EP 3: Torn Between Fundraising and Financial Security
Episode 3 | 56 Minutes | Oct 7, 2025
A series about the fears and questions that come with moving for cross-cultural work.
You’ve considered cross-cultural work, but the idea of fundraising and relying on others for your income makes you hesitate.
In this episode, we name the challenges: awkward asks, a “tapped” network, actually having enough to live well, and the tension between calling and financial security. We then get practical, talking about how support-raising works, when it’s treated as a partnership, how to map your network, how to get referrals to expand your network, and how to set a realistic, healthy budget that includes savings, retirement, debt repayment, and actual rest.
This is a down-to-earth look at the pros, cons, and first steps to help you decide if cross-cultural work is for you.
What You’ll Learn:
Why fundraising isn’t just about money, but about partnership and trust.
Practical steps to move past fear and tap into networks you didn’t know you had.
How to build a sustainable budget that accounts for savings, retirement, healthcare, and rest.
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Hey Michael. Hey guys. How are you? How are you? I'm great. So today we are talking about money and all the feelings that come around money and how to do cross-cultural work and actually make a living doing that or building a career. And we're gonna dive into a lot of the feelings around that. Fears and misconceptions and we're just gonna process those. So if you are somebody that is thinking about doing cross-cultural work, but you are scared of maybe not making that much money or don't know how to fundraise and it just seems like a really big task, this episode's for you For sure. I wanna start out with you guys. With a question, maybe like a really short story as I've tried to do in every other episode. Love it. As you guys know, in episode one, I talked to you about my thoughts and desires to potentially move to Spain. Still in the process of that, still haven't figured that out. Hopefully by episode six we have that figured out. We'll nail it down. Yeah. Yeah. And one thing I've thought about a lot is do I leave my current role and then go and fundraise to then do that? But that just sounds like a really big task and it sounds impossible to raise enough money and ask people to donate monthly for me, but it'll make anything like close to what I do right now. How do I get over that feeling? What do I do with that? Yeah. Let's just go a little bit deeper. What? Feeling? The feeling that if I choose to go to Spain, I will not be able to afford it and people will not want to give me money so I can do that. I feel I incapable of being able to raise that much money. I, And I fear. Not having enough to live on, and I fear like stagnating my, like desire 📍 📍 📍 to build some form of wealth, in any form long term. The first thing I wanna say is That is so understandable and so if you didn't feel that way, I would be a little bit concerned about you as a person perhaps. Because you're looking at something that's really big, Feels really big, and might feel like you just can't do it. And that's a legitimate, like and anytime you start or anticipate something new that's big, like getting married, starting a new job, there, those are natural fears that come up. Michael. Yeah. Just wanna say that. I appreciate that. Yeah. I think anybody who's taking this decision really seriously should be weighing that question along with all the other questions, to evaluate, whether or not this is the right next step for them. So you're in good company when you have those fears. Thanks. And I think the next step then is addressing the fears and looking at why am I feeling this way and how do I move past that? Yeah. So when you said your fears are. Potentially being incapable, of doing it. Why do you think you would be incapable? Honestly, the first thing that comes to mind is, I've done short term trips and fundraised for those. My brother has done short term trips and fundraised for those, and my sister, fundraise to go to Bulgaria full time. And one thing is, I feel like my community or network of people that, like my family knows or whatever is totally sed and they're be like a freaking another proctor's asking my money. Like I already gave to them so many times. Yeah. And I don't know that they would want do that. Like I, I would hope that and I think the space I am trying to move into is like I have the faith, that God will take care of me and connect me to the people that care and And want to enable me to do this. Yeah. And see how this is something that, hopefully like through more prayer, like I figure out, or not that this is something God's calling me into. And people can like, help participate in that. But I think that's one way, which is like less about Me being incapable and more me feeling like my network be your, wouldn't want to do that for me. 'Cause that's a huge ask. It and relying on your community for your entire income is yeah. I'm wondering. so Michael, you moved from Lincoln to Elgin three years ago. And so you have a new, newer and growing community here. Will that, does that affect your, situation regarding network side? sure. And I think I've definitely built a unique community here, outside of the community that, like just my family 📍 📍 📍 knows. For sure. So I think I definitely can rely on them, in like really effective ways. So even your perception of your network might not be reality? think maybe. Yeah, that's Mm. Honestly. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think that, really your idea of your network being tapped out and the fact that they've already given to other family members is rooted in like assumptions that you're making about those people? For sure. Yeah. Like, I assume people don't want to give anymore and they're like, brow, I'm already so generous in all these spaces and which is like maybe like sad that I would think about my friends and my community that way in a that like they wouldn't step up and be, want to be generous. Yeah. Which I'm just now realizing that. Thanks guys. I mean, my sense is that people love the proctors. Yeah. You guys are somewhat known in Lincoln in your there. Yeah. People like you guys and. I can't speak for them, but I also wouldn't want you to make the decision for them about whether or not they will give to you. That's their decision. For sure. And that decision only becomes a possibility, when you put the opportunity in front of them. Yeah, that makes sense. It seems like this wouldn't be the case, but statistically the people who are most likely to give are people that have given before. Wow. Wow. There you There you. Oh, interesting. I didn't know that. Yeah. Okay. Whether that's to a short-term project, whether they've made a one time donation, or whether they've given monthly already to a family member, they are actually the ones most likely to give because they are the most invested in your lives in what God's doing in your lives. Maybe in the ministry itself. Maybe they have a passion or a heart for the type of ministry that like Abby's involved in. And they're the ones who are already bent towards generosity towards the vision and mission of one collective and your family. Yeah. Yeah. So you might assume that they'd be less likely to give, but realistically they're the most likely. they're, they actually are. No way. I did that at all. think about that at all. That's so shocking. I would add too that I wonder if that's because you have relationships with these people who have given to you before and so the relationship is there and so you don't necessarily need a lot of new donors. You already have this network of people that you're in relationship with and their, there's in that. Yeah. And something to tap into. Yeah. That totally makes sense. Would you guys say this is true for most people going into cross-cultural work, where they have a network, but maybe they're not confident in their network? Yes. Okay. I would say for many people that's the case. There are some people. Who do not have a robust. network and they have to work harder to develop it. Okay. And they develop that through simply initiating relationships with people, referrals from their current networks. We see that happen a lot. But, generally the answer to that, I would say is yes. Okay. Interesting. Part of the strategy that we train, for those who are coming into our organization who are gonna be raising funds and going out to work somewhere in the world, in a community of ours, is to expand your network. Through referrals. Yeah. And it feels really unnatural and awkward at first, but it's actually a way that you are like leaning into the body of Christ and inviting more and more people into partnership with you and you can develop some really deep meaningful long-term relationships through the referral of others that you had no prior contact with and now are partners with you in ministry in a way that you never knew was possible. So we train people exactly how to do that and why it's so important. And without the use of referrals, I think that most of our people wouldn't be funded. Wow. I see. That's so surprising to me. 'cause I would've thought okay, I meet with, like somebody, a family from church, like Ryan, let's say that I meet with Ryan, chat with him, we have a relationship, like we've roasted beans together whatever. And I'm like, yo, like I'm thinking about this thing. Would you like, I wanna do thing. Would you consider supporting me financially? And then he'd be like, oh yeah, a hundred percent. And then I asked something along the lines of do you know anyone else that would care about mission work? And would be willing to. Finance, you support me. I, my thought is that they wouldn't want to because they don't know me yet. Hardly at all. And but like you're saying, that's where a lot of like funding actually comes from. Yes. Is through referrals. What makes people that are referred like care and want to give in to somebody they barely know, guess God. He's working in our hearts already. No, that's answer Michael to questions, God Great. Okay. Okay. It's true though. He's already at work in the hearts of people in ways that we have no idea. Yeah. Yeah. He's already opening doors for people who have generous hearts and who've been blessed and want to steward their own gifts. Yeah. And resources. And he's bringing these people to you you're being faithful to do the asking on your part. So the only way fundraising works successfully is if God is faithful in providing and if we are faithful in asking. And part of asking is making those awkward, uncomfortable asks of people that we don't yet know intimately, Yeah. Yeah. But that God is preparing for this type of work. And, they know Ryan and they care about Ryan and his opinions and the generous things that, he prioritizes. And so if Ryan makes the pitch that Michael is fundraising for this opportunity in Spain and that this is something that they should care about, they're gonna be more open to listening. Wow. Okay. That totally sense. Mm-hmm. I that again, still blows me away and I feel like I'm sitting here, I'm like, man, Michael, you need to have faith in God to show up more often. But it's, I think it's easy to like be mired in the, like, practicalness of the world and think, and I guess like maybe I am even a little like, cynical, thinking about this. And you guys are breaking that right now. Like literally. And I'm like, this is actually so good for me. So thanks for that. Michael, would you consider yourself an entrepreneur? I would say so, yeah. Okay. Do you think that a lot of your friends in your like age demographic are also entrepreneurs? To some extent, at least have the desire be, Okay. The skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur are literally the same skills needed to be a successful fundraiser. Interesting. Interesting. If you're going to make a business idea, takeoff, you need buy-in. You need investors. You need to be able to sell a vision. You need to be able to create interest, among people that you know might be, potential investors in your business. And, Fundraising is really the same thing. You're developing that skill so it can serve you in so many ways beyond just this involvement in ministry, which it's obviously Going to serve you very well here. Yeah. But if you were to move on from one collective, if you were to start your company, if were to do another type of ministry, even in the future, no matter where life takes you, what doors, God opens these skills to develop, like communication to expand your network, to be able to share a vision, to be able to ask for involvement of others, invite them in these things, really carry over. So doing it now will serve you forever. Okay. Wow, that's so interesting. And Michael, one of the things that you will experience if or as you move forward in this process is a a lot of surprises. God will show up in ways that you are not expecting and like you're already in this conversation showing elements of surprise. Yeah. At the things that you're learning. Your cynicism being chipped away a little bit. Yeah. Wow. I'm this happens over and over again. Not every single day, but a lot on the fundraising pathway. That That totally makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. And some of those will be referrals, people you've never heard of before, who you will come to know in a new relationship. Yeah. Yeah. And that's so cool. And knowing those people in such, like, I would almost say like, it's kind of weird to say an intimate way. Like, because like they are That's Carly's word. We don't have to use that word, Richard. Cut. Cut. No. Keep it in. I know. I love it. Just because like finances are intimate, especially for Americans. Yeah. actually. yeah, that's true. Very personal. It is a thing you really share with people. Yeah. You don't say how much you make or how much you spend on things and you like keep it to yourself. And so I think when somebody's willing to share that and you make that intimate ask, Hey, can you give up your finances? This thing you keep very private. And give some to me is really Like cool. And I think hopefully could build really good relationships. Yeah. It's building Christian community in a way that like really only this can 📍 📍 📍 do to forge deeper relationships with people and really work together to accomplish a vision. Yeah. I'm curious. Have you guys seen, I, this is another one of my fears is once I integrate a financial aspect my relationship with different people, that could strain the relationship long term or like change it or make it a little more risky, I guess long term potentially. Where have you guys seen that, Which succeed and go well, but maybe have problems? Because the idea is oh, like I asked Ryan gimme money he does for you. And then he stops and ideally I'm mature enough and I'm like, totally okay. Like he has stuff going on in his life, but also could be like, yo, what up man? I thought we had great relationship. Why are not financially supporting me anymore? Or like that. Like, I don't really know, like what that could look like. I think if you are defining the relationship with Ryan as primarily a financial one then you will feel jilted if he stops giving. Yeah. But it's transactional, yeah, it's transaction. But if the relationship is legit there, there's some care, there's trust there. There's. Positive relational vibes in it, then the financial piece shouldn't affect that. You might feel that. Of course. Sure. But. The core of the relationship can endure. Yeah, that makes sense. And if the money is the Lord's to begin with, and you are asking that person to give to this particular ministry, to your ministry with one collective, they're giving it back to the Lord. And you know what? If that door closes for some reason or another, that's between them and Lord. Yeah. And maybe they're directing it to another great ministry or another great opportunity, but that won't affect your relationship with that person and your relationship with the Lord because you know that he will provide in other ways. A hundred percent. Yeah. And so I think like. like. Seeing the money as gods that he is going to direct as he pleases, and that those people are being obedient to God and how he's asked them to use their money, his money, Yeah. Yeah. That then I think that provides like, just more security, in both your relationship with God and with that person. Yeah. It's not dependent on their financial gifts. And their obedience to him plays out in a way that you may not have visibility to. Yeah. And so there may be some things you never know. Sure. But you're trusting that they're living in obedience to God and you're doing what you can to be faithful and live in obedience to God. That totally makes sense. You guys have both fundraised. How did your relationships with people around you that supported you change, as you fundraised and then came home and then like no longer needed, like to be supported and stuff like that? Did you have any bad experiences with that? And I'm also curious then about the good experiences with that. I don't think I had any bad There were some people that maybe I expected to give that didn't, and like I said, I don't know their circumstances. I don't know where else they're directing their funds, and I just had to trust that. That made, it really made no difference to me. It really wasn't about me and them and our relationship dynamic. It was more about, yeah, their own relationship to the Lord and how he was asking them to use their money. So I don't think it negatively impacted my relationships except to just be surprised at sometimes when I expected somebody to give more or in a different way. And that didn't happen. And then I had to make that decision not to let it affect our relationship. but it did deepen relationships that I had with people Yeah. because I'm sure that happened in the opposite Yes. Where you expected people not to give that much and they gave like abundantly. Yeah. And regardless of how much they gave, it was the fact that they chose to partner with me in this, that really, I think, strengthened our relationship. And then I was also making the conscious decision of staying in more regular communication Hundred percent them Yeah. As I wanted to share the ministry with them. And so we talked more often than we would have otherwise. Yeah. So it's just more intentional. That's cool. I've had a few calls with supporters recently. Mm-hmm. And like your people that did support you, people that did and are, and will supporting is still fundraising. I'm doing some fundraising. Oh, no way. In fact, Michael, if we could set No. Seriously. And on, on on Three or four of these recent calls in the last few months, the conversations, where the conversations went was we grew deeper in our understanding of each other's actual daily lives, the real things going on in our lives. And it, and with one or two of them, it almost became a matter of the funding. It almost didn't matter. Yeah. Yeah. Because the relationship was really growing and it was vibrant. Yeah. And both of these couples ended up giving Wow. To me, which was amazing. But it's like If the relationship, a ministry. It's a ministry. Yeah. You're having the opportunity to minister to these people that God has brought at this time Absolutely. in your life. And the funding is just like a small piece of that. But it's the that you have and the fact that you're able to both share deeply about challenges that you're facing, sin struggles that you're having, really celebrate together. Yeah. Yeah. It's a relational ministry that you have the opportunity to enter into. And people don't always it that way because they see it as a means to an end when they can actually go do Ministry. But really this is the same work. Yeah. It is. And so I feel like I've a handful of, some them are new friends, some of them are old friends that were stagnant and the friendships were stagnant and now they've come alive simply because we talked about money. Wow. And fundraising. That's so cool. I love that. Dang, I'm like slowly moving towards, excited about Maybe you go, go. no. no. Okay. I have another fear, and I think this one might land in more of like a, a theological space. Okay. And, I think I've kind of asked you guys about this before, but, I am somebody, I got like a business degree and everything. I do think of myself as entrepreneur. And I come from a family that didn't have a lot of money and I love the idea that I can do work and work hard and have good income and have the security of some form of wealth. Not saying like I become a millionaire whatever, but like enough to be comfortable. And my fear is that if I go to being fundraised and move to Spain, I actually. I'd be like, hindering 📍 📍 📍 that. And is It okay to want to build wealth as a cross-cultural worker? Why would it not be? I guess like part my thing is because the work is meaningful enough and God always provides, and so I shouldn't want wealth. I should want to serve and love people and experience father through experiences, which are wonderful. I think what I hear in alot of nonprofits like, yeah, we don't have that much money, but you do get this meaning. Which is true. You do get significant meaning that is wonderful. But I still also would love to have this like security, and like comfortability and not having to stress about this thing. Like my parents did kind of thing up. Mm-hmm. But it, in a way, it feels wrong to want that as a Christian. Interesting. What would you say for you, if you dig a little deeper, is the purpose for wanting build wealth? You said to be comfortable to have security. Yeah. Yeah. Why do you want those things and is there other things that you want to Yeah, I think two things immediately that are at the top of that. One, I want to not have to have a worry about money. And two, I want to be able to be somebody that be extremely generous to other people. And my have some mentors who will always like, tell me like, what you do when you have little is what you will do when you have much. And so I think now I am trying to live a life of Being generous, but it like. I don't make that much right now. And it is sometimes painful and you have to make that sacrifice. But that also is out of like God will provide and I get to experience him through generosity, which is actually like one of my favorite things. And it's like a weird thing. But I would love to be able to give more and like I see people, we have what, 11 people in training right now. And I would love to be able to support every single one. Because they're such good people and they're going to do such amazing work. That is not realistic at all. But it's just like interesting. And so I think, I don't know if I'm answering your question. I think I think you are, I think, when you have limited resources, like you're saying you do now, support might not always look financial and the ways that you're practicing generosity may not be through the giving of finances. So you could support these 11 workers in different ways. Other than just making a monthly donation to them, you have some really amazing gifts that they could benefit from. You have some knowledge and wisdom that they could benefit from. Those are ways that you could be supporting them, outside of the financial model. But getting back to building wealth and the purpose of that, it sounds like it's a matter of stewardship you and that you want to, you want to have enough that you can give away and that you can steward for God's purposes in your life and the lives of others. So I would say that then isn't inherently wrong. Okay. Sure. Yeah. Do you think that maybe it's wrong to have a focus on or want to add wealth? I think there's a part of me, and I think it comes from like I grew up as Christian, which is, like kind of some of the scriptures of money is the root of all evil. So like we shouldn't want that. The love of money the is the the root of all evil. Yeah. Yeah. Important Yeah. That is, that's so interesting. I think maybe the other voice in my head is, like maybe just coming from like my family community is like. That anytime money's talked about, it's always in a stressful manner. And so in a way, like engaging with other people, why I say it's like intimate is because it is like a high tension space to talk about some of those things. And I hope a lot of people going into cross culture work, Has healthy relationships with money. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. and and I'm sure a lot of do. I would imagine there's some people that are similar to me though. Oh, of course. Oh yeah. I'm curious. Have, where, have you guys you guys seen that? seen that With With people. And if you're, if you're worried about how to make ends meet, that occupies a lot of your energy and your brain. Yeah. And so then you don't have the freedom to give all of your energy and capacity to something like ministry because it's occupying so much of your Yeah. Yeah. So actually that's an attitude towards money that we want to see people grow and develop in, and that we try to plan ahead for with like how we craft our budgets. Yeah. I was gonna ask, how does one collective do that? Yeah. Like, what does that kind of practically look like? Yeah, so we're thinking about budgets in a way that actually, promotes like. Health, financially, and long term sustainability on the field. So when we're creating a budget for somebody that's not just outlining like their daily costs, but they're actually planning ahead financially, they're planning for retirement, they're planning for savings, they're actually planning for vacations, because it's really important to rest. So you don't reach a level of burnout in the type of ministry that we're doing. Wow, that's so awesome. Yeah, they're paying off Student loans that, is just a reality that so many people come to us having taken out loans finish school. Yeah. And it's important to be fiscally responsible and to pay those back. Yeah. So that's something we wanna account for. We want to provide for healthcare needs, we want to, provide for children's education. So those are all things that we factor in that people are raising funds for so that their energy can be focused on where God would have them make the most impact. Wow. Yeah. Does that mean each person that joins one collective in a way has a different budget based off of their needs? Yes. Okay. Based upon their needs. So it's, Go ahead. So it's not like you're going to this community or like country and this is like the average budget there. So that's what you did. Yeah. Everyone raises the same amount of money for their savings, I think think that's my expectation. Oh no. Those line items, savings, retirement, vacation, and a few others are very flexible and the worker gets to speak into those. Okay. Let those line items. And so there is a significant amount of room for people to use the phrase to add wealth. Yeah. In appropriate, ways that can, I don't know, like the numbers or how big we go on that, but I think there's just. Room for people to take this concern about their financial future and impact what the budget will look like for them. Okay. That's so cool. I love that. I know that even, so one thing I, right now, as I mentioned, we have 11 people in training. I would love to bring one of those people in on this conversation and we like chat with her personally That'd be great. She's like in this process right now. Yes. So let's take a quick break and go grab her. Awesome. Great. If you're this deep into watching this podcast episode, then I'm assuming you are looking to do some type of mission work, and so I just wanted to invite you to do that. You should go to one collector.org/begin. There's a type form down at the bottom and you should fill it out, and in that type form you'll be able to schedule time with Mark or Carly. And they would love to jump on a call and chat with you about where you could go. 'cause we literally have 52 teams around the world and hundreds of open positions for people just like you. Now back to the conversation where you were gonna hear from Amanda. Amanda it's my, uh, privilege to welcome our guest in this fundraising episode, Amanda Emerson. Amanda is a, an outgoing worker headed 📍 📍 📍 to South Africa and she is in the middle of her fundraising process. I've had the privilege of working with her as her mobilizer helping her in this process. So welcome Amanda. Thanks guys. Tell us a little bit about yourself. I'm Amanda. Like you guys have said, i've been a teacher the last eight years, and so just pivoting in my life to now go help educators and vulnerable women. No, man. That's great. Yeah. Super excited. Thanks for letting me also pull you out of your class training. Literally teaching about discipleship we're like, nah, podcast is more important. Not a problem. Come to the storage room. yeah, yeah. yeah. More fun. Yeah. so, um, well to you like a little context. Thanks Mark. We've been talking about a lot of the big feelings around fundraising. Kind of like before we start, as you know, I kind of chatted with you a bit like I've been thinking about moving to Spain and we've been just chatting about the, the barrier fundraising feels like it is. And Mark and Carly have been great about helping me land into a healthier space, a more faithful space, a more excited space. But I think I would love to, at least hear about like how your process has been with fundraising, and how it's impacted you, what's been hard and where you at now with it. So maybe to start, before you started fundraising, what was your biggest fear about fundraising? Oh, and then how'd you overcome that? I really just didn't want to. Okay. I think fundraising was hard. That was my thought. Yeah. Was I have to call a bunch of people and go knock on some doors. And the typical ideas you think about fundraising, which is interesting because I actually was a really good fundraiser in school. Okay. So like, when we had to sell 36 cheesecakes to go to Kings Island, you better believe I was at like 45 cheesecakes sold because I wanted a free trip to Kings Island. That's Yeah. So I was. was thinking back to that, I'm like, oh, I don't wanna knock on doors and call a bunch of people. But I think something that the Lord did is like every job I've had, he's always used it to prepare me. And I used to be a cut coast. A sales rep. Okay. And Caco is selling knives. If you don't know they are the best knives. Okay. I I don't care what anyone says, stands by that. I stand by it. I'm taking them with 📍 📍 📍 with me No Nice. They'll put it in in your carry on. No, they're packed my checked bag in the already. Oh, already. Wow. Wow. They're They're coming with me. And the training I had who, like my trainer slash boss. His name is Brett Wiggins. He's amazing. And he always taught us in training, he's I don't care who you ask, just go ask. I don't care if it's your boss, if it's your ex-boss, if it's your ex-boyfriend's mom, go do it. I did that Whoa. And she bought knives from me. No way. So yeah. So that training, I looked back on it in orientation when we were talking about fundraising and I was like, okay, Lord, now I see why you had me go out and sell some Sure. Because Interesting. The same model. Yeah, yeah. Carly was saying that, she asked me, she's Michael, do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? I was like, I so. She's like, honestly, same skills apply and are needed. Yep. And like same sales kind of thing. Okay. So how did you end up after like thinking fundraising's hard? Now that you've done at least I think the majority of your funding, how do you feel about fundraising now? That's a great question. I feel like it was easier what I had thought. Okay. Because I'm a relational person. Yeah. And when you have relationships with people, it's easier to talk to people. Therefore it's easier to have questions. Yeah. Yeah. Was the ask still hard? Yes. Okay. The ask is always hard. Okay. I actually would pray for some meetings and I'd be like, Lord. Please don't let me ask them. Can you just let them say I'm gonna support you. Okay. Okay. And then have no ask. And every time I prayed that, that's what happened. Wow. Which great. No way. Yes. Which praise on the, that's awesome, Lord. That's, yeah. The past like month has been different though. He's okay, it's time. You gotta, learn skill. I have this specific ask. Yeah. Okay. Just to get over that. But I think, getting, 70% done in this, fundraising, Yeah. I think that it's become easier because it's just people. Yeah. Beautiful. And I had some great advice, actually, it reminds me of you almost Mark, because you always have these like words of wisdom, pastoral wisdom that you give. that you give. And I had a missionary tell me, walk into every meeting like you're already fully funded and walk into every meeting to minister to them, and they're gonna minister to you. Wow. Okay. Have you seen that happen? Yes. Like in almost all of my meetings we're like there for four hours crying at some point. Wow. Yeah, it's been big. What does that look like? Yeah, I minister like practically, alright, I'm setting up a call with one of these guys, his name's Ryan at my church. Say I set up a call with him, how do I walk in there feeling like I'm fully funded and ready to minister to him? I think it's a mindset shift, right? Yeah. Do you trust that the Lord's gonna provide for you? Yeah. Even if it's not in dollars, it might be in prayer. So going in and caring about the person, the ask really goes out the window. Because yes, you're there for partnership. And I think that's one of the things he said too. Be explicit in partnership. Tell them I would love to have a partnership meeting with you to talk being prayerfully and financially partners. They already know going into it. So when they're like, yes, fantastic. It takes that nervousness out. Yeah. And then you can just be people about each other. Mm. Yeah. That's so awesome. Amanda, you have, gone through one collective's orientation back in January. Yes. And a main component of that training is on fundraising. Did that help you? How did it help you? And you've been paired with a coach, I think for the last several months. How has that and any of the resources one Collective has provided? was that helpful for you? Oh yeah, absolutely. I think it was a good jog of memory because it was very similar to cut code training. Oh yeah. Oh really? In that sense of it. Yeah. But I think it helped prepare me to look at the why, right? I'm not selling something to you now, I'm asking you to partner with me because I owe you just as much as you're giving to me. And it's a true partnership. And having my coach Chesney, she is awesome. Yeah. She keeps you accountable, which is great. Which is something I need someone to like, I'm pretty self-sustainable and I'm gonna get it done. Yeah. But like some weeks she's so let's go through your steps. And I'm like, oh. I said, I'll be very upfront. I didn't do any of them. Yeah. Can you put 'em on next week? Yeah. Yeah. eventually I'll get them done. But it was really great to have someone who's keeping you accountable, who's like a weekly check-in and it eventually got from we're here to talk about, did you do this, to just ministering to each other and being friends instead of a coach in a coachee. Yeah. Wow. What do your meetings usually look like? Lots of laughter, sometimes lots of crying. No way. Both can exist. Both because I I am a laugh crier. So when So when I laugh, I cry Anyway, so it's great. But it looks like, we start off like she always asks like, how are you doing? Right? Which some days we're really deep, because our meetings were on Tuesdays, and I think mental health is important. So I have therapy on Tuesdays also, and she's you had therapy today, didn't you? I was like, yeah, how do you know? But we would start off checking in and then going through our lists and then talking about, okay, what do we need to do going forward? Sure. I'll always end with, how can I pray for you? Which I thought was just so meaningful. And then on our last coaching session. I flipped the script and was like, Chiney, how can I pray for you? 'cause it's like now we're in it together. Yeah. And that's really sweet. Do you consider her partner in ministry? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Have you made a direct? ask to her? Twice. Twice No way. Okay. so funny. Early on and then at the very last session I like, have you decided yet? yet? Just, yeah. Yeah. She's been really, she's been really awesome. Awesome. That's great. That's so cool. I yeah, I knew like you guys, one collective, we did training fundraising, but honestly I have not heard anything about it at all. And so That's so good to hear that's been really helpful for you. Yeah. Ask anyone. I asked a lot of the people in the office, actually one of the first people I asked when I left that's supporter was. Scott and John and Carly amazing. and my mentors, Ben and Kristen were like, I'm not gonna stand in the way of your boldness. Ask them. Oh, wow. I I was like, okay, I'll, That's so funny. I love that. What would you say to someone, I'm, Been saying it already, but what would you say to someone who is thinking about serving in cross-cultural work? That they're scared as anything about raising funds, What would you say to them regarding the path with one that's Me right now. I don't wanna but I Want to, I'm thinking about cross-cultural work. Talk to Michael. This is what I would say is if it's God's will, it's God's bill. It's kind of cliche, but when the Lord moves you into a space, or even if you choose to be in that space, he knows heart and he knows the desires of your heart and. He'll make a way for it. And even in being scared that really should be the last thing we're scared about is fundraising because we're going to do the Lord's work, right? The harvest is plenty and the laborers are few. So someone who's saying, yeah, Lord, I'm gonna pick up my cross. I'm gonna die to my flesh and I'm gonna do what you want me to do, man, he's gonna make way for that because we're like, drops in a bucket. There's only a few drops, but one drop makes all the rip ripple effects and so you're gonna end up touching more people, which is what it's all about. Yeah. Yeah. That's so interesting that you say fundraising should be the last thing we're worried about. To be honest, it is one of the biggest things I'm worried about, like probably fundraising and leaving my community. Those are the the two things. And yeah, as Mark and Collie have been working on me and moving me to just be faithful and to be excited about that as like one of the things, I am, I'm curious ' cause Mark and Carly have hinted towards this, like how have you been like spiritually formed because you fundraised and had to meet with so many people and asked for their help. Yeah. How has God been at work in your life during this season? That's a great question. I struggle with trusting God fully, right? All my trust. And I think that's been like the biggest thing is going into meetings and trusting that he's gonna do it. And there's been some meetings where. I've met with people that I thought were, they're like, they're gonna do it. And they didn't. Yeah. I was that, yeah. When she was fundraising and then I met with people that I felt there was. A break in our from past things. And I reached out to them anyways and they met with me and they were some of my biggest supporters. Amazing. I love that. Like in abundance. Yeah. Yeah. And had that chance to repair. Yeah. What was broken with them? Because you took the initiative to reach out. I love that. Yeah, Yeah. Redemption. That that was one of the more beautiful things. Great, they're giving me money. That's awesome. But what was more special was now I have another person in my corner who's supporting me that I got to fix that relationship with. Yeah. How hard was it to like, reach out to some of those people? Huh? And like, how do you have guts to be like, yeah, I haven't talked to this person in years, but I'm gonna text 'em or ' send me email or whatever. Because like, that also is another thing that's kind of daunting. It is daunting Mm. and like reaching out and being like, Hey, we haven't chatted for a while, but I money. That's what it feels like. It can feel like that. I think it feel, I think it feels that way in the mind of the one who's raising funds. Yeah. It doesn't necessarily, and some of that's just imaginary. It doesn't need necessarily feel that way in the mind of the person. So my cut, Cobos, I haven't talked to him since, 2013. Wow. And he was someone I reached out to and he's I'm so proud of you for reaching out and asking me. And he gave such a generous gift. Wow. But what was cooler about that? And that was like 10 minutes. I only had 10 minutes to talk to him. He was in the line to pick up his girls from school? No. worries. He was like, I got 10 minutes for you. And I was like, okay, great. I can do it 10 minutes. But what I got to hear in that story was I got to hear how wasn't a believer when I was working for him and how he came to Christ after I stopped working for him. No way. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Amazing. It it was amazing to hear that. So that was pretty cool. cool. And if I'm not mistaken, you were Afraid of make, of reaching back out to you, weren't you? Maybe not afraid, but you were, there was something there that was a blockage for you. Yeah, we talked about that. 'cause I was, 'cause I felt like left Cutco. I mean you get a lot of these young kids in, you go sell knives, you have Sure. You do all the things and it almost was like, no, you leave. But I was at a split where I was now in college and I needed to focus on education major Mm-hmm. instead of doing all of this all the time. Because you're running essentially your own business. That's really hard. And I, I'll be honest, I hated sales. Okay. I hate to this day, which is why I I did not know that. Oh, I hated, I thought hate it. you loved that. Oh no. you strike me as somebody that would be really good at it for some reason. is good. Okay. Okay. But But I. do not enjoy it. Okay. Okay. Wow. And I think the flip of fundraising versus selling right, is fundraising. It's God. Uhhuh. And you're bringing people into what God's already doing and selling is, I'm gonna make you believe that you need this product. Yes. Yeah. That's the difference. But yeah, I did not wanna ask him. I was, it was a whole month talking to talking to Mark, and I was like, okay, finally just gonna send him a text message. I didn't call anyone. Carly's you gotta call people. I called nobody. I talked to, no one, I texted everyone or met them in person, was like, Hey, I wanna meet with you. Because that's, I happen a couple times. Okay. I'm, I'm in a partnership meeting with someone at a restaurant. I see another person come in. I'm like, oh God, you're so cool. Nice. I'm gonna talk to them for a half second. I'm gonna set up something with them and then go go back to here. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It worked out pretty well. This one, But you did have meetings with people. It was just setting it up. Oh yeah. Setting it up. Oh Yeah. So you just text a bunch of people like, Hey, doing this thing, would love to chat with you about this thing. Yeah, because I'm very forward about it. I want to partner with you financially and prayerfully and if they don't answer, that's the answer. Sure, yeah. So it makes a lot easier. And the expectations are set of what you will be asking for in the meeting when you send that text initially and set it up we're gonna talk about partnership. That's what you're coming to this meeting about. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And that was the same advice from that first missionary I talked to. Yeah. About going into every meeting already funded. That was something he's like, be so like upfront. That they're no. That their non-answer is a no. Yeah. All right. Okay. Okay. Done. And when is your target deployment date? Six weeks, or so how are you, how's that looking for you I have 34.1% left to go. Not counting at all, but Yeah. No, not at all. Not at all. But I feel like the Lord has highlighted people to me, and in the past he's always okay, you need to go. We gotta do these. We gotta talk to these, blah, blah, blah. But this. Like last month has been a very much of wait and watch. Which what it was in May. So May I had knee surgery. I started Perspectives course I had the race. I had lots of things to do. Yeah. So I didn't really fundraise in May. I walked in at 17,000 and walked out at 33,000. Wow. Wow. The Lord doubled Yeah. in a month. So faithfulness can look like different things at different times. Yes. Depending on what God's asking of you in that season. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. ' cause right now I feel like I'm not supposed to be going out and talking to a hundred people. I'm supposed to be waiting for things to grow and I keep praying. Lord. Put urgency on people's Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I told Michael he record a little 32nd snippet saying, Amanda's waiting for you to sign up. Please. Hey, support Amanda. If you said you're going to then actually do it, let's make happen and happen. and send her to do the Lord's work. That's right. This is a way that you can support her. That's not even financial. See everyone give you a money to Amanda. Oh, connections. That's a huge thing. Connections. I have three people in my network that are not financial partners of mine yet. Yeah, but have connected me to so many people. Amazing. that's what they were saying. is like referrals. Oh, huge. And I was like, no way. This is gonna work. they don't owe you. I know. know I walked into the stone table. It's a global ministry, not-for-profit. They work in bam situations. And I shared my story with him. And referral's sitting there And he's sitting there and he said, just for you saying yes, I'm giving you $2,500 today, it will be a year account. My goodness. That's insane. I was like, that was my face. And he didn't know you. I had no idea who I was. And we set the expectation that we're not there to ask him for money. We're just there to share and get his advice. ' cause he worked a lot in Africa. Oh yeah. Wow. I was like, so God surprises you. Oh yeah. In abundance. Yeah. And that's like double like you are going to Africa, to do work, and you're like, Hey, can I chat with you about like, how can I do work effectively here? 'cause you have experience in this. Yeah. Plus he also is is financially supporting you? Yeah. That's so cool. Amazing. Yeah. Okay. It was amazing. amazing. I am just so glad that you have been bold in fundraising and that you've seen God work in your life and bring others into your life and all new ways. It's the best kind of preparation for the field work that you'll be doing, but it also is a ministry onto itself and you've seen that you've been a part of it. it. Thanks for being the living proof of what Mark Carly actually telling me. it the credibility. right. That's how how it works. It totally does. It does. That's testimony to That's so good. Thank you. Thank Amanda. Having Amanda on was really fun. Thanks for that experience, guys. I feel like it was really helpful hearing her talk about her experience while working with you guys. And you guys are like saying all these things and then she's here's the truth of like how they work in that. Like they are real and it is true and I've been able do this thing I'm like, wow, great. So I just Hearing her story. It's like she's a year further down the road than you are If you were go down this, it's so helpful to see like a glimpse of what that could look like. I think she just finished her last coaching session, Yes. So she's been working with a coach since February and now she just has. The final home stretch of fundraising to do, and she's living this right now as we speak. Yeah. So in this episode we've talked a lot about my feelings, which thanks for creating that space for me guys. But I also wanna create space for you guys to share a little bit about what are the practical resources that one collective has that you guys work with people, to set them up for success. So, I don't know if you guys just wanna share a little bit, like what does that look like? What does that process like? Really practical. Yeah. So at one collective when people are accepted, after their application process and they, first thing they do they come to orientation, okay, orientation is a five day on site training experience here at our home office. and. the core, a primary feature of orientation is training in fundraising. And so we have a whole, training package that covers most of those days. And people are trained to know, h how how do you do this? So it's like you go from the fear, you take steps forward and now you're here. And it really does hit people. Yeah. And when they come to orientation that, oh my goodness, okay, is actually happening. Yeah. And then we dive into it. Yeah. Part of that is during orientation, we finalize that budget that we've been talking about. It's like an idea that everybody's working with, but there's no concrete numbers until that point in their process. Oh, okay. And then during orientation, nailing down, like, how are you planning for your future? And what are expenses on the field? And what kind of, line items do we need to consider, for you to be healthy on the field. Yeah. And then during the five days of training, there doing role play, they're putting practical things into place. They're starting to contact their network and make those connections. And we're giving them the tools and the strategy to set that up well. And then once orientation is over, we actually pair them with a coach. And the coach, like we've referenced Chesney, who's working Amanda, the coach, is actually meeting with them on a weekly basis to walk through some challenges they may be having as it relates fundraising, to strategize about future that they're walking into, to tailor their communication plan specific people in their networks, to pray with them regularly and hold them accountable to the steps that they said they were gonna take that week. I feel like the accountability piece is like one of the most helpful things. things? Yeah. Okay. And the coach is also somebody who's done fundraising before and been successful at it and has a spirit to want to raise others up and empower others and help them, through this season. I I do want to give a, uh, a shout out here from someone who attended our orientation in January of this year. This is a person who has served with other organizations around the world, and at the end of the week of orientation of fundraising training, his comment, it sounds a little over the top, but, and I'm saying this because, this isn't my, I don't lead fundraising. Yeah, Carly does. But this guy said that our fundraising training is by far. The best training he has ever received in fundraising. Wow. That's awesome. That's the quote. Dang. Dang. That's the quote. Carly, great job. just add that. Thank you. It's a collaborative effort, so we have a lot of people who are invested in the success of our fundraisers, of our workers, who are what we call on deputation when they're in their fundraising season before they go to the field. And, we've really just decided that we wanna give them as many tools and resources and training as possible, so that they can be successful in this. Carly, can you comment just briefly on the advantage of having all of this in-house? Like it's our training, it's our people who are doing the coaching, and can you comment a little bit on that? Sure, yeah, we did use to outsource some of this and I think the advantage to bringing it in-house means that it's all one collective people who are involved in this person's journey. And so we have a vested interest in seeing them 📍 reach their fundraising goals. We then compare them with a coach sometimes even on their same team that they'll be serving We have coaches who are, living and serving on the field with us, and then they can form and strengthen bonds ahead of that person coming to the field and just really welcome them and orient them to the team and the team culture early on as well. So it really just solidifies their connection to one collective from the very I love that. That's awesome. awesome. Cool. Well this has been really fun guys. I like genuinely think like my perspective towards money and fundraising, like you guys have effectively changed my perspective. Wow. That's very very significantly. And so, um, thanks for doing that guys. And if you guys are listening, you made it to the end. Thanks. This has definitely been a long one, but been a really fun one. So if you are on the fence about serving somewhere around the world and wanting to cross-cultural work, but fundraising is a barrier, I would. Encourage you just to apply and talk with Carly or Mark or one of our other mobilizers. 'cause they will walk you through every single step about how to get it to the field in a sustainable and impactful and realistic way. That hopefully helps you grow in your relationship with Jesus and your network. So thank you guys. We got three more episodes planned and the torn between podcast, our official name, And so, come join for those in the future.
