Spirit of Giving

Christmas time is just around the corner (feels weird to say that as I write before Halloween), and I want to take a second and remind you about the opportunities and needs that are presented us during this season.

Backpacks for Appalachia – These are due really soon. We have become a pickup site for the GBC this year. Several of your churches participate, and the pickup info is on Nov 5^th at after noon at Northside. So, if you have your backpacks, you can bring them to Northside between 8-4 on Tuesday and Wednesday, or Thurs before lunch. Everything has to be boxed and ready by Thursday at noon. This is a needed and worthwhile ministry. If you need info, or want to participate individually, here is the website http://missiongeorgia.org/backpacks-for-appalachia/.

Lottie Moon – Of course, most of you know about the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. It is our biggest offering of the year. This offering goes strictly to missionaries on the field and the supplies they need to carry out their ministries. This offering makes up nearly 60% of the IMB’s budget for the year. We have missionaries from the Mell Association serving overseas, and this helps keep them there. Info on the LMCO is located here - http://www.imb.org/main/lottie-moon/default.asp. As you may know the IMB has made large-scale cutbacks this year because of funding shortfalls, and we must help! Goal again for this year is $175,000,000 (for you and me that get confused with 0’s, that’s $175 million), let’s help them reach it. Five billion people need it.

Santa’s Helpers – This is an opportunity to give and to volunteer at the same time. Through this ministry we give 1200 underprivileged children in Tift County. This year they have experienced a cut in funding. Since Jog for Jake did not go this year, Santa’s Helpers lost $15,000 of their $20,000 budget. This means that instead of helping 500 families, they will only be able to help 300, as well as reducing the number of toys. We took up over $3400 to help make up the shortfall. You as individuals and as churches can really help meet this need. And of course, they are always in need of volunteers to help pack (Dec 7-11) and distribution (Dec 17^th). This year’s distribution will be at the county fairgrounds.

End of Year Gifts – Many non-profits in our area benefit from end-of-year donations. After you talk with the Lord (and your financial advisor, if you wish) consider giving to one of the location organizations such as Christian Women’s Job Corps, Ruth’s Cottage/Patticake House, Pregnancy Care Center, Lifehouse Ministries, Called to Care, Brother Charlie’s, or you could also give a gift to the association (we don’t turn money away).

Of course there are others, as we are commanded to look after the orphans and widows, to visit the sick and imprisoned, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and give cups of cold water in Jesus name. We are to be the hands and feet of Jesus all the time, but let this time of year, when Jesus came to earth as the greatest gift and most humble servant ever.

Let me be the first to say it J, Merry Christmas!

Mechanics of Pregnancy Centers

As most of you know, I work for a Pregnancy Care Center in addition to my work as a director of missions for the Mell Baptist Association. At the PCC, we are preparing for one of our annual fundraisers; a 5K color run. I write on the sanctity of life a couple of times a year, but usually directly about abortion and the Christian call to protect life. This time I wanted to give you some insight into how we operate.

This year we have implemented an additional strategy for advertising, and I feel like I am always pushing and pushing this event on social media. Event creation, then sharing, tweeting, retweeting, promoting, boosting, inviting, and telling others to invite, share, tweet, etc, are constantly coming from me (this doesn't count the direct fundraising I do to underwrite the cost of the event). So why do I (the PCC) and other non-profits spend so much time fundraising? Well, simple right, they can't make or sell anything to make a profit, and very few are self-supporting.

So we have about three fundraisers a year: a banquet, a baby bottle campaign, and for the last two years we have had a 5K/1M color run. These fundraisers make up a little less than half of the financial needs that we have to support an executive director and four part-time staff, including a nurse manager, patient manager, advancement manager (me), and an office manager. We definitely don't do it for the money, it's a service to the kingdom, women, and children. Then there are the volunteers who don't get any remuneration, and do everything from being patient advocates, nursing, newsletters, preparing food, counting coins, serving on the board of directors, and aiding with events. This ministry could not continue without them.

The other funding for our center comes from regular individual givers, churches and a few businesses. These are crucial to the continuation of our ministry as well. All these help us minister to women with unplanned pregnancies in at least eight counties. They help us share the gospel to over 100 women, and preserve the lives of 50-60 babies each year in the most recent years.

All that to conclude that these fundraisers (and their seemingly endless promotion) allow children to take their first breaths, and mothers to be rescued from the lingering scars of abortion. Thank you for all that you do, especially those who labor in prayer for us. If you are a runner, or know of someone who is, tell them to join us for our Color Me Baby color run on Oct 24th. You can get all the info on the colormebabyrun.com site. If you want to donate, you can do that as well through the site or through our Facebook page. Pray that it goes well, and that the Lord with use it to provide for us! Hope to see you there!

Non-Profit Funding

Working for two non-profits, the Mell Baptist Association and the Pregnancy Care Center of Tiftarea, I understand the importance of relying on funds of donors. They are both ministries, so we walk by faith, not by sight. However in the world we live in, it is hard for boards or teams to look at a previous year's income and not become overly cautious (this is coming from the one that is happy to spend and spend, just ask those I work with).

This diagram fits the situation of the PCC more so than the Mell. It shows all the places that we anticipate that funding might come from each year. It's a diagram I copied off the web, so it is not completely the way we operate, but close. One of the components is "special events." Many non-profits have them, and we are no different. We are doing the preparations right now for our third of three that we usually do each year. We raise a good deal of our budget through special events. We are grateful to every giver who comes and gives. However, if we rely on events to carry us through the year, it is hard to plan long-term. Good ministries should plan long-term. It is so we will not have to live simply year to year.

One of the BIG components missing from the diagram is our monthly supporters. Churches and individuals who are monthly or quarterly sponsors for us keep us going in between events. Long-term planning needs long-term funding. The best way to have long-term funding is to find people with a passion for your organization or you cause, and give them an outlet for their passion. Sometimes it will be financial, but sometimes it will take on other forms. The former model is event based, but sooner or later people get tired of it, or just come back each year without bringing new people. So at the PCC, we are trying to move toward our operating budget being generated by monthly giving, and our larger needs being done with event money. That's the goal, but after several years, we are not doing so well with our paradigm shift.