One of the most unique and sometimes frustrating aspects about serving in full time missions is in the realm of finances. Often times, we refer to full-time YWAMers as YWAM staff. Pretty much anywhere you go in the world, if some one works as "staff" they are paid by their employer… but not in YWAM! All YWAM staff are what I refer to as "professional volunteers."
These professional volunteers depend on God to provide financially for them, and that provision often comes through people who give… which is a spiritual way of saying that YWAMers need to fundraise their living and ministry expenses.
For anyone thinking about getting involved in full-time missions, the questions about finances are never far behind. Sadly, the need to raise finances deters many people from getting involved in full-time ministry altogether.
People all over the world are in need of some Good News, so many are at the end of their rope and hungry for hope, healing, and wholeness… hungry for Jesus.
That’s why we need more missionaries! To make more missionaries, we want to make sure that you get pointed in the right direction when it comes to fundraising.
The Most Important Thing to Know About Fundraising
I have seen many people jump into fundraising, get frustrated, and quit. What most people don’t realize is that fundraising is a skill that needs to be learned and practiced! If you suddenly decide learn a new instrument, you wouldn’t expect yourself to be instantly good at that new instrument… fundraising is the same way! So give your self a break, allow yourself to make mistakes, and give things time.
3 Basic fundraising tools
1. We made a Fundraising Kit for you!
We put together a very simple and basic guide to help you get started in fundraising, the best part is that this guide is FREE! Download the Fundraising Guide.
2. Books to check out
There are lots of books around the topic of fundraising. Here are two books we suggest to YWAM staff and they can be purchased straight from Amazon:
3. Online Training & Courses
There are lots of online training courses these days, one course that our staff have used is through the YWAM e-learning site. Although the site and course are not visually appealing, the content is both free and was designed with YWAM staff in mind.
Lukas : December 18, 2023
Mandi : May 17, 2022