In the News: Thanksgiving 5K Helps Teen Moms and Their Kids

HAMILTON — When Katie Farr Powers lived in Cincinnati, she enjoyed running in Thanksgiving Day events there.

But there were no running events in Hamilton, so she started her own, and combined it with another passion — helping teen mothers and their children thrive despite the obstacles they face.

“We started four years ago, and we had 30 people sign up for a 5K,” said Powers, 37. “We ran around Highland Park, starting in our driveway. My husband (Mark Powers) and I started it at our house.”

“We partnered with YoungLives, which is a local ministry for teen moms, and their kids,” Powers said. “It’s a mentorship program. Our aim was just to gather some people and raise support and awareness for YoungLives, and start a new tradition on Thanksgiving morning in Hamilton.”

Continue reading story here...

Does YoungLives Work? Survey Says.... Yes!

In an external survey taken by over 2,000 teen moms involved in YoungLives, the results are clear. Involvement in YoungLives - and particularly, involvement with a YoungLives mentor - produces deep, meaningful, and far-reaching change. Just take a look at a few of these graphics pulled from the YoungLives Impact Report (available for download or purchase here).

The survey concludes that:

The data confirms that YoungLives' method of putting relationships first - and giving teen moms a chance to give back - is working. From increased educational attainment and aspirations, to improved parenting skills, to a new sense of hope and purpose and a strong support system - YoungLives is making it possible for teen moms to beat the odds and build a secure future for themselves and their children. Not only do young moms gain a group of peers and mentors to help them navigate a daunting path, but they find value, meaning, and hope along the way. And that makes all the difference. 

YoungLives staff and volunteers can access the entire PowerPoint presentation of the findings here, complete with take-aways about strengthening mentor relationships, deepening faith conversations, and diversifying the racial/ethnic make-up of YoungLives staff and volunteers. 

Young Life Grants and Foundation Relations

Grants are a great way to fundraise larger amounts of money, especially for unique programs like YoungLives. The process, however, can be daunting and overwhelming!

Did you know that the Young Life Service Center has an entire team dedicated to helping you fundraise through grants & foundations? Your YL area can receive assistance in identifying local foundations, writing proposals, grants, as well as providing you with the right tools. Log on to the staff site and search "Grants and Foundation Relations" to get started.  

Fundraising Refresher Course

Fundraising... if the sound of that word just made you shiver, check out Debbie Perkins' refreshingly encouraging perspective on the topic! This 2-page handout comes from the seminar on the same topic that Debbie led at the Eastern Divisional Training in April.

United Way

Anyone out there have their full budget raised? If so you can skip this post. If not, keep reading!

You may be able to obtain funding for your ministry through United Way.

United Way's Vision: United Way envisions a world where all individuals and families achieve their human potential through education, income stability and healthy lives.

United Way's Mission: United Way improves lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities around the world to advance the common good.

Many United Way local agencies funnel support to organizations within their geographic area that fulfull their vision and mission. As such YoungLives groups can sometimes obtain general funding through United Way. Or donors who wish to give to YoungLives may be able to give to United Way and have those funds directed to YoungLives. One advantage of this is often times employers will match such gifts. All funding decisions are made by the local United Way agency, so you will need to speak with your local agency to find out what the options are.

The Young Life Grants and Foundations office is willing to help your area research funding through United Way.

 

Making Online giving even easier!

Did you know that you can pre-populate the info for your area in the online giving and add a link to all your correspondences and to your msite? What a great way to help your donors be reminded of giving and have an easy link to make that happen. Follow this link to the Staff Web site Designate Online Donations for Specific Funds   Once you get it set up with your area info your donors will have an easy way to link into the online giving.

Giving Letter

Here is the letter I sent to current and potential donors at the beginning of December for year-end gifts. December is the strongest giving month to areas! Remember that whenever you send letters out, following up with a phone call is key! 


How I did it:
I used a girl's story, picture and then had a note along with the pledge card at the bottom that they could tear off. I personalized each letter with the person's name. Feel free to use this letter to create your own for support, camp scholarships, year-end giving, etc... A letter like this can be made in Word -- you don't need expensive graphic design software. If this isn't your skill set find someone to help you (a mentor, committee person, computer savvy friend!). A full-size version of the file can be viewed here. 

Rabbit Run

YoungLives in Fredericksburg, VA has spent the past few years perfecting their "Rabbit Run" fundraiser - and now they are spilling the secrets to their success! Check it out:

Six months out: We have a race committee, which is just our YoungLives committee with a couple of people who jump in for specific race planning times. We recruited a team leader who plans races for her job and works for the YMCA. We try to start as early as possible in the planning process. In the past we have done it in the fall, but this will be our second year of moving it to the Spring and having an Easter theme, which has been a big winner. By moving the race and adding a theme we almost doubled our participants and we more than doubled our profit (last year we netted $10k). We start by planning, securing the course, getting someone to do timing chips, and getting permits. We also try to get a title sponsor first so that we can put their name in the race heading. Once that happens, we also have the money for other advertisements and race expenses. If we know someone in a business (like a car company, hair salon, grocery store...) or have a connection we start there for sponsorships - and we also open it up to families to be sponsors. We print and hand out sponsor forms with the YoungLife tax ID and allow our sponsors to pick what they want to do. From $5 to $5,000...it all helps! Our sponsorships more than cover the race costs so that we make a profit from them - and then all participant fees are profit as well.

Advertising: We use large poster paper with Publisher templates to make creative and colorful ads to hang around town, in gyms, YMCAs, wherever. If we have sponsors early on, we advertise for them on these fliers. (We try to keep everything local, from t-shirt guy to prizes and sponsors).

Registration: We put out registration forms for the race wherever we can: gyms, running stores, churches etc. Anyone is welcome to participate! We have a 5k Rabbit Run, a 1 Mile Hop, and a 1/4 mile Bunny Chase, which really is little kids chasing a big dressed up Bunny - it's the best! We market this mostly to families (we welcome walkers!) and to the running community also (we offer race timing chips for them).

Day Of: On the day of, everyone is on point and we pull in extras, including spouses and kids. Anyone helping wears bunny ears! We have a moon bounce for kiddos, and Chick-Fil-A, Panera and some other local restaurants donate food. We have course marshalls out with bright colors out to guide our runners, and our team leader is the MC for the day as well. We have people registering runners at packet pick-up, and we have people handing out the timing chips. We also have our Bunny just out and about spreading Easter cheer! After the races are over and prizes are given out, we have a 10 and under Easter egg hunt that a local church sponsors.

Prizes: For prizes...I LOVE OUR PRIZES! We offer the first place winners already cooked hams, second place adults get Easter baskets with fun goodies and coupons in them, second and third place children get a variety of sizes of handmade chocolate filled Easter eggs that are beautifully decorated. The overall winners get $50 gift cards to a local running store. We have tried to keep the prizes very Easter-esque. Also, we do have finisher medals for everyone! Anyone who crosses the finish line get a BEAUTIFUL medal to wear around their neck, full color and double sided with the race info and an Easter egg on one side...my favorite part.

Want to know more? E-mail Megan McCormack

A fresh perspective on Fundraising

We're always looking for new ideas and ways to fund our ministries and send our girls to camp. The book Revolution in Generosity promotes God-oriented stewardship, not just fundraising techniques. This book is Kingdom oriented and reminds us that fundraising is stewardship and an invitation to invest in what God is doing.

The book's website also offers some resources on fundraising. 

Whenever you want to purchase books be sure to check the publisher discounts on the Young Life staff site.

Happy Reading!
and Happy Fundraising!

Camp Sponsor Letter

Looking for a way for girls to raise their own money for camp? Many areas have used a Camp Sponsor Letter that teen moms can take around to their teachers, family members, neighbors, etc. Feel free to download this version and edit it for your own area. Even small donations can add up to make a big difference!

Finances Seminar - Support Week

In many ways, finances can make or break our ministries. Deficit or the threat of deficit can become all-consuming, taking our time and energy away from the rest of ministry and even causing people to have to leave staff. On the other hand, a healthy financial situation frees us to focus on recruiting and training our mentors, loving on girls, and thanking donors without having to beg for help. If you missed Greg Lehman's finances seminar at Support Week - or if you just need a refresher - below are links to the PowerPoint and handouts from his presentation:

YLVS TDS PowerPoint Presentation

Ask Slide

Effective Asking Strategy

TDS for women

Camp Sponsorship Letter

We are always looking for ways for our teen moms to earn money for their camp trip. Here is a sample fundraising letter you can use that they can take to teachers, school administrators, doctors, neighbors, churches, etc.

One teen raised all of their funds in $5 donations. It can happen!!

Happy FUNdraising!

Letter shared by Rose Shabaya, Jacksonville, FL

Friendraising...Fundraising is about relationships

As you know we cannot do what we do without money. Fundraising can be seen as a daunting part of the job unless we shift our perspective. Larry Acosta is the President and Founder of the Urban Youth Workers Institute and is known for being a great fundraiser. Earlier this year all of the urban ministries in our region were encouraged to listen to this online interview with him and the Fuller Youth Institute. In this interview he talks about his best practices for fundraising and how it's basically about relationships [true to what we believe in YL!].

Listen to it here. Click on the "Larry Acosta Interview" link under "Related Content" and it should play right in that window. The interview is about 25 minutes long -- definitely worth a listen!

Post any feedback or comments here on the blog. Would love to hear your thoughts!

The Spirituality of Fundraising - Henri Nouwen

These seven principles of fundraising pulled from the transcript of a talk given by Henri Nouwen have been invaluable to me in my view of fundraising and my relationships with donors. I hope you find them just as helpful as I have!

The Spirituality of Fundraising - Henri Nouwen
Many of us regard fundraising as a “necessary but unpleasant activity to support spiritual things.”

1. Fundraising is first and foremost a form of ministry, but it is a subject we seldom think about from a spiritual perspective.

• Fundraising is a spiritual as giving a sermon, entering into a time of prayer, visiting the sick, or feeding the hungry!It is a life-giving and hope-filled expression of ministry.
• Are we willing to be converted from our fear of asking or anxiety of being rejected or feeling humiliated if someone says “no” in order to engage in this spiritual activity?
• Fundraising is a very concrete way to help the Kingdom of God come about.

2. Fundraising is proclaiming what we believe in such a way that we offer other people an opportunity to participate with us in our vision and mission.

• It is a call to conversation
• It requires a shift of attention in which we set our mind on divine things
• It is asking for what you believe in without apology

3. Fundraising is collaboration between asker and giver that is good for both of their spiritual lives.

• Asker and giver are drawn together by God who is about to do a new thing through our collaboration
• The giver is enriched; it is good for their spiritual health

4. Fundraising is about our relationship with money.

• Asking for money may feel taboo, but that feeling comes from an intimate place in our heart where we need security
• Our need to secure our own future and to control our lives does not come from the Bible
• What is our security base, God or Mammon? Our security needs to be totally from God

5. Fundraising may require that we overcome a prejudice against the rich.

• We equate helping the poor with serving Jesus. Our concern for the poor may carry with it a prejudice against the rich
• The rich have a spiritual poverty, just like us
• If we ask for money from the rich we have to love them deeply
• No matter how polished our approach, if asking comes for anger or jealousy we are not giving the person the means to become a brother or sister

6. Fundraising has to be community-building. It needs to hold the real possibility of friendship and community.

• If we ask for money, it means we offer a new fellowship, a new way of belonging
• Fundraising must always aim to create new, lasting relationships
• We invite people into a vision of fruitfulness and into a vision that is fruitful

7. Fundraising is grounded in prayer and undertaken in gratitude.

• Prayer is the radical starting point of fundraising
• Prayer releases a spirit of gratitude
• God is pleased with us; we can approach all people in freedom and love

-Shared by Rebecca Asper

Taking. Donors. Seriously.

What would happen if we devoted more time to building relationships with donors, making asks in person rather than through the mail or e-mail, and making a strategic financial plan for an entire year at a time? These are just some of the ideas that come up in Taking Donors Seriously (TDS) - Young Life's ultimate plan for fund-raising. Many of us have heard the term TDS, but we may not realize how powerful it can be when it is actually put into place in an area. It's all about doing fund-raising the way we do ministry - making our focus on people, not on events.

For instance, TDS proposes that the best use of our time and the best way to build our financial health is not to plan more fund-raising events, but to build our base of monthly donors. Think about it - a hoagie sale, car wash, or luncheon would be doing great if it brought in $1k-$2k. But if you could find just 20 people (committee, family members, friends, etc) to commit to giving $20 a month, you've just raised nearly $5,000 per year. Nice! Plus, instead of pouring your committee's time into a day-long event that they will have to plan again next year - or next month - you've gained both a consistent "income" and also gained a group of people who are invested in and praying for your ministry. It's a win-win!

Another TDS idea is to come up with a yearly financial calendar. How many of us have great intentions for sending out a newsletter or donor thank-you cards, or for sitting down for coffee with that donor who has been consistently giving for years... but we just never seem to get around to it? Check out this sample financial calendar for ideas on how to plan all of your donor interactions and fund-raisers in advance.

One other helpful resource... the Service Center offers convenient - and customizable - contribution envelopes for donors to send in their donations (see picture above). The envelopes even have a place for them to fill out their credit card or bank information for automatic recurring monthly donations. Customize the front with your area address so that you can keep track of donations and pledges, and then send it in to the Service Center for processing!

These are just a couple of tips on implementing TDS. For a much more thorough and very easy-to-follow power-point presentation about Taking Donors Seriously (for yourself and/or your committee), check out the TDS e-Learning course. (Just type TDS in the search box in the top left of the Staff Resources site, click on the TDS link, and then click on TDS e-Learning Course). I HIGHLY recommend it for anyone who is looking for ways to become financially stable and healthy.

Let's stop worrying about not having the funds we need and start to do something about it - seriously!

-Posted by Rebecca Asper

Year-End Appeals

Did you know that around 30% of giving to Young Life comes in December? Check out this helpful guide from Field Development for tips on year-end appeals, and don't miss this great season of giving!

• In October/early November secure a Matching Gift that can be used at Year End.
• Look to current top 20% donors.
• Look for a donor that might give a larger gift if they knew they were seeding a match.
• Look to Committee/TDS Team to consider going in together to set up the match. One idea is to have each person write the amount they would give or raise towards a match on a piece of paper and secretly give it to you. Add up the total and make that the match.
• Develop PPL/List of who will be approached at year end and how they will be approached.
• Who has the capacity to give a large year end gift? These people should be met with Face-to-Face for a year end update and ask. A letter informing them of the year end opportunity may come before the meeting but the letter should not make the ask but let them know that you would like to meet and will be calling them.
• For the rest of the PPL/list decide on a strategy:
• Letter to everyone with no follow up (Good but not Great).
• Letter to everyone and followed up with a phone call (Much Better).
• Blended strategy – those with moderate potential get a letter and a phone call and those with limited capacity/lower likeliness to give just receive the letter for efficiency.
• In October/November write/revise letters and prep all necessary materials.
• Letters should be received the Monday after Thanksgiving.
• Don’t wait until mid or late December – you will miss it and it is hard to ask a donor to give attention to your appeal at Christmas! They may have already given somewhere else.
• This is a good time to include a gift (i.e. Young Life Calendar) as a Thank You.
• Do a special thank you and update to donors at Year End. Share the story. Give them inspiration to make a year end gift! Make Young Life stand out.
• Involve the Committee in writing year end Thank You’s to donors and visiting donors at year end.
• Make sure at year end that all potential donors that have not given in the current calendar year get contacted and have a chance to give a gift. For those who have just forgotten or gotten missed this can make a big difference.
  
• A year end appeal should be a part of a larger yearlong fundraising plan (TDS Financial Master Plan). If you are just organizing your plan, go after the year end appeal hard and then sit down in January and lay out the year long plan.

Grant Writing Tips

With a new fiscal year on its way in just a couple of days, fund-raising is on a lot of our minds! Applying for grants is a good avenue to explore for funding, but it can seem overwhelming if you don’t know where to start. The first step is to do a lot of research to find foundations and businesses that might make a grant to a mentoring program for teenage moms.

Find out what local foundations care about, who they have given to in the past, who is on the board, and what their funding requirements are. If YoungLives seems like a good fit with their funding history and their mission, then give them a call and see if you can get a face-to-face meeting with someone on the board – or at least talk with someone over the phone about the possibility of submitting a grant proposal. Once you’ve spoken with someone at the foundation, they will often ask you to submit a “letter of inquiry” before putting together a whole grant proposal. A letter of inquiry should be one to three pages long, and should include the following information (taken from the Common Grant Application Format put together by Grantmakers of Western PA):

ORGANIZATION
o Brief description of organization
o Address, telephone number, fax number, email address
o Name of contact person

PROJECT or PROGRAM
o Summary – one sentence statement of proposed project or program
o Overview – purpose, objectives, goals, how project relates to funder’s priorities
o Description – target population, specific action plan, timeframe and duration
o Implementation (and results) – qualifications for executing proposed project expected outcomes, how effectiveness will be monitored and evaluated, plan for continuance at conclusion of requested funding
o Cost – amount requested, total project cost, private and public funding sources (pending and received)

ATTACHMENTS (each funder may have specific preferences for information to be included)
o IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter
o Mission Statement
o Board of Directors list

*In addition, many funders request that their application sheet be attached to the letter of inquiry. Be sure to check with the respective funder for its preference.

Grant Writing-Sample Letter of Inquiry

Grants are a great way to expand the financial support for the ministry in your area!

Many grants will request or require a letter of inquiry as part of the application process. Check out this Sample Letter of Inquiry to help you through this sometimes-daunting process!

Children's Museum Fundraiser

We are all looking for creative ways to raise money. In this economy, we have to think outside of the box. Here is an idea...

Our recent fundraiser was held in a local Children's Museum. The museum is well-known in our community and surrounding areas so the reception was able to draw attention from the community in ways that we haven't been able to before. We invited 2 teen moms with their babies to come and share their stories, and we had other YL staff from the area come to play music. The museum wants to support the work we are doing with teen moms so they have donated unlimited free passes to their museum so that we can use all year long for contact work with the girls and their babies. Consider holding your next fundraiser in a children's museum or a similar place. In YoungLives,the children's theme makes sense!

Anneke Brown--Fairfield County

Get creative with your venue for your next fundraising event!

Mission Increase Foundation

Here is a fundraising curriculum that we recommend you participate in! Go to the "Get Started" tab at the top of the page of the below link. Below is some info about them from their website:

Mission Increase Foundation seeks to increase the mission of all nonprofits by teaching our Transformational Giving principles free of charge. We offer a combination of small workshops and seminars on multiple topics, as well as personal consultations to train ministries on a wide range of nonprofit organizational issues. Our Transformational Giving curriculum centers around practical approaches to fundraising topics such as how to:

• Create clear development plans
• Acquire new donors
• Create and implement fundraising event programs
• Create a major gifts program
• Obtain and develop fundraising staff
• Grow a fundraising board
• Learn better development practices
• Become effective stewards
• More deeply involve donors in the ministry

Training Guidelines

To participate in our monthly training workshops, ministries must create a ministry account (a brief registration form) and complete a ministry training profile regarding basic organizational categories.

While many nonprofits may not qualify for a matching cash grant from Mission Increase Foundation, they regularly attend our training. They find the value and practical impact of Mission Increase Foundation’s training far exceeds the dollar value of a cash grant. In fact, many have told us they benefited more from the training grants than their initial expectation of receiving a cash grant.

Grants

Matching Cash Grants

Mission Increase Foundation cash grant process is by invitation only. As ministries grow through training, they may receive an invitation from Mission Increase Foundation to apply for matching cash grant. We value requests that help ministries learn new fundraising practices, improve existing fundraising practices or to hire development staff.

http://www.missionincrease.org/