Betty Barnett

YWAM Publishing, 1991

This book provides:

Friend Raising has been recently re-released and re-promoted among Support Raising specialists.  Betty has been serving in a support-based role since the early 1980s.  This book contains materials she developed and published in the early '90s. More than giving a guide for how to effectively raise funds, this book overcomes mindset obstacles held by missionaries and churches related to the fund-raising process.  It may speak well in a context like YWAM where the idea of going by faith on nothing can be romanticized.  

It emphasizes how support-raising is helped by: 

• Confirmed Calling (submitting to parents, spiritual authorities before pursuing ministry)
• Friendship (Ministering to people) 
• Generosity (interdependent generous giving between missionary and ministry partner)
• Communication (George Mueller tirelessly communicated to churches about his work among orphans and described they had been helped by generosity)

In Reliant's context where partner organizations and missionaries are already seeking to fund their ministries through support, I think it would take our typical reader backwards.   I would think it's helpful either long before an applicant comes to us, or after they have raised support when they need to humanize their interactions with supporters.  Further, it seems the author would have expected that a funding goal could be met through the immediate circle of friends that the would-be missionary has.

Since this material was gathered in the 1980s, the dollar amounts don't fit our thinking today.  Eg, families of four who are living of $100/month instead of $700/month are mentioned; $5000 sounds like a world-stopping momentous gift, and a "successful" missionary is living off of $700/month. 

Helpful Points of Reference: 

• Chapter 8 - Testimonies.  Even with outdated numbers, the acts of faith and provision are encouraging
• The included Stories remind us of listening to God, acting on his daily guidance. 
• Interdependence vs. Independence; Mutual generosity vs. Transactional generosity. 
• George Mueller's fund-raising re-interpreted - p. 51-53. 
• Chapter 6 - the actual steps of fund-raising include an invitation. Very key perspective. p.79-82
• appendices include communication tracking guides, budgets, friendship (ie. contact) records.  These are basic graphs and may help someone who doesn't love tech-driven solutions. 

When to Recommend this book: 

I would think it's helpful either long before an applicant comes to us , or after they have raised support, when they need to humanize their interactions with supporters.  Further, it seems the author would have expected that a funding goal could be met through the immediate circle of friends that the would-be missionary has.