Thank You For Communicating
Posted by C. Holland on May 20, 2009We got an email from one of our supporters recently, notifying us that she must reduce her support commitment.
This actually made me happy.
Why? It’s not because we’re losing a portion of our monthly support from our largest, and most regular, contributor. And it’s definitely not because our supporter has received an unfortunate reduction in pay due to the economic downturn. I truly wish this weren’t the case on both aspects.
The reason I’m happy is because our supporter took the time to briefly explain this situation, making sure to include how much less this would be, when we would begin seeing this change in our budget, and why this was happening. We would have understood if she couldn’t afford any further support, considering the situation. We’re thankful that she was thoughtful of both our budgeting needs and our feelings. Now, if we could get the rest of our supporters to be as forthcoming with info.
Communication between the missionary and their supporters in today’s age should be a breeze. We personally maintain: a phone number in the States that rings to our field, Skype accounts, email addresses, a stateside postal address, and a constantly-updated mission blog that contains all the above contact info. Additionally, we send all of our supporters a monthly email newsletter and quarterly print newsletter, all with updates on our ministry, prayer requests and praises, and the various ways to contact us. Financial supporters also receive periodical handwritten letters, postcards and thank you notes. Despite multiple methods of communication, and our efforts to keep communication going, we rarely hear from any of our supporters in the States.
I suspect our situation isn’t that unusual, as evidenced by this post from the missionary kids perspective. And when our sending church pastor in the States emphasized during Missions Week that people should “adopt” a missionary because “they become forgotten”, he sure wasn’t kidding. To be fair, I realise people like our supporters are very busy, and we’re certainly not high-maintenance types who need loads of adoring, attentive people around us. But interaction of any sort from the States has been incredibly absent, and you notice these things especially around birthdays and holidays. I can’t imagine how isolated missionary kids must feel.
Meanwhile, we’ve been in the mission field for several years, and our recent exchange about funds with our supporter was the first of this kind we’ve received. Usually, the money from a supporter stops appearing, and we have no idea why. Did we offend them? Maybe they fell on hard times and need prayer? Do they rotate support to differing missionaries on a yearly basis? And sometimes a surprise shows in the account (which is much appreciated), but we never know if it will return. Rarely it does. Many times it does not.
We even noticed this during our initial round of fundraising. Not one of our current supporters a) notified us they would be doing so, b) gave us a general idea of how much to expect for budgeting purposes, or c) let us know how often this would occur (monthly, yearly, one-time, etc.).
Despite the ups and downs in the current economic climate, we’ve received provision and have been blessed. But communication, both on the financial end and even just a “hey, how are you”, can really be a breath of fresh air when you’re in a spiritual wasteland.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!Related posts:
- Top Five Fears in Fundraising
Top Five Myths in Support Raising
I’m a Missionary, Not a Travel Agent
Missionary Confidential by Email
July 20th, 2009 at 9:52 am
I know exactly what you mean! We’re currently raising support for our second tour in western Europe and getting people to tell us they sent in their commitment cards or of how much has been as difficult as raising the support in the first place. (Ha, go figure!) But, when we were working in Ireland our supporters, through the preacher, would give us a call every once in a while. Thankfully they were not the kind that took over the ministry, they were very non-intrusive. Dealing with supporters is frustrating, but I’m sure dealing with us can be difficult at times as well.
July 20th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
@Kevin: I suspected the non-communication from supporters was not confined just to us. Fundraising is a learning experience and definitely a faith-building exercise!