Fundraising Plan

We are excited about the summer God has planned for you! Fundraising is an important part of the training experience for many reasons. There is the obvious, in that it provides the finances to make the program possible, but there are also less obvious reasons. Support-raising is a journey of faith that helps to shift your trust from the concrete securities around you to God as your provider. Many people walk away from the support raising journey amazed at the route God took to provide. The thought of raising $$$ can be intimidating. But, remember, just as God has led you to be part of this program, He will also provide the finances to make this experience possible—be confident of that! Every person on staff at Kingdom Building Ministries understands the journey you are about to embark upon. We all live on faith; responsible for raising our support as well. Know that you have the prayer support of our entire staff team as we will pray specifically for you during our staff prayer meetings. 

Some key things to remember when planning your support raising strategy are creativity, persistence, and prayer. While we do believe that God will provide your need, we know that part of God’s plan is for you to be actively involved in this process.

As a first step in the fundraising process, we highly recommend sending a support letter to EVERYONE you know. This may seem a bit awkward, but we have seen that often the people we least suspect to join our support team can sometimes be our most generous supporters. Who are we to decide whom the Lord may choose to make this all possible? Listed below are detailed steps to accomplish this first step:
 

1. CREATE A MAILING LIST...

...with the name of ANYONE you think might have even the slightest interest in supporting you with prayer and finances. We suggest you need 125-150 people on your list! Consider these groupings as you develop your list:
  • Family Members (immediate and distant)  
  • Personal friends 
  • Church friends 
  • Teachers/professors, only those you personally know 
  • Neighbors 
  • Work associates 
  • Parents’ friends 
  • Parents’ business associates 
  • Christmas card list 
  • Facebook friends

2. WRITE A LETTER...

...which explains clearly what you will be doing this summer and include information about your training experience. Enclosed is a sample letter to use as a guide. But be sure to make your letter your own! Your friends and family want to hear from your heart about why you are engaging in this discipleship training experience. Make it personal and creative! You can use color to make it interesting and even include your picture at the top if you want! If you’d like additional thoughts on your support letter, email a copy to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for review before you send it out.

3. ENCLOSE RESPONSE FORMS.

We’ve created a response form for you to send along with your support letter. There are three forms on one sheet of paper included in this packet.
  • Write your name on each of the forms, photocopy them as needed (using a different color than your letter), cut them out, and send one with each letter. 
  • Be sure to also enclose return envelopes with your letter, addressed to Kingdom Building Ministries. If you mail your letters in #10 envelopes (standard), you can then place addressed #9 envelopes inside, to be used for your supporters’ responses.

4. PERSONAL TOUCH COUNTS!

Remember that everyone likes to hear from YOU—yourself! Be sure to hand sign EACH of your letters, and we would suggest you write some sort of personal note at the bottom of each letter. 
  • In every case possible, be sure to share with people personally (i.e. verbally). Whether it is through one-on-one appointments, phone calls, presentations over coffee, sharing with a Sunday school class, etc. A personal contact increases the probability of gaining a donor by almost 50%!

5. FOLLOW UP!

Designate a certain amount of time after you mailed the letters for follow-up (2-3 weeks is ideal). Contact all those who you have not received a response from and simply ask them if they received your letter, if they had questions, and whether they are interested in joining your support team.

6. KEEP PEOPLE INFORMED AND INVOLVED.

Once a person has given towards your summer, be sure and keep them updated as to how much support you have raised and how much you have left to raise. You would be amazed to know of the number of people who give a second and third time because the person in need kept them updated on their progress. 

7. BE CREATIVE!

In addition to sending a support letter, below are other creative ideas successfully used by past students in their support raising journey:
  • Ask your employer (or a friend’s employer) to consider donating a portion of a day (or an evening’s) proceeds to your training experience! (Chick-fil-a will often consider this opportunity.)
  • Check out this coffee fundraiser!   
  • Host a spaghetti or chili dinner, share about the ministry opportunity God has led you toward and ask people to consider joining your prayer and financial support team.
  • Personally host (or ask a friend/family member to host) a garage/yard sale with proceeds donated to your training experience. (You may want to let shoppers know about how the proceeds are going to be used and place “suggested donation” as the price of your items.) Be sure to ask all your friends and family to donate anything they don’t need to your garage sale!
  • Ask your pastor or small group leader if you could have permission to share about this training/mission opportunity God has called you toward with your church or group members. 
  • Organize/participate in a bike or walk-a-thon.
  • Get a job. (Let your potential employer know what you are working to raise money for.)
  • Sell pizza or candy.
  • Ask your friends or church group to help you put on a car wash.
  • Design a t-shirt and sell it!
  • Do temporary odd jobs for a donation: raking leaves, shoveling snow, babysitting, window washing, garage cleaning, etc. Again, be sure to let people know what you’re going to do with the money you earn.
  • Hold a bake sale. 
  • Hold an auction with donated items  
  • Sell items on Ebay or Craigslist
  • Utilize Facebook to get the word out! One option is to organize a Facebook group and add friends so you can communicate with them about what God is leading your toward and invite them to participate in prayer or financial support!
No doubt you get the idea! We are praying for you in your efforts. Be sure to let us know if you have any questions or concerns. We have seen God faithfully provide for many students and believe and are praying with you that God will provide for you!

Parent Category: Training