First off…
SHOUTOUT TO ALL MY SUPPORTERS.
Without my friends, fans and fam I wouldn’t be here!
I first started fundraising in late July… which meant that I had less than 6 months to fundraise at least $10,000 of the $17,017 final goal.
I had multiple deadlines to reach between July and launch in January and I usually reached the deadline amount the exact day it was due. When I launched I still needed to fundraise $6,000 to be fully funded so I still had a lot of fundraising to do on the race.
I don’t have a huge church community, I don’t have a “home church” where I live so I didn’t have that going for me. But I did have a family and friends that supported me 100%
Here’s some ideas that worked and didn’t work for me while I was fundraising:
Writing support letters: writing to family and friends explaining to them the mission you’re about to embark on is important, THEY WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU’RE UP TO. They usually will always want to help in some way too!
Writing corporate support letters: HUGE fail for me.. I don’t know if I just didn’t have the right connections but I got little to no responses. But if you have connections DO IT.
Adopt a Country Jars: HUGE success. People always want an incentive. I said if they bought a Jars I would send them a post card when I’m in that country (which I do through the Postagram app.. perfect way to keep supporters updated!!) … I had them pay $20 a jar and I would collect whatever change they collected over the 5 months before I left for launch. It was a way for you to be creative in decorating the Jars (I also added some fun facts about the country they bought to keep it educational), it gave you time to meet with the person (to collect the change) but also get coffee of breakfast.
TShirts: I designed a shirt a few months before I left and sold about 40 shirts, which is better than nothing!! I know some people had hundreds sold so it’s all about who you know I guess!
Honestly a lot of my funds came from me just asking people, either on fb messenger, email or text. It makes it less personal but it worked for me. I got support from a lot of people I didn’t expect anything from, the Lord can be tricky like that.
One thing that ALWAYS helped was PRAYER. The big man upstairs has the money for you out there all you have to do is ask and believe he will provide! Praying for funds to come in, for generous and giving hearts and for the Lord to blow your mind with numbers!! I would ask friends and family for prayer as well, telling them my fundraising goals and catching them up on life. It’s a good way to stay in contact with supporters as well.
I’m still fundraising while I’m on the race and
the Lord has been SHOWERING me with funds lately. I went from needing $4,521 to be fully funded (on March 13th) to now only needing $2,688 (April 1st.. no it’s not a joke)!!! Yes friends… thats almost $2,000 in less than a month.. I’m speechless.
Just have faith the Lord is provide and HE WILL. Don’t forget to thank your supports a million times, without them you would be able to share the love of Jesus around the world.
I hope this helps for all you future racers who are stressing about funds! Know that he will provide in HIS timing, not yours.
