S/o Funding mission trips?

[gingersmom]

I know zero about this.

 

Is it common to ask people to donate/fund your trip? Monthly payments?

 

What if you have a large bank account, do you still ask people to support you?

 

Inquiring minds want to know :)

[gardenmom5]

My children have served missions. We and they paid for all of it.

 

Setting up a go fund me page seems counterpurpose and it becomes more adventure than sacrificial attitude towards service.

[marbel]

Well, one of my kids went on a mission trip and we sent letters out to family members and friends to help with the funding.  We paid for most of it, but the entire amount was out of our reach.    We sent to people we were pretty sure would support it. 

 

As far as monthly payments - we're talking about people making donation of ~ $10 - $50.  This wasn't a huge, costly trip.  I can't imagine asking people to make monthly payments!  Maybe I'm misunderstanding that part.

 

ETA: I've also received and responded (with a check) to fundraising letters from others.  I don't mind that, and I wouldn't mind if a person pointed me to a gofundme page, as long as I was in agreement with the trip.

[Guest]

I have donated to family members who were going on missions, so long as I understood (and approved of) the intent of the mission trip. I did receive a request to support a mission trip to Provençe, France. I declined.

[Guest]

I don't donate to teens going. We do, however, donate to multiple adult couples and families in the field. For us it is monthly payments, some by check and some autopay, depending on the agency.

 

Short term mission trips the most we do is, say, donate goods to a bake sale or a church garage sale, and the profits go to paying for the trip.

[bettyandbob]

Asking for money just rubs me the wrong way. I used to be in a church were the youth set up multiple fundraisers throughout the year: preparing a pancake dinner for Shrove Tuesday, carwash on Mother's Day, etc. plus hired themselves out for babysitting and yard work to raise funds for mission trips. There was always a reasonable price for these things, but people could give more if they wanted. Anyway, I liked that better because the kids were working to fund the trips. 

[Chris in VA]

DD and all the trip participants in our church raise their own funds. We hold coffee houses, bake sales, and do work for parishoners (such as yard work, babysitting, etc.). Some send out donation letters to friends and family.

 

Dd has set up our bell choir's practice tables nearly every week for the past 9 months. It takes her 30-40 minutes and she gets $10 in her fund each week. That work, along with the "group" fund raising, pays for her trip (it's about $600).

 

FWIW, the trips we do are domestic--we go with Group Workcamps. The teens work for 5 days for residents of communities in places like Appalachian West VA and metro areas. Most of the work is painting and building ramps and things for elderly or impoverished people. In the evenings, they have Christian programming. It is not a luxury vakay--they stay in schools and sleep on the floor. They have one "fun" outing, with the purpose of team building.

 

It's pretty amazing.

[Starr]

We did the thirds thing. Dd paid a third with her own money, she fundraised a raised a third and the church mission committee contributed  a third. We/she also paid for her contributions of things to take for the programming and her shots, passport, personal things etc. I also made sure she had a presentation ready (yes in another language she had only studies for a couple of years) for whenever it was needed while on the trip and that she gave a talk and power point presentation when she returned. I like my dc to take some ownership in these trips. 

 

Yes I think it's a little weird when people with plenty of money ask for cash outright of people who have less. I mostly don't give to those generic letters just asking for money. If you don't know me well enough to write a personal note then why ask me for money. I have friends that put on a spaghetti dinner at their church and ask for donations and it's all they need. 

[bolt.]

Fundraising and establishing relationships with donors is a critical part of being a missionary. (In many denominations it is -- though possibly not all?) So, I think that it is good to include some aspects of that in even small mission-type experiences. It establishes that "you" believe you are going selflessly, to do something valuable; and that others believe you are going to do something valuable too. They participate by facilitating "you" as part of what they are doing in the world. Many people do very little that is not local, and would like to feel personally connected to work going on elsewhere.

 

Very few full-time missionaries are self funded. I can't really see how that could work. Short term missions by people of means, or the children of people of means... That might be workable, but it's pretty individualistic (no sense of representing people from home who have sent you to do this) and not a realistic introduction to 'how missions work works'.

 

I support quite a few (well-evaluated) ongoing missionary endeavours with monthly payments, as well as generously supporting one-time trips that I find acceptably focused. Some teen missions are mostly for the teen's own edification... But if I feel that their edification will be a good thing, I'm willing to sponsor that too.

 

It's like this: if you support a homeless shelter with a monthly donation, you know you are keeping the doors open and the staff paid. If you support a missionary, you are doing the same thing, just somewhere far off, where the 'staff', and their normal family living, and the work they do, might be a bit more tightly connected.

[klmama]

Our church specifically encourages teens to ask for donations to pay for mission trips.  The point is for them to learn to rely on God to provide, rather than paying for it on their own (which most could do).  After the short-term missions experience, a significant number of the students go into full-time work with various ministries after high school.  Many of those ministries require them to fund-raise their salaries, so it's good practice and helps them make connections with donors who may want to support their work in the future. 

 

 

[swellmomma]

My 3 oldest plan to do a missions trip next summer (different locations for each teen), they will be doing a combination of asking for donations and fundraising for their costs.  It is roughly $5K USD per teen plus any spending money they want to take.  They will have roughly 9 months to raise it and it is certainly not something I can afford to foot the bill for.  The older kids hope to get jobs to help pay for it, but otherwise the 3 of them will be doing bottle drives, and doing bake sales etc.

[creekland]

My guys have gone on many trips.  When we could afford it we paid.  When there were fund raisers they participated.  Then there have been times when they've asked people they know for donations.  They've never asked anyone they didn't know personally and they don't ask those they know can't afford it.  Many actually like helping financially as it gives them a "piece" of belonging/helping themselves when they can't physically go.  It all depends upon the person.

 

We have donated to others doing trips we approve of too.  (That's not every trip out there - not all are helpful.)

[poppy]

Our church youth group does fundraisers throughout the year to pay for their annual trip.  They sell soup after church every Sunday..... there is a big row of crockpots full of yummy homemade soup to take home for reasonable prices.   It's not hard work but it shows real commitment.  Plus: soup!

 

Their service trips are within the US.  I personally would feel conflicted about making payments towards a short term overseas mission.

[Seasider]

My kids worked their fannies off, both individually and at fundraisers with their travel groups, to earn their funding. None sent solicitation letters but did accept any offers that came their way. In total, perhaps 10% of travel costs were donations and the rest was good old sweat equity. We did pay for passports and visa costs.

[Caroline]

Our church youth group does fundraisers throughout the year to pay for their annual trip. They sell soup after church every Sunday..... there is a big row of crockpots full of yummy homemade soup to take home for reasonable prices. It's not hard work but it shows real commitment. Plus: soup!

 

Their service trips are within the US. I personally would feel conflicted about making payments towards a short term overseas mission.

That is an awesome fundraiser! I love that idea. Now I want to go to your church and get soup.

[umsami]

I donated to my friend's daughter's mission trip to Africa.   In general, being Muslim, I'm anti-missions....but this was more of a work type mission.  They were going to help build wells and stuff.

 

I've also donated to medical mission trips.

 

I think it's pretty common.

 

I've seen cultural potluck type things as fundraising.  So, say the trip is to XYZ country.  They'll have food from that country, music, maybe auction off some trinkets, etc.

[ThisIsTheDay]

I find teens soliciting donations for missions trips so distasteful. 

 

Fundraiser, sure.

 

Pay for it themselves or from gifts, sure. 

 

Asking specific family members who TRULY may be interested, sure.

 

And I've given money to a teen who mentioned skipping out on fun activities, as he was saving his money for a trip.

 

I completely believe that God will provide a way, if it is His will. Teens do not **need** to go on a mission trip of any distance, ever.

 

My comments refer to teens and missions trip; missionary families are entirely different.

[KrissiK]

When I was in high school my parents helped and we also did fundraising projects through my church. I never solicited direct donations from people.

[Miss Peregrine]

I won't donate to mission trips.

[Truscifi]

Every time I see a thread about mission trips, I wish I could find an equivalent helping/work trip without the religious aspect. Brotherman is getting close to the age for those type of trips and I think he would both enjoy and benefit from it. 

[poppy]

Every time I see a thread about mission trips, I wish I could find an equivalent helping/work trip without the religious aspect. Brotherman is getting close to the age for those type of trips and I think he would both enjoy and benefit from it. 

 

UU churches do this! Work and service trips without proselytizing (to the kids or to the  people being served).  The goal is to benefit the person taking the trip by showing the value of service and experimental learning.  We are grateful to the people who allow us to come to their communities, however briefly.

 

Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts can offer secular opportunities as well.

[The Girls' Mom]

I have mixed feelings about it.  

 

We tithe, and expect part of that to help fund missions.  Any mission trips our family has been on, we paid our portion out of our own pocket.  I consider it part of what we are giving to God and His church.  Since that is a personal thing to me, I wouldn't want to ask someone else to do it for something *I* wanted to do.

[lmrich]

My daughter left this morning. We asked for donations that went to thier project - I think it was $25 bought chickens for the family. The group is building a kitchen house and chicken coup in a tiny village. They have fun built into their week as well. We did several fundrasisers at church as well to support the group as a whole and to buy stuff for the villagers. We had a lot of fun filling her suitcase with toys for the village kids. 

[TechWife]

Our church specifically encourages teens to ask for donations to pay for mission trips.  The point is for them to learn to rely on God to provide, rather than paying for it on their own (which most could do).  

 

Except that the money is God's no matter where it comes from - through donations or a parent or student's savings account.   It sounds like they need to teach an appropriate viewpoint of money and instead they are teaching about fundraising. There are many ways God provides His money for us to use, and hard work and saving is one of them. 

[TechWife]

I think that if people can pay for it themselves, they should do so. I think that if they are capable of earning the money to pay for it through their own employment or own pick up jobs (such as babysitting or cutting grass), then they should. 

 

I do not think churches should engage in fundraisers such as selling things or providing services for the purpose of carrying out their mission. Carrying out their mission is their responsibility, not that of the larger community. Churches should be willing to support their mission if indeed, they believe that God has called them to the task. For that reason, I think it's fine to let fellow Christians know of a need for funds if it is truly a need. The funds should be given with no strings attached.

[Alice]

When I was in high school our church did fundraisers for missions trips. We sold homemade pizzas, had a spaghetti dinner and did a car wash. It was a large church so most of the people buying the pizzas or having their cars washed were people within the church itself. 

 

I went on two medical missions trips in medical school. I asked for donations for both of them from my church. At the time I was at a very small church where I knew everyone well (It's still my church today) and I think people wanted to support the trip. I was uncomfortable at first asking for donations but I was encouraged to do so by others in the church. Both times I more than raised enough money. The extra went to the local organization we were working with (I had told people ahead of time that I would donate any extra to an organization in country.) 

 

After medical school and residency, dh and I considered going on another trip to one of the countries I had previously visited. We decided not to raise funds as we were at a very different financial place. We were both working and able to pay for the trip. When I was in school I would not have been able to pay on my own. We ended up not going on the trip because it was canceled due to political upheaval in the country. 

 

 

[DawnM]

My parents paid for half and we paid for half.  My son went on two missions' trips.  They weren't any more expensive than my other son's scout adventures and I would not dream of asking people to fund that, so I don't feel comfortable asking for funds for his short term missions' trips.

 

Now, if he were going long term, I would feel differently.

 

 

[Blossom'sGirl]

I'm OK with it if it is a teen I have more than a casual acquaintance with at church.  We have given money to a few teens we know, but  they have displayed a servant attitude and hard work ethic.  That said, our oldest wants to go on a trip this fall and refuses to send out letters.  He has the money to pay for it from savings since his childhood, but he is working hard this summer to try to not dip into it. 

[DawnM]

And just to add to this.  As a general rule, I don't mind getting letters asking for funds from others.  

[FaithManor]

DD as a teen worked as a tutor at a parochial school on a reservation. It was very difficult work that she performed very cheerfully so we were proud to have her take part. She saved babysitting money, birthday money, lawn mowing money, etc. towards the cost of the trip, her grandparents who wanted to help made a nice donation, and we paid the rest which was sizeable.

 

One other time she went was overseas as a medic to teach some basic EMT skills. The city had just received it's first ambulance - courtesy of her EMS company - and the country had no one trained in even rudimentary first aid to use it. She taught the basics while one of the instructors for her company taught CPR. This was paid for by private donations to the company through community groups that wanted to help. It was a much more professional trip. We knew the budget was tight and made sure she had personal funds available to her in country.

 

There is a couple in our church that are both medical practitioners who are going to Haiti for a month. They cannot afford to entirely fund the trip out of pocket so have been fundraising. One of their ideas, which I think is a good one, was to collect scrap metal which is selling rather high around here. Since we recently had to replace our range and our dryer, we offered them. It was a win, win. We needed to get these two appliances out of the house, and they received some money for the items.

 

Generally though, I am not fond of teen trips as many of them are light on work, long on sight seeing so do not choose to contribute. However, if a teen wants to come to my home and rake leaves, weed flower beds, etc. for pay with the intention of using that pay to take such a trip, I will hire them because it shows initiative and drive, sense of purpose, and willingness to work.

 

When we fundraise for the rocket team, they seek corporate sponsorship from local businesses and do advertising for those businesses and aside from a dinner benefit, hire themselves out for lawn care and such. Next year though - if we continue the program which is a big IF right now - the parents and students will have to figure it out entirely. Dh and I are done working so hard to help everyone figure out how to pay for the trip. The program already requires an incredible time commitment and to take on coordinating fundraising efforts, tracking the money, doing financial records for the 4-H office, etc. is wearing us out, me in particular. So, we are leaving in the hands of each family. They either come up with it and their child goes to Nationals, or they don't and stay behind.

[Amira]

Every time I see a thread about mission trips, I wish I could find an equivalent helping/work trip without the religious aspect. Brotherman is getting close to the age for those type of trips and I think he would both enjoy and benefit from it.

There are actually quite a few groups with no religious connections that do service trips (or some other name) to different parts of the world where the kids do basic humanitarian help.

 

But even without the religious part, they still have the same basic problem that service/religious-oriented trips have, and that is that the kids have no needed skills. It costs far more to fly a bunch of American teenagers to another country to do unskilled labor than it does to hire people locally, and the local economy would be much better served by local people being hired to do the work.

 

Believe me, I know it's important for kids to see different parts of the world and I think it's important to help others everywhere, but it's so hard to do without making it about the rich American kids rather than the people who actually need help.

 

As for the original question, it's not come up for me because our church doesn't do mission trips for kids in middle or high school and no one else has ever asked me to donate to one. But I only donate to humanitarian causes where I'm sure the money is being spent locally without a lot of foreigners involved.

[TranquilMind]

I know zero about this.

 

Is it common to ask people to donate/fund your trip? Monthly payments?

 

What if you have a large bank account, do you still ask people to support you?

 

Inquiring minds want to know :)

If they don't work for it, I won't support it. 

 

"You work to send me on a trip" just doesn't work for me. 

 

I also react badly to those "Our ministry needs support partners and if you don't give TODAY, we cannot fund XYZ and might have to shut it down!".  No, you need to trust God will provide for your ministry, regardless how, and do it.  Not tell me how God wants ME to give money to YOU for your thing.  I don't do manipulation.

 

I may well support your ministry, but the prodding won't be from you; it will be my own conscience/God confirming it to me.  [i have supported some ministries for around 30 years so far.]

 

Let me tell you how I really feel about it....

[TranquilMind]

Except that the money is God's no matter where it comes from - through donations or a parent or student's savings account.   It sounds like they need to teach an appropriate viewpoint of money and instead they are teaching about fundraising. There are many ways God provides His money for us to use, and hard work and saving is one of them. 

This!

[Samm]

This is sort of new to me as I have never been asked directly to help fund for mission trips.   Were these sort of solicitations as common 20-50 years ago?

[Melissa in Australia]

I don't give money to fund other's holidays even when they pretend that they are not having a holiday by calling it something else.

[creekland]

I don't give money to fund other's holidays even when they pretend that they are not having a holiday by calling it something else.

 

We actually do this fairly often... mission trips, school trips, club trips, etc.

 

I suppose it's our travel junkie habit and wanting to share it with others - esp kids who can't go without money from others.

 

I prefer some sort of working fundraising to letters.  I detest when they sell "junk" from professional places.  I like it when they sell food from local places.

 

With mission trips, I definitely prefer if the organizers have read the book, "When Helping Hurts" so they can be careful with what they choose.

 

http://www.amazon.com/When-Helping-Hurts-Alleviate-Yourself/dp/0802409989

 

(Note that this is a Christian book, so not all will appreciate every part of it, but the "meat" of it is still appropriate for all IMO.)

 

With school/club trips I'll support practically anything.

[Night Elf]

Dd17 went on a YMCA mission trip last summer. Per their advice, we sent out letters to everyone we knew to ask for a donation in any amount. Even our dentist donated $150. She nearly reached her goal. We only had to contribute about $100. I was very uncomfortable with asking for money, but that's the way the YMCA did it so we followed their advice.