giving page. If you are going to a sensitive location, your giving page will not be searchable on Reliant.org, and will require you to provide a direct link to your potential partners.

Donors may also give by sending in a check to Reliant. Make sure they include your fund number in the memo line! Gifts to support these fundraising events sponsored by Reliant Mission are tax-deductible. Donors may give online or by check. If Reliant receives a check donation in the mail, we will then mail the donor a receipt. If a donation is made online, then the receipt will 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  fund number and your name listed on the check in the memo line)- if it doesn'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.

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You should have received a HOW TO GIVE link for your donors in an email from Reliant with instructions on How To Give towards the program, including a direct link for online giving. You can print the PDF to include in your ministry letter mailing or attach the PDF or link to an email.

How do I know if a donor has given

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You will receive a Google Doc that will automatically update multiple times a week and list the donors and amounts that have donated to the event that have specified your namebe able to track donations using Toolbox.reliant.org. Your login information is the same login that you use for Reliant.org.

Thank you and Reporting Back

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Once your program is completed, take time to write, call, or visit each of those who were gracious in investing in your call to serve the Lord through missions. 

Refunds/Excess Funds

Unfortunately, donor refunds are not given for gift donations due to IRS rules on charitable giving. In order for a gift to be considered tax-deductible, it must be under the control of the ministry and not an individual.

Should the participant raise excess funds, since the funds are not actually the participant's- they are given to the event fund stating that they would prefer that it goes towards that participant- it is up to the event director to either put those funds towards general event fund costs or help balance out the lack of support coming in for another participant.  

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 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.  

In the unlikely event of a change or cancellation to the event itself, funds would go back into the church's mission trip general fund.  

Making up for fundraising shortfall.

Three weeks prior to the start of the program, participants struggling with reaching their fundraising goal may receive an email from Reliant (or may be contacted by their event leader) asking for their plan for how they will complete their fundraising goal. Participants who are not fully funded by the fundraising deadline date chosen by the event leader may also choose to donate to the program, and may give online and choose themselves as the participant within the specific program fund. In this case, that donation would be tax deductible for the participant as well because you are giving to the event fund (not directly to the participant's fees).

Participants may also elect to opt out of support raising altogether and may just make a donation payment on reliant.org and choose themselves as the participant within the event fund. 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).