We are excited that you are partnering with Reliant to attend and fund raise for a mission trip 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 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 register@reliant.org.

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

Biblical Perspective on Fundraising

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 aright:

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In Matthew 7:7-10, we are told to ask, to see, and to knock. 

The goal of developing a support team is to meet a genuine need in God's kingdom by actively challenging people to heartfelt, generous, and cheerful giving. 

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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.

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Start by developing an initial list of potential mission donors. Fundraising is built on people connecting to people. Most of us already know a great number of people: friends and family, co-workers, Christians at church. All of these are candidates to contact.

Brainstorming rules

• No name is disqualified!
• Do not limit based on who might be able to give.
• Do not limit based on who might have specific interest.

• No need to add contact information - that comes later. It will slow you down now.

• No need to sort or prioritize - that comes later. It will slow you down now.

• Let it sit. Throughout each day, as names come to mind, write them down.

  Download the Namestorm list here.

First Contact:

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Communicate with potential partners briefly about your program and ministry by making a phone call. 
Ask potential partners clearly and confidently if you can send them information about the program you will be attending by mail or email. 

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Save "catch-up" or other topics for the end of the conversation.

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. 

Maybe something like this...

Facebook

A Facebook message can also work as a first contact before sending your letter (instead of making a phone call).  

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Facebook is particularly good at the first part of the “phone-letter phone” strategy, making it “Facebook-letter-phone.”  A private Facebook message “Hey – it’s been a long time! 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 doing? What’s your best e-mail address?” can be quick and simple.

Ministry Team Letter

You can send this either in the mail or via email depending on which way they mentioned was the best way to send the information. 

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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. 

• Download the Mission Trip Support Letter Template Here.
• Download the International Summer Program Ministry Team Letter Template Here.

When writing a ministry team letter, the personal segments in the sample letter obviously must be rewritten. However, the body of the letter should always include: 

• 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 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 purpose of your letter is to give your reader an opportunity to help.  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 ties your opening acknowledgement to your request. 
• Close the letter and if 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 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.

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 on reliant.org under the name of the program and they will select you as the participant. Each mission trip will have 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.

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 twice a few times a week (typically on Monday and Thursday afternoons).

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.

Sometimes the donor will choose to send the checks to you with a note, etc. As long as the checkcheck is written to Reliant you can then mail the checks to Reliant (check to make sure that it has your name as the program participant 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.

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How do I know if a donor has given to the program on my behalf?

You will receive a google doc that will automatically update bi-weekly at the beginning and end of each multiple times a week that will list the donors and amounts that have donated to the event that have specified your name.

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Thank you and Reporting Back

Avoid ingratitude. If you fail to thank people, you communicate that you don't care about them. 

We suggest sending brief, handwritten thank you notes the same day as you connect with them.  

When to send thank you notes

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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 participants- 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 that are struggling with reaching their fundraising goal may receive an email from Reliant (or may be contacted by their event leader) asking for their plan on how they will complete their fundraising goal. Participants that 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).