For Parents—Financial Questions

Support Raising and Financial Questions

We have seen thousands of students raise the needed funds over the years. Yet the fact remains that each participant has a lot of money to raise. It is often harder for parents to believe that the funds can be raised than it is for many teens. We at Reign Ministries and Royal Servants really believe that where God guides, He provides. However, we understand that with this comes a responsibility for hard work and diligence—dollars don’t rain from heaven. Students have to work hard at identifying potential supporters, writing letters explaining their vision and goals for the summer, and making follow-up phone calls. Most students reach a “support wall,” where they have sent all the letters, made all the calls, and they still come up short and start to panic.

This is where your help is crucial. Teenagers need a voice of calm and faith in their life (whether they think so or not). You can pray with them, encourage them to pursue new avenues, and to push through—In short, have faith. It is always amazing how often that when students keep trying, they break through the support wall and see the support dollars start to flow again. Bottom-line, the support raising process is often hard, but it’s a chance for you and your daughter and/or son to have a shared experience and deepen your relationship.

The Support Raising Kit

Once we receive a person’s application, we mail out Royal Servants’ Preparation Packet which includes a support raising kit. The purpose of these materials is to make the support raising process as informative for your student’s sponsors as possible, while also making the process smooth for those processing incoming support at the Reign Ministries office.

Therefore, each letter your student sends out will need to include four pieces:

1. Your son’s or daughter’s personal support letter
2. The Royal Servants Sponsorship Card (with name & account number labels affixed)
3. The contribution envelope
4. A “Sponsor’s Guide to Royal Servants”

Each of these items needs to be placed in an addressed envelope. As long as the support letter is one page (front and back) it can be mailed with a single 1st class stamp.

Note: In the original packet we send 70 pieces of support material. Upon request we are able to send an additional 70 pieces at no charge. However, we will need to charge a nominal fee to cover the postage and material expense for any additional request. We will let you know what that fee will be based on how many pieces are requested and the shipping method needed.

How the Process Works

As support donations for your student come into the office we have a team of people enter them into the system. We send updates of each person’s account by email roughly 2 times per week (to your son’s or daughter’s email account). We recognize how important this information is, so as the summer draws near, we will begin sending a hard copy each week as well. If you would also like to receive your son’s or daughter’s email support reports, or if you or your son or daughter does not receive email updates, please contact us at support@reignministries.org, or call us at 763-535-9555, option 3.

Note: If your son/daughter does not have email, we will send out bi-monthly hard copies. This service is not available if your son/daughter has email.

Important: For those who have email access, we ask that you rely on the email statements to learn where your support level is. We do not always have the ability at our office to look up individual accounts at a moment’s notice, so this will be the best source of learning who has sponsored you.

Due to a high volume of donations in the month of May, we ask you to be patient if a donation that you know has been sent in does not show up on your report for a week or so.

Note: Canadians can give in Canadian dollars. No other foreign currency is accepted. (Canadian contribution amounts will be determined by the exchange rate when the donation is received).

Support Raising Insights for Parents

1. Help your son or daughter to develop a plan and be organized. Some students find this task more difficult than others.
2. Remind, your student to make their phone calls. Phone calls are a must! We find that those who personally call (or personally meet with) their potential supporters have far greater response to their requests for support.
3. Procrastination is the #1 hindrance to raising support. Encourage your son or daughter to be diligent in their support development. Working hard at support will yield results and can be the first major answer to prayer.
4. Pray with your son/daughter. This is a great opportunity to model what faith in action looks like. This just may be the huge encouragement he or she needs.
5. Be aware of deadlines. Important deadlines include domestic travel information, visa information (if applicable), international airline deposits, etc. Please refer to the Reference Sheet, page 37.
6. Review the support raising section of your student’s Prep Packet. This will give you a detailed look at what your student needs to accomplish before coming.
7. Know who your student’s Participant Support Staff from Royal Servants is. This person is highlighted on page 2 of this Parent Packet.
8. There are some additional costs to the summer. Please refer to your student’s Prep Packet for details.
9. Encourage your son/daughter to follow through with their commitment to raise the needed dollars and send in all the paper work by the appropriate deadlines. It’s a lot to keep straight, especially for a busy student!

Extra Support Dollars

Frequently, students receive support dollars above and beyond the cost of their trip. If this is the case for your student, there are a number of options you have with these extra dollars.

• Extra dollars raised can go toward the allotted spending money, which is above and beyond the cost of the trip.
• Extra dollars can be transferred to other students who may be short of funds.
• Extra dollars can be held over for the following year, to be applied to another trip for the original participant or an immediate family member.
• Extra dollars can be used as a reimbursement for dollars spent on the domestic flight(s) to and from Chicago. The student can apply for this at Training Camp or by sending in a receipt or copy of the ticket to the Reign Ministries office, along with a letter requesting reimbursement for domestic travel. Due to the volume of forms and donations entering the office, we ask that you wait until after Training Camp to request a travel reimbursement. – see reimbursement policy for more details

Unfortunately, extra support dollars cannot be used to purchase a blue pack after the summer (to be honest, this would be a whole lot easier for us, as well as for you!).  However, IRS guidelines regarding tax deductible gifts do not allow this.

Reimbursement Policy

To qualify for an expenditure reimbursement, a participant must have extra dollars in their account once all financial obligations for the mission trip have been met. All reimbursements must be submitted to the Finance Department at Reign Ministries by August 31. All original receipts must be included. No checks will be cut for reimbursement prior to team’s arrival home.

For an expenditure to qualify for reimbursement, it must be purchased specifically for the trip, for the participant specifically (not a parent/guardian accompanying a participant), that a person would otherwise not have to, or be required, to purchase. , articles such as clothes, camera, cosmetics, toiletries, eye care, are not reimbursable because these are items are either non-essential (camera) or would be used were the person to remain at home (even if you purchase travel-sized items).

Reimbursable Items Include:

Travel:

• Domestic airfare
• Travel insurance
• Visa (only if the cost of the visa is paid for by the individual or parent receiving reimbursement, not if it is support raised as part of the cost of the trip).
• Gas (if driving)
• Hotel—only if participant is required to stay over an additional night at the end of the missions trip because of a flight delay/cancellation, or the scheduled flight arrived too late for the participant to make a connection (hotel stay before the mission trip does not qualify for reimbursement)

Camping Equipment:

• Sleeping bag
• Backpack
• Sleeping mat
• Nalgene

Health:

• Immunizations required by Reign Ministries
• Prescriptions specific to the needs of the country (i.e. malaria medication for Africa)

Non reimbursable items include but are not limited to:

• Doctor Visits (for physical, etc.) or eye care (glasses, contacts, etc.)
• Camera
• Toiletries
• Clothes
• Food
• Passport
• Support Raising events or Postage

Deficit in Support Dollars

Students often come to Training Camp with an account deficit, only to see the remainder of the money come in as supporters honor their commitments. We find that often there are a number of people who pledged support and simply forgot, or those who had not yet sent in the dollars. We will provide time at Training Camp for students to make additional support or reminder calls if needed. However, all dollars must be received at Reign Ministries by June 27, 2012.

If, at that time, the dollars are not all in, Reign Ministries will require a credit card to guarantee funds to cover the mission, if the student wishes to continue participation. Reign Ministries will block off—but not charge—the outstanding funds, while allowing time for further funds to come in. After two weeks the card will be charged only the remaining balance due in the students’ account.

Additional Questions