Any charities or what not that support overseas missionary work?

Question

I, and 47 other individuals, from many local churches are going to El Salvador to do construction and outreach with WOL missions, and with Nehiniah Network. the thing is, we need $70,000 to accomplish what we need to get done there. i was curious if there were any foundations of charities that support such trip that i could contact to raise funds.. any ideas?

Answer 1

Hi there! Congratulations first on wanting to make a positive difference in the world.
First, I would suggest you read the following article on "How to fund missionary work" found at: http://www.carelinks.net/books/dh/ww/24Funding_Mission_Work.htm

Secondly, here is a link for a similar question that was asked here in Answers, there are some very good links and responses contained there: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071018004335AA02d1q

And lastly, when all else fails, the best thing to do is to start doing fund raising projects on your own (as a group of 47) in your local community to finance this. Here are some fund-raising tips:
1. Do a search online for free fund raising ideas, there thousands of them, pick the ones you can do quickly. (see below)
2. Post a blog entry about it.
3. Join some community and fund raising forums and website and post your message there.
4. Email your friends with the information and ask them to forward the email to others.
5. Post flyers with the information on bulletin boards and other charity sites.
6. As for companies, it depends on the type of work you are doing. Go for the big ones first, like Nike, Coke, Pepsi, etc, send them letters and ask for sponsorship, sometimes these companies just send out checks to folks!
7. Then go to local companies, meet the owners face to face and explain your need and how it will benefit the local community.
Here are a few sites to get you in the mood for fund raising:
http://www.fundraising.com/
http://www.fundraising-ideas.org/
http://www.campusfundraiser.com/makemoney.asp?source=overture&OVRAW=fundraiser%20ideas&OVKEY=fund%20raiser%20idea&OVMTC=standard
http://www.chef-co.com/fundraiser-ideas.asp
http://www.abcfundraising.com/fundraising/fundraiser-ideas.htm

Best wishes to you!

Answer 2

It would be acceptable to contribute to a cause founded by a religion that you don't believe in, if you believed in the cause. If the missionaries were offering computers or warm coats, it sounds like you'd be more up for it. As charities go, this one sounds pretty frivolous. If you were more well off yourself, I might suggest giving as a graduation gift to your former student if you were decent friends. As it stands, it sounds like you have enough doubts that it wouldn't be worthwhile. Also, did your former student ask you if you wanted to be involved? If not, that's actually pretty rude. The organisation doesn't need a response, but your former student might. If you want, you could get involved in more locally based charitable activities, and write to eachother regarding your experiences. Or you could simply thank them for thinking of you, but explain that donations are not options available to you at this time.