Great News from the Recent Board Meeting

Purchasing the food, so that Honduran pastors can run programs to feed the malnourished children
in their communities, is one of the expenses we track for these charts,
and report on at our board meetings (and to the IRS).

The annual Sowers4Pastors board meeting was held on Nov. 12th and the news is good. If you’re reading this you likely already understand that the Sowerses strive to have good stewardship and a high impact. At the meeting, they were able to see what the numbers look like for their first year operating as an independent charitable organization. I’m not sure, but in my mind this involved pie charts and at least one person holding a pointy metal stick.

Allen and Trish knew they had been keeping advertising and fundraising costs down, but even they were pleasantly surprised to see that they managed to keep them at approximately 3% of the total budget. Other organizations boast when the number going to advertising and fundraising is under 20%. Allen and Trish reflected on how they feel they are accomplishing such an impressive amount of their funds going directly to ministry programs. (* See note at the bottom of this post for more info on the recommended percentages.)

For starters, they have partnered with the indigenous pastors who do not receive compensation from Sowers4Pastors. This has the added benefit of ensuring that the pastors who choose to work with Sowers4Pastors are passionate about reaching their communities, rather than passionate about making a large salary.

When the ministry requires paid workers in Honduras, indigenous people are hired. That helps the community by providing jobs. The employees are very happy with the wages they receive - they are well compensated by Honduran standards, but it is less than a North American employee would expect to receive.

The next thing that sets Sowers4Pastors apart is that all of their North American workers are “tentmakers," raising their own support outside of the ministry. The Apostle Paul funded his ministry through literally making tents. Today, the term tentmaker is used for someone dedicated to the ministry, who performs other jobs to provide financial support. For those receiving financial support through outside donations, it is important to note that those funds are completely separate from the Sowers4Pastors program funds.

The third and final thing Allen and Trish outlined is that they are kitchen table missionaries with little overhead. Their Bible bookstore is nothing more than three bookshelves filled with resources. When a pastor arrives wanting to make a purchase, it is usually Iris who greets him. She breaks away from doing housework and childcare long enough to help the bookstore customer. Then she goes right back to her laundry, dishes, etc. Sowers4Pastors does not have a compound of offices in the U.S. or in Honduras. While there is one small room of designated office space in the storage buildings on their property, they actually do generally operate around the kitchen table. When they are in the U.S., Trish works from mobile hotspots while going down the road. When they are waiting for an appointment, Trish is over in a corner, trying to accomplish as much officework as possible. As a ministry, Sowers4Pastors is always working to keep costs down, while making a big impact.

(Some numbers are still being crunched,
but this is what our preliminary reports are telling us to expect as the final numbers)

A whopping 97% of funds collected through the sponsorship program is going directly to the projects! Some programs with low administrative costs also have low impact on the areas where they serve . . . but Sowers4Pastors is feeding 14,000 children twice a week, in addition to all they do to empower pastors, because they are good stewards of the funds God has entrusted to them.

A moment of relaxation for some members the hardworking staff (and family) 

Allen and Trish want this blog post to be a celebration of all of the volunteers, donors, and indigenous pastors who make this work possible. The indigenous pastors working with Sowers4Pastors have one primary goal--to serve God and bring people to a relationship with Jesus Christ. They are sacrificially committed. If they were interested in earning high salaries, they would be putting their efforts elsewhere.

On second thought, the Sowers4Pastors budget would make for a very boring pie chart. The chart would show one tiny sliver of advertising/fundraising costs and almost an entire pie for spreading the Gospel and helping the children. But that’s just as it should be.

 - posted by Christi

* From this link: "The Better Business Bureau’s standards, published in 2003 by the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, recommend that at least 65 percent of the nonprofit’s total expenses should be for program expenses. The nonprofit’s total expenses should not include more than 35 percent for fundraising. Charity Navigator sets a goal of “less than 10 percent” of the nonprofit’s budget for fundraising spending and considers an organization that spends less than one-third of its budget on program expense to be failing in its mission. The Charities Review Council, located in Minnesota, recommends no more than 35 percent of spending on overhead and at least 65 percent of total spending on program expenses."