You might already have lots of support set up, or you might be wondering how to persuade anyone to support you. Prayerfully think about asking friends and family, past and present church members, as well as the various Christian acquaintances from the many contexts you’ve been in. By asking people to financially support you, you’re offering them the opportunity to give to vital gospel work. So hopefully, you can be confident in offering this opportunity to them. The worst that can happen is that they could say “no”. All will appreciate hearing from you and will hopefully pray for you because you reached out to them.
The best way to build support is by establishing or maintaining contact with supporters, so please think through the nature of the contact that you have with current or potential supporters.
Aim to send out news updates and encourage your churches and contacts to distribute them to others for you. Rather than aiming for your minimum fundraising target, you should aim to raise surplus funds. This helps others within the Student Support Fund now and perhaps you in future. That is the purpose of the fund, as needs may vary month by month and year by year.
Raising support for the Student Support Fund is a collective effort from all members, as well as Moore College Partnerships and friends of the College. Even those who don’t have direct connections to members of the Student Support Fund give to support its members.
Please don’t forget that you need to stay in contact with your supporters and potential supporters. You should aim to establish a group of people willing to support you. As well, you should send the following information out to them on a regular basis:
- Information about you and your background with a link to your Student Support Fund page.
- A thank you to them for supporting you or for considering supporting you.
- An update on what you’ve been up to and what you’re doing next (at College, at church, at home, etc.).
- Your financial needs (what you need and why you need it).
- A request for regular prayer for you and the College.
If you don’t already do so, send a regular newsletter and/or email that covers the following items:
A personal update – how you’ve been going with your studies, how family life is going (whether single or married), personal support (prayer, encouragement, etc.) you’re receiving from others (fellow students, church) etc. For example: “exams were hard…”, “the kids are coping well at…” or “Rosita has been learning…, been encouraged by…, challenged by…, etc.”
What you’ve been learning – lessons from lectures and the Scriptures, life lessons etc. You might also share several verses from reading/study of the Bible that have challenged, encouraged or even rebuked you. For example: “through our study of Ephesians, I’ve grown in appreciation of Christ’s work in bringing Gentiles (us!) from death to life, from separation from God to reconciliation, from being foreigners and strangers to being part of God’s people.” or “in Chapel this week I was…”
Ministry at church (even if your supporters are in your Church, they’ll be keen to know about your ministry) – share some of the activities in which you’re involved. For example: “I’ve been trying to build strong relationships with the senior high school students at church…” or “I’ve been so encouraged by Frankie’s preaching from Isaiah.”
Would you pray for me/us – Your supporters will most likely pray for you whether you tell them about your life or not, but they would love to hear from you. Once again, even if your supporters are in your church, to receive a request for prayer is preferable, in addition to verbal updates at church.
If you or your supporters have any questions, please refer them to the SSF information page. You can also contact Partnerships at studentsupportfund@moore.edu.au or +61 (0)2 9577 9900 with further questions.
