Gifts matched at 100% to help missionaries still in need of financial support – now through September 27.

Twenty-three missionaries or missionary couples are still in need of additional gifts to meet their support goal for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010. 

To help give these missionaries a final boost, the Extra-Lift Matching Gift appeal was launched at noon on August 9 and will run through noon on September 27.  All gifts that meet the criteria below will be matched dollar-for-dollar.  To see the missionaries in need of your help go to:  http://www.internationalministries.org/drives/extra_lift_matching.

Here is how the Extra-Lift Matching appeal works:

1.   Recurring gifts made between noon on August 9 and noon on September 27, 2010 by individual donors who have not previously made recurring contributions to a participating International Ministries (IM) missionary will be matched on a 100% basis.

2.   Your recurring gift can be made via the International Ministries web site on the profile page for the selected missionaries, or checks may be mailed to the IM office as long as they are postmarked no later than September 27, 2010 and include a signed commitment for regular giving. Please make your check payable to International Ministries and write on the memo line the name of the missionary you wish to support. Mail to International Ministries, Development Office, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482.

3. Recurring gifts will be matched as follows:

      Minimum of $20/month will be matched 100% up to $240 for one missionary
Maximum $100/month will be matched 100% up to $1200 for one missionary

4.   The funds available for match will be available on a first come, first served basis until exhausted or the end of the drive at noon on September 27, 2010.

5.   When a missionary's sustaining support level has been reached, gifts will no longer be able to be matched.

The Extra-Lift Funds represent the funds that remain after the conclusion of the 360 appeal earlier this summer.  The 360 fund was established to encourage on line committed monthly contributions of $30/month for the support of American Baptist International Ministries missionaries with a lead gift from the First Baptist Church of Royal Oak Mission Fund.   More than 300 individual donors signed up and established over 500 monthly commitments during the life of the drive. 

American Baptist International Ministries established the Missionary Partnership initiative in 2003 with the goal that by 2010 missionary core support would be covered by directed or targeted committed contributions from congregations and individuals.  Unrestricted funds contributed to International Ministries through the World Mission Offering are used to cover the additional direct and indirect costs related to missionary support.  Grants to partner agencies and projects are also made from World Mission Offering funds.  Unrestricted endowment income is used to cover the administrative and fundraising costs of the organization.