Guidelines For Fundraising

At The Buggy Bunch, we believe that the way an organization handles its finances is a reflection of its integrity and reliability in every arena. As a result, we have chosen to regulate our methods of money management with great care. Here are the principles and policies that have guided us through the years:

We believe that this ministry belongs to God and that we are merely His managers and stewards. Our role can be summed up in a single phrase: to stay accountable to His objectives, interests and concerns.

1. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away (Job 1:21). As long as He supplies the means, we will continue to serve others in His name. If he closes the door and cuts off our support, we will regard this as an indication of His sovereign will. We understand that the future of His work in the world does not depend upon the survival of this organization.
2. God sustains this work through the generosity of His people. The Buggy Bunch’s continuation as a ministry is directly dependent upon their willingness and ability to give. It follows that our friends need to know about our financial circumstances. Accordingly, we will not hesitate to provide them with relevant information, both in the good times and the bad. But we will not beg or resort to disrespectful or dishonorable methods of fundraising, since this would only be to insult their sensibilities and disavow our confidence in the Lord. Nor will we ever attempt to raise more money than we need.
3. In the same attitude of high regard for those who make our ministry possible, we will never sell or rent our donor database. On the contrary, we will treat our supporters’ personal information as a solemn trust and maintain the tightest security on our list of contributors and friends.
4. In view of the sacrificial nature of the contributors we receive we are determined to steward our financial resources as carefully and conservatively as possible. There is no room for extravagant or unnecessary expenditures in The Buggy Bunch’s operating budget.
5. We believe that a Christian’s first financial obligation is to the church; we have no desire to come between our friends and the local congregations to which they belong and from which they derive their spiritual sustenance. As a result, we do not expect them to contribute to our ministry until after they have supported the work of God’s kingdom in their own faith communities.
6. We will implement measures to ensure fairness and accountability in all of our financial interactions with donors and supporters. To be specific, we will receipt all donations and show the fair market value of any materials requested and sent in order to help contributors determine the tax-deductible portion of their gifts.
7. These, then, are the principles that have defined our philosophy of financial stewardship and shaped our approach to fundraising. They are based on a firm conviction that everything we are and everything we have comes to us by the grace of God. Provided we remain faithful, we are confident that the Lord will sustain us while His purposes for this ministry endure.