| Sonlight missionaries partner with churches and individual Christians who provide financial assistance to meet each individuals personal expense budget and support the ministry as a whole. Sonlight missionaries each raise their own support by approaching family, friends, community groups, and churches for assistance.
Sonlight relies on support raised by its teacher team to be able to fund its
ministry work throughout the year. Although each missionary raises support
individually, please don't limit your support-raising efforts if your goal
amount is achieved. In the same way, please take heart if you don't achieve
your goal before you leave for the field. Sonlight missionaries essentially
help one another reach their budget goals by sharing support surplus and
deficits. However, our hope is that you will be able to reach your own goal
through prayerful, persistent support-raising efforts.
The most common way of raising support is asking churches and individuals to
make monthly pledges and one-time gifts on a your behalf. A sample support
letter has been provided for guidance. You may change the letter to better
fit your needs, but there are several specific procedures that must be
followed to satisfy IRS requirements. Please read and follow the directions
below:
- All funds raised by Sonlight staff need to be deposited into the Sonlight Ministries account. Upon acceptance to Sonlight, Sonlight's accountant will
set up an individual account for you.
- In your first letter of communication to friends and supporters, be sure
to ask them to make their checks payable to Sonlight Ministries, to indicate
your name in the memo field, and to send donations directly to Sonlight Ministries, P.O. Box 8031, Evansville, IN 47716.
- Income will be credited to your account as it's received. Each month, you
will receive a printout showing how much income has been received into your
account.
- All funds sent to Sonlight Ministries for your support will be under the
control of Sonlight Ministries and will be used exclusively for Sonlight
Ministries as approved by the Board of Directors. Sonlight personnel must
obtain board approval to raise additional personal funds, such as extra
support to pay off school loans.
- Once a receipt is issued, no amount may be refunded to the donor or
forwarded to you. If there is a surplus in your account (over your monthly
budgeted amount) or if you are unable or choose not to complete work with
Sonlight, your account's funds will be appropriated by Sonlight Ministries
to be used for ministry. They will not be reimbursed to either you or your
supporters.
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