7 Fundraising Tips for Your Short-Term Mission Trip

Carrie Mills • Jan 25, 2016

So, you’re ready to go on a short-term mission trip. Awesome! You’ve done your research, completed your application and gotten your immunizations. Now comes the best part: fundraising.

For many, raising support is the toughest part of going on a mission trip.

There are so many myths and falsehoods surrounding support raising, ( Fundraising is asking for handouts. It will alienate my friends. It’s another step I have to do before I can start my real ministry.… ) that it’s easy to lose sight of the blessing fundraising brings to all who are involved. You’re not just asking people to write a check, you’re inviting them to partner with you in ministry.

As you start your fundraising journey, here are some practical tips on how to raise funds.

Write a letter.

A support letter is the most foundational tool in the fundraising toolbox. Use your letter to outline your calling to serve overseas, what you will be doing and your need for financial and spiritual partnership. This can be sent via snail mail or email but should be personal, explanatory and direct.

Make a list of people to send the letter to, starting with the people who have already invested in your life: family, mentors, friends, neighbors and teachers. Then, expand the list to people in your circle who are passionate about the Great Commission and seeing it fulfilled.

Explain the “Why?” with the “What?”

As you begin telling people about what you’re doing and where you’re going, whether through your support letter or in-person, don’t forget to tell them why you are going .

People support ministries they believe in. Sure, you’re going to be doing awesome things on your trip, but sharing the testimony of your calling to missions paints a bigger picture of God’s work in your life, which will continue long after you return home.

Make it easy for them to contribute.

If your supporters have to find a checkbook and a stamp (two things that are growing increasingly rare around the house), they’ll probably forget to make a donation — no matter how good their intentions are. Give your supporters multiple options for giving : a link in an email to give online, a post on Facebook with your giving link or even a pre-stamped return envelope with your letter.

Share about your church and agency.

Having the accountability of a sending church and a missions agency gives you more legitimacy in the eyes of your supporters. When communicating with supporters, give them information about what your sending church and agency do and the role both are playing in your trip.

Share their websites with your donors and provide the email addresses of your church and agency contacts. If you are going with TEAM , encourage your supporters to contact us if they have any questions about the ministry area or work you’ll be doing.

Break it down.

Your supporters will appreciate a good analogy. It’ll take 168 café lattes to support you each month? That’s great! You’ll be able to help people better understand the big picture of your financial goals when you find a fun way to break down your expenses.

Follow up.

When someone sends out hundreds of letters but fails to follow up with the recipients individually, it’s called the “spray and pray” approach. Often, initial letters and emails don’t get a response simply because people forget or are too busy — not because they don’t want to support you.

Send out letters in small batches, and in the letter, let the reader know you will be following up with them within a week. Then, personally follow up with a face-to-face visit, phone call or Skype session. This allows you and your potential supporter to have a more candid two-way discussion about your ministry.

Say thank you.

Remember to say thank you to your support team in multiple, meaningful ways . Before you leave, drop a personalized note to your supporters thanking them for their faithful partnership. While you are serving, tell your supporters about how you are seeing their prayers at work and the tangible ways their gifts are impacting the Kingdom. You can do this through pictures on social media or an email newsletter.

In reality, fundraising may feel like the hardest thing you’ll ever have to do. But it will probably also be one of the most rewarding things you’ll ever do. You will learn to trust the Lord with your ministry before you even set foot in another country. When you ask for support, you are inviting someone into a Great Commission partnership with you that will bless them just as much as it blesses you (if not more!).

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Bridging Dissonance: Finding Connection in Music and the Gospel

By Emily Sheddan • 18 Jul, 2024

TEAM worker Luke Standridge and his fellow musicians use music to build connections to faith in Japan. In music terms, dissonance creates movement or even suspense in a song. It invites tension. That tension is what helps grab our ear’s attention and the interchanging of these notes with pleasant melodious parts is what makes music such a delight. In a similar way, God is using music to grab people’s attention and catalyze Gospel impact in the largely unreached nation of Japan. TEAM Global Worker, Luke Standridge moved to Japan in 2019 with no clear direction on how he was going to use his passion for composing music while doing ministry. However, after Luke got involved with a local church and began developing deep friendships, the Lord opened unimaginable doors for Luke that in time, coordinating his creative skills with sharing the Word. “People Need to Come to Japan!” Growing up as one of ten kids in a family that was heavily involved in ministry and missions, Luke never considered that it would one day be a part of his own journey. In 2016, via a Japanese language learning class in Indiana, Luke and his brother had the opportunity to travel to Japan. Hearing, learning, and using the language in the context of Japanese culture was the goal. While it was Luke’s first international trip – even his first trip on a plane - it was also his first time hearing about the spiritual condition of the Japanese people. “And just through that, God did a huge 180 change on my heart,” says Luke. “More people should come here as global workers. People need to come to Japan!” The call God was laying on Luke’s heart is echoed when looking at the spiritual landscape of Japan. The nation is home to the second largest unreached people group in the world. It is one of the most difficult places for the Gospel to take hold and grow. Japan is also home to a deep and rich culture that prizes creative arts from pottery to ink to music to anime – a fact that would help Luke find his niche in life and ministry. God’s Guiding Hand In the short three-month timespan of that first trip, Luke found that opportunities came naturally to share about life, and people’s curiosity for Christianity grew. “I left Japan knowing I just had to come back,” Luke shares. “Even if I didn’t get back to the same area, I knew Japan was where God wanted me to be.” The Lord is good all the time and all the time the Lord is good. His plans do not fail. Luke returned to Japan in 2019, and less than a week after arriving, he was put in touch with a renowned composer in Japan. The composer saw some of Luke’s music and invited him to help write the music for a beloved in-country animated show. But God wasn’t finished yet! Fast forward a year, and more connections and opportunities allowed Luke to help with music for Pokémon - a franchise that has brand recognition around the world and was being developed into a TV series in Japan. Luke recalls how the Lord began using these connections in the production world to open doors for Gospel conversations. One night while having dinner in downtown Tokyo with famous artists and composers from all around the country, Luke was asked about his ministry-focused visa. This was a rare opportunity in a setting with people otherwise uninterested in Christianity. Luke shares, “The whole time I could see God’s hand in guiding the entire thing.”

Connecting in a New Kind of “Neighborhood”

By Lorena de la Rosa and Suzanne Pearson • 13 Jun, 2024

Through creative arts and other forms of innovative outreach, “The Neighborhood” is creating connections to the Gospel and the love of Jesus. CONNECTION. It’s a common word with powerful implications. Dictionary.com defines connection as a joining or linking together; a relationship between people or objects that unites or binds them together. God has created each of us with a deep need for connection with Him as well as connection with others. Hebrews 10:24-25 speaks to this, as the writer exhorts, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” This God-given need for connection lies at the heart of a creative and innovative ministry in Japan known as “The Neighborhood.” TEAM Japan global worker, Kelly and her family created The Neighborhood as a place where connections are formed through creative arts, educational opportunities, and simply just providing a space for people to be together. A Family Calling The journey to the creation of The Neighborhood began over 5,000 miles away from Tokyo, in California where Kelly, her husband Jeff, and their five children were living. The kids were the first to sense God’s calling to missions, and asked why their family wasn’t serving in this way. How Kelly and her family came to TEAM is a God-story in and of itself. “God placed a TEAM Japan worker at our lunch table the same week that the kids posed that question to us,” Kelly recalls. “We had never heard of TEAM and so we thought, ‘let’s check this out.’ After that, God just kept confirming that we were supposed to be here.” After a period of fundraising and with much excitement, the family of seven moved to Japan in 2014. For the first five years, Kelly and Jeff served as a part of other TEAM ministry initiatives, but they began to sense a stirring for something new. Creating The Neighborhood Kelly and her family truly have a deep gift for hospitality, and regularly opened up their home to others they met in Tokyo. They saw a great need for people to have a place to gather and connect, and they wondered what doors the Lord might be opening for them to meet that need. “About a year before we were to return the States on home assignment, we were just really thinking about our future in Japan,” Kelly says. “We saw a need for people to have a ‘third place’ – a place that’s not home and it’s not work. They didn’t have a church community or any other place where they could meet people and just connect.” Kelly goes on to explain that in Japan, the culture is such that people don’t generally invite each other into their homes, but as her family did so, people embraced that opportunity. “This idea formed in all of our hearts of a student ministry center – a place where we can create community and learning,” says Kelly. “It was born out of what we were already doing in our home, but seeing how we could expand it and have better space.” God’s Provision What happened next is a true testament to God’s provision. Kelly, Jeff, and the kids returned to the States and began sharing their vision for The Neighborhood with their supporters and churches who responded generously. Upon returning to Japan, the search was on for the right space. “We had a Christian realtor that we told our dream to, and he just went looking for it,” Kelly recalls. When the realtor found a 5-story apartment building, he said, “It’s kind of out of your budget but it has what you need and want.” The Lord provided the funds and the family moved into the space in November 2019. They now occupy all but the ground floor, with living space for their family as well as classrooms, areas to study or hang out, and guest rooms for exchange students or others who need a place to stay overnight. The first floor is occupied by a pizza shop – a welcome amenity for the many groups and students who visit The Neighborhood. “It’s very convenient!” Kelly says with a laugh. The Neighborhood began to see lots of activity right away until the pandemic hit in early 2020. During the height of the quarantine, Kelly and Jeff used the time to redecorate the space and plant gardens outside the building. Then as the restrictions eased, they invited individual students or families over for meals and fellowship. It wasn’t until March 2023 that The Neighborhood was able to fully open again as intended. Kelly shares that despite the setbacks of COVID, the Lord continued to provide the funds to pay the rent.