Donors matter to our ministry. No shocker there. But you might be surprised to learn that we don't have a dedicated team of people raising funds. We have the philosophy that every team member is a fundraiser and that everyone can be a donor. Our strength is in attracting and retaining individuals to give. In the third quarter we had 110 unique households giving. And they contribute two-thirds of our financial support! We do receive funds from churches and foundations, but usually only after individual donors have vouched for us and recommended or introduced us to decision makers. We are not government funded. And we spend $2.18 to raise each $100, a very efficient figure for sure. We stretch every donor dollar as far as we can.

We celebrate every donor at SYMin and recognize them on their "give-a-versary" annually. Each year they give, a donor gets a gold star. And when they are able to increase giving by 10% in a year, they get an additional gold star. This month, we have the fund of recognizing 68 people who first gave in October, and October tends to be a slow month. Three increased giving this year by 10%. Among them they have 209 donor stars. That's an average of 3 stars each! The two donors with the most starts this month have 16! And we're thrilled to have 31 one-star donors with us, too!

Our anniversary letter includes links to things we hope our donors will enjoy, such as our amazing client newspaper, a review of accomplishments from our recent prayer letter, a set of amazing glimmers to inspire hope in this hard time in the world from our newsletter, and a link to all the ways to connect, help and serve at SYMin. Why not give and start getting celebrated yourself? We don't think you'll regret it.