The Trials of Fundraising by The Husband.

The husband posted on his blog today, and he gave me permission to transfer some of it over to my blog.  You would think it would be easier if we just had one space where we wrote about everything right?  Well my space is for personal/family things and his space is work related.  And if I'm honest, I think his posts are a bit more interesting and educational than mine.  So check it out!!

But today he posted about the trials of fundraising...and let me tell you there are certainly trials.

So without further ado...my husband everyone.

Couldn't post without a picture!!

As you may know, I work for a non profit called Children of the Nations (COTN).  And it is a really fantastic place to work, and impact that COTN on communities and families in Africa and the Caribbean is profound. There are literally thousands of stories of lives that have been transformed, through the mission and vision of COTN.

I am very lucky also, that I get to work on really great projects like clean water solutions, micro finance, renewable energy, and agriculture.  These are all down with the goal of sustainability, and empowerment for the communities.  I have been blessed with time spent in the Dominican Rep, Malawi, and Uganda. Blessed by people with far less stuff than me, with far less opportunity than me, with far less food than me, with far less money than me. They may live on less than $1 a day, they may have HIV, they may have a hole in their roof the size of the football, there may live with rats in their homes, they may have no clean water, they may have a latrine that spills into their kitchen when it rains, they live in fear of drought, they may not be able to read or write, they may do battle with malaria every year, they may have lost their parents/siblings/children to war, disease, famine or child birth...some of them encounter every single one of these on a daily basis. Yet they have blessed me in amazing ways. And I have been able to bless some of them with a simple thing like clean water, or a loan, or electricity, or a new roof, or schooling, or education.

Sounds great, right? A life working with the poor, empowering them, and being blessed by them. Sounds like some kind of Hallmark movie, or a PBS special...and some of it is. But in the daily grind, the over arching story gets missed. As part of my job, I have the honor (and it is an honor) to raise my own salary through fundraising. This means I raise money for everything, salary, travel, phone bills, health insurance, pencils, whatever - every expense I have. This has meant we have a team of dedicated supporters who have decided to be a part of this grand story, some of them give $10 a month some give $5,000 a year. Each one is extremely important to us, and to the mission.  Without this support I could not do any of the life changing projects that are so transformational.

But it is really hard to raise money, to ask people for support financially is not an easy task. The inevitable questions come from some friends, or relatives "Why don't they just pay you?" "How can you ask for support in this economy!?" We had one dear relative, tell us that we would have no friends by the time we were done if we kept asking for money like this! (That was almost five years ago, and we have more friends than ever!). It is also a heavy burden for me to carry, and can be discouraging when you leave someones house or office and they gave nothing or less than you wanted and all you can do is smile and say "thanks for your consideration" Or something else like that...your tail between your legs.

When I look at the support level that we need, it can seem like a mountain of titanic proportions, especially when each time I raise more it seems like more expenses come along! However each year, more has been raised than the previous one and every time a big expense has come in so has a big donation. We have never seen this more clearly than this year, when we had $12,000 of hospital bills for Malia and Jacks time in the maternity ward and NICU. Our supporters, and church stepped in and paid off this bill, without us even asking! It is times like that when Malia and I, laugh and say "raising support is the darndest thing!" Support raising is a love hate thing for me, I love it when it comes together and people give generously of money or resources like a free car, or 50% off dental services, or family support for home improvements, or hospital bills, or gym memberships...I hate it when the account is close to the red, or a supporter drops, or someone just does not get it, or when I look at other peoples jobs and how they do not have to send letters, thank you cards, or organize fundraising events...

But when I look at the impact, on the projects, on the progress, on stories of transformation its hard to think about being or doing it any other way!

If you would like to know more about what I do, or how you can get involved please send me a message or a comment. I would love to talk with you!

Or click on the link. Support us?

PS I once sat in the car with Malia and said " I would never do this support thing, if I was married or had children..." OOPS! That was five years ago..my faith has grown.

And that's all folks...I absolutely love that last bit - oops, that was five years ago, my faith has grown.  And let me tell you that faith has most certainly grown!  God has provided and shown up just as He promised He would and Peter and I have been completely blown away by God's faith in us and His provision.

Happy Tuesday!  Thanks for reading.

xoxo,

Malia