Beam South Africa: April 2008

"Name storming"

Start by developing an initial list of potential sponsors.

As with brainstorming, in name storming there is one cardinal rule ANYTHING GOES. No name is disqualified. Just mentally erase any clouds of doubt from your mind and let there be "blue sky". Don't decide for an individual whether or not he or she is interested. If you limit yourself to those you feel will or can give, you may be prematurely disqualifying those God wants to become sponsors. Later you will need to prioritize whom to contact first, but for now, don't disqualify anyone! God’s ways are not always our ways! (Isaiah 55:8) Many times God reminds us that He is in control by providing in the most unexpected ways.

Develop a list of at least 50 potential partners. As you name storm, associate various professions, businesses, and places with any friends and acquaintances they bring to mind. To aid you, we have provided some thought provokers.

Take plenty of time an hour or more to mull over these categories. Push yourself...see how many names you can put on your list.

After taking an hour or so for free wheeling "name storming," label each contact either "T" for top priority, "M" for medium priority, or "L" for low priority. These designations refer to your evaluation of how likely they are to give. Now you are ready to go!

THOUGHT PROVOKERS

Family members Former co-workers Friends of parents

Sorority sisters Fraternity Brothers H.S. / College Friends

Church Elders Church Friends Prayer Group

People Led to Christ Sunday school Classes Bible Study Groups

Students Missions Committee Christian Business Groups

Pastors Neighbors (present / past) Coach / Teammates

Former Teachers College Professors Accountants

Parents' employees Dentist / Orthodontist Doctor

Retired people Community Clubs Community leaders

Barber Church newspaper ads Guy at Starbucks

Civic leaders Family attorney Christmas card list

Insurance salesmen Realtors Missionary societies

Parents' employer Civic clubs Life Groups @ church

Letter / Telephone Strategy

Step 1: Write

Now that you have” name stormed” to develop a list of potential sponsors, you need to write your letter to your potential supporters. Try to start mailing your letters within one-week. You’ll be glad you did!

You can probably see more success by handwriting a personal letter presenting your needs and then making a personal phone call to ask potential partners to join your team.

For time, you can easily use a computer. But try to personalize each one, even briefly, with a paragraph (and don’t forget to change the greeting!) The main body of your letter can be copied substantially "as is", but you already know that . . .

Be sure to include these in all of your letters:

Specific date.

Remember they are a person, not a Dear Friend..

Connect with the person. What do/did you have in common? Help her say, "I know who you are!"

Bring your reader up to date with what you're doing.

Educate your reader. What IS a missions project, what’s the purpose, why you have decided to participate, and what do you hope to accomplish?

Explain your need. The purpose of your letter is to give your reader an opportunity to help. Make sure you explain exactly what you need.

Involve your reader by asking him for specific action, based on the needs you have shared. This can include challenging him to cover part or all of the cost of the summer project. State your deadline for your money needs. Specific action includes not only your request, but also your commitment to follow up by telephone if they do not respond by mail.

Acknowledge your relationship again with an emphasis on thanks, appreciation, gratitude, partnership and commitment. This ties your opening acknowledgement to your request.

Include your telephone #, address (school and home, with dates you’ll be at home); e-mail address might be a plus too.

Close the letter and sign it (you can type your name so it is easier to read, but always personally sign it).

At the end of this section is a sample letter.

Pray

“God is faithful who has called you and He also will bring it to pass.”

- (I Thessalonians 5:24)

“Don’t be anxious for anything, but by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” - (Philippians 4:6, 7)

Prayer, focus, and a little time and you are done with the letter—ready to see how God works it all out!

Not Such a Good Idea. . .

Never apologize for writing or calling a person whom you wish to involve in helping you meet a need.

You are providing them with an opportunity to be involved in a spiritual ministry through resources God has blessed them with. Remember, the giver needs to give far more than any person or cause needs to receive a gift. "Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account" (Philippians 4:17).

Preparing to Mail your Letters -

Get those stamps and envelopes. (Remember, if you want, you can use cash gifts, when your supporters specifically tell you they do not need a receipt, to cover these expenses.)

Enclose a self addressed return envelope for a quick and easy response. However this is not necessary. Step 2, a call is more effective than a stamp.

Step 2: Call

If it is getting close to a deadline and you still haven’t heard from someone (probably more than one person, actually!), don’t panic. This is when you may need to give the person a call. Many really do want to be a part of your support team, but most people suffer from "Information Overload." Unless it's from a good friend or your parents, how much of your mail do you really read? Mail is easy to ignore or forget. If you haven’t heard back from them, they may have overlooked your letter unintentionally or just forgotten to follow through. It happens all the time!

Time Frame: You have a lot of money to raise in a short period of time. A follow up phone call will help you find the people God already has “called” to be on your support team.

Courtesy to your sponsors: Many people will want to help you but won't unless you call to answer any questions and to get their decision. Your phone call takes the burden of response off them and puts it on you. We know this is probably a “crunch” time for you, but anything you can do in this arena will be worth it in the long run.

It’s getting harder and harder to reach people by phone so sometimes an email or a text message still works. It might depend on the age of the person who you are trying to get back with.

The Phone call:

“Hey Mr. Wilson, this is Kari. I am wondering if you received my letter. “(Wait for an answer. If they can’t remember of they remember getting it but can’t remember what you wrote, explain the gist of your letter over the phone.) If ‘yes’ and/or after explaining it again… ask, "Have you had a chance to pray about a decision?” . (Wait again)

If someone decides to become a partner--arrange a time to stop by and pick up his or her check. If they live out of town, ask them to mail it in the self addressed envelope that you enclosed with your letter.

Note: Your partner's check must be payable to Cornerstone Church of Boulder Valley in order for him to receive a tax-deductible receipt. If made out to you, you can still accept the check, but the donor will not receive a receipt.

After getting a person's decision, always ask them to refer you to other people who might like to invest. Have a pen ready! Sometimes they really do know people who would be even more enthusiastic than they are, so don’t forget to follow through!

Step 3: Thank

Send a thank you note the same day you get a response if you have even a few minutes to write. It's too easy to procrastinate, misplace information or forget. Be sure to keep a record of this so you'll know who has and who has not been thanked.

A verbal thank-you is important, but your letter is an even more important part of showing your appreciation and developing a friendship with your partner.

Also remember to send a thank you to those individuals who gave you contacts. There is no need to mention the amount given by them. Just say they were positive, encouraging, and helpful.

Completion: Checks and Cash Processing

The money you have received for your missions project should be mailed to Andy or directly to Cornerstone Church. If you mail them to the church, make sure they know they are for you and the trip. There are some important specifics you need to know. If you want the money ready for your summer AND you want happy support team partners, don’t skip this section. The process is considerably less painful than ever but still needs your careful attention!

Make sure all checks are made payable to Cornerstone Church of Boulder Valley. Let your supporters know this before they write their check (even though some will still forget. It’s inevitable!) For those of you on staff or interning with CCC, you can have checks made out to Campus Crusade for Christ and submit an internal account transfer.

If the sponsor prefers to make his check payable to you and does not want a receipt, that works. See step 3 below. Just be sure they understand that they will not receive a receipt!

If you have cash gifts, replace with a single check of your own payable to Cornerstone Church. Please note on the check memo line that this is to replace cash gifts. You can save some of the cash to pay for expenses related to the project such as stamps, printing, envelopes, shots and travel per diem.

Send all of your checks in the envelope by July 1st deadline to Andy

Andy McCullough

c/o CCC

5485 Conestoga Court Ste 230

Boulder, CO 80301

If a CCC staff member would like to sponsor you from his personal staff account we can do an account transfer. Email Andy their name and acct # and the amount...

Double-check everything before mailing. Make a photocopy of all your checks for your records in case there is a problem at some point in the process.

IMPORTANT: All checks from partners must be sent to our regional office by you. July 1^st enables me to call and see if how everyone is doing on their support and make sure we have a plan for next two weeks.

Sample letter on following page…

May 1, 2008

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Turk,

Hello from Boulder! I hope you are doing well. Lisa and I really had a great time at dinner last Sunday with you and the Brantley’s.

I wanted to bring you up to date on my plans for this summer. As you probably know, I graduate soon with a degree in nursing. I’m in the tough courses right now, so I’m working hard with the hope that graduation is just around the corner.

Recently I received my acceptance to participate on a summer missions project with my church in Boulder. I’ll be going South Africa for the last two weeks of July along with 16 others from my church and around the country.

Our Missions Project will proclaim the compassionate words and deeds of the gospel through serving AIDS orphans. South Africa is now the epicenter of the AIDs Crises and has 1 millions AIDs orphans. Our team will be working in a township outside of the capital, Pretoria. We will serve alongside a local mission, Beam Africa, which runs a Development Center in this township. Every day Bream feeds and helps meets the needs of over 100 kids. Most of these kids are orphans who live on their own in tin shacks in this township.

For the week we are there we will serve Beam in several ways. In the mornings we will teach some of the adults in the neighborhood life skills. Then after school ends for the day, we will run a Kids Program using Sports to share the gospel. We will also serve alongside Beam as they feed these kids. We also hope to visit kids who are HIV positive at a local hospital. We also will spend one day interacting with future leaders on a local university campus.

I’m so excited about this opportunity! Ever since a good friend of mine went on a summer missions trip in 2006 and came back with so many amazing stories of how God used him on the summer project, I’ve had a growing desire to tell others the Good News about Jesus and serve others in His name around the world. I’m hoping that through this summer experience God will make it more clear to me what He wants me to be doing when I graduate next year.

As great as these sounds, I can’t do this alone. I need your help. In order for me to participate on the summer missions project in South Africa this summer I need to raise $3500 to cover the cost of my portion of the summer project budget.

In order to meet this need, I’m asking people to prayerfully consider becoming a partner with me in this outreach in Africa in two ways: one is by praying for me regularly, and two, by supporting me financially.

Mr. George and Mrs. Margaret, would you prayerfully consider being a partner with me in ministry this summer by praying and giving financially? I'm trusting that God will raise up partners who will support me $50, $100, $200, or more by my support deadline of July1st. I know that not everyone can give those amounts so really any amount is appreciated. God is the one who must speak to people’s hearts to be involved in my ministry this summer. I’m anxious to see how He raises this money.

If you would let me know your decision soon regarding this, I’d greatly appreciate it. You may use the enclosed response card and just mail it back to me here at school. That will really help me in my planning. Because my support deadline is quickly approaching, I will give you a call to see what you are thinking if I don’t hear from you by June 25^th.

Again, thanks so much for all your encouragement over these last couple of years.

Serving Christ with You,

Beam South Africa

24 April 2008

Update on team and tentative schedule

"Name storming"

Letter / Telephone Strategy

Completion: Checks and Cash Processing

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