In 2008, I participated in my first mission trip. A team of ten of us traveled to Narok, Kenya for 10 days to teach at a leadership conference for tribal pastors as well as to work with street children.

Initially I had assumed that each of us had to pay our own costs for the mission trip. Then I learned that we were expected to connect with sponsors to raise funds for the mission trip so that we wouldn't develop a consumer mindset of the mission trip by treating it like a vacation or thinking along the lines of "Did I get my money's worth out of this trip?"

At first, the thought of having to get fundraising partners and ask people for money scared me to death. Then I realized that relying on others to provide financial support for the mission allowed me to rely on God to supply all of our needs. Further, asking others to give financially to the mission trip allows others to take part in the ministry as well.

After prayer came the hard part -- getting the financial support for the trip. In this article, I will list some of the main steps involved in raising financial support for a mission trip.

A SAMPLE MISSION TRIP FINANCIAL SPONSORSHIP REQUEST LETTER

Guess what? I’m off again – this time I have been accepted as part of the Ukraine Teaching mission team! The trip is scheduled for September 11^th. We will spend almost two weeks in Ukraine and return on September 26^th.

The team will be ministering in Simferopol, which is the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in southern Ukraine, with a population of about 350,000. While there, we will be reaching out to university students and professors, most of whom are atheists. This trip will give me an opportunity to use my teaching skills and share my Christian faith with others.

May I be bold and ask two things from you?

1. Mark your calendar for September 11^th and start praying every day for our trip – not for any solutions, just the situation, and that everyone on the trip is able to put their faith in Him for everything.

2. Your prayerful consideration of giving financially to help meet this need.

If you have any questions or would like more information about the trip, you know how I love to talk! Thank you for your support and consideration.

 

Having worked in sales in the past, I remembered that for approximately every ten sales calls, I would get one sale. For that reason, I tried to come up with more potential financial partners than I thought I would need. Some resources suggest that you try to list 100 financial partners. As a rule of thumb, you shouldn't ask money from anyone with whom you don’t' have a personal relationship. So who might you ask?

· parents

· friends

· co-workers

· friends of the family

· doctors

· neighbors

· classmates

· former employers

· employers

· fraternity brothers

· sorority sisters

 

Which one of these types of communication works best for the person on your potential list?

· letter

· email

· phone call

· postcard

· face-to-face meeting

Here's what the people who will support your mission trip financially will want to know:

1. Why are you going?

2. How will the money be used?

3. What will you be doing during the trip?

4. Will you communicate with them during or after the trip to share the results?

5. Will God's work and will be done?

Here are some of the things you want to make sure to cover if you plan to write letters to potential financial supporters:

· Explain the purpose of your trip

· Give the reader details about the trip

· Explain to the reader why you chose to go on the trip

· Personalize your greeting

· Identify yourself and bring the reader up to date

· Tell the reader what activities are planned during the trip

· Explain the need for the financial support and costs associated with the trip

· Thank the reader

Handwritten letters are generally more successful than typed letters, but if you have terrible handwriting like I do, a typed letter will work.

After returning from your mission adventure, your financial supporters are going to want to hear about the trip and possibly see photos that you took while there. Be sure to send each of them a Thank You letter and provide them details of the success of the mission trip.

Post your photos online so that your sponsors can view them.