What is a mission trip support letter?
A mission trip support letter is a personal letter you send to friends, family, and your church community to ask for prayer and financial support before you go. The strongest letters are personal, explain why you feel called to this specific trip, describe the work honestly without overstating your own role, share what you hope to learn, and end with a clear, specific ask. Experience Mission (EM) has facilitated more than 35,000 short-term volunteers on mission trips, and we have found personal letters remain one of the most effective ways to raise the support needed to go.
Fundraising with support letters is a vulnerable step! It means committing to go with faith that the resources will come together, even before you know exactly how. This makes it all the more important that your letter communicates well, clearly states the purpose of the trip, includes personal details about your life and feelings about the trip, and ends with a clear ask for support.
What should a mission trip support letter include?
1. Make it personal
Open with a greeting to the people you are writing to. These will likely be close friends and family members who want to hear how you are doing personally, not just why you need money!
Tip: Consider the presentation of your letter. Most mail people receive is bills and unwanted junk mail. Plain font paragraphs on white paper will get about as much attention as you would expect. Add a photo of yourself, a map with your destination marked, or another visual that makes the letter feel like you. Keep it to one page for simplicity, but be yourself!
2. Give context
Explain in a paragraph why you feel called to serve on a mission trip and how you chose this particular trip, organization, or community. Also explain what you are doing to raise support throughout the lead-up to your trip.
3. Explain what you will be doing
Supporters want to know what their money is going toward. Describe what you will be working on, and use this as a chance to highlight the local ministry or partner you will be serving alongside. It can be tempting to make your own role sound bigger than it is. Keep the focus on the work God, local partners, and long-term staff are already doing in the community, then explain how you will be joining in and supporting that work.
4. Share what you hope to learn
Short-term mission trips should have an impact that outlasts the trip itself. Your experience should change you and shape how you live out your faith once you are home. Whether you are hoping to grow in faith, understand God's love for others more deeply, or put service into practice, explain how you expect this trip to shape you and your own community afterward.
5. Make a clear ask
Give supporters a specific way to help. If you are sending your letter to 50 people, work out roughly how much each person would need to give for you to be fully funded, and say so. Give clear instructions for how to donate with online links, QR codes, or check mailing instructions.
Tip: EM Summer Staff and IMMERSION participants are set up to accept donations online, so you can include a direct giving link along with instructions for anyone who prefers to send cash or a check.
Also, don't limit your ask to money! Invite your supporters to pray for you, to join any fundraising events you host, and to follow your journey through social media posts and videos.
How long should a support letter be?
One page. A letter that runs longer starts to lose the personal quality that makes people want to read it, and it makes the ask harder to find. Imagine your support letter being attached to the fridge with a magnet. You want it to stay there easily and have all the information readable on the front!
Who should I send my support letter to?
Your ability to successfully fundraise with a support letter will be directly related to the quality of your list of potential supporters. People want to give to good causes, and you are a good cause! Start a spreadsheet and collect contact info from relevant people: name, address, email address, and phone number. This will make it easy to send out emails, texts, or letters to everyone.
Who makes a good "potential supporter"?
A few categories to consider as you build your list:
- Family - parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and godparents
- Friends - lifelong pals, roommates, classmates, teammates, and co-workers
- Adults who care about you (for youth) - friends of parents, parents of friends, youth leaders, mentors, coaches, and neighbors
- People who care about you (for adults) - longtime family friends, mentors, neighbors, and members of your church small group
Once your list is built, you are ready to think about timing and delivery.
When should I send my support letter?
Send your letter as early as you can. This gives potential supporters enough lead time before your fundraising deadline to respond, ask questions, and follow through. Make sure they know your deadline, and consider sending email or text reminders to letter recipients as the deadline gets closer.
What if I do not reach my fundraising goal?
Writing a support letter is one of many tools when fundraising for a mission trip. It is one of the most effective, but you may need to use multiple fundraising angles to reach your goal. A few other ideas: save money from your current job, host fundraising events, sell merchandise like T-shirts, and use fun fundraising visuals online to encourage engagement and donations. EM Mission Trip teams are sent EM's Fundraising Guide for Mission Trips with many of the best ideas teams have used in the past.
All of this is to help lower the risk of not reaching your goal, but it is also important to remember that no one serves alone. If you are worried about personal fundraising, talk with your trip organizers about their plans for sharing fundraising responsibilities and helping each other along the way.
Is my donation to a participant tax-deductible?
In the U.S., donations made to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations are tax-deductible. This typically means that donations given directly to a church or missions organization like Experience Mission, on behalf of the individual they seek to support, are tax-deductible for the donor. Donations sent directly to individuals are not tax-deductible. Be sure to research on your own the best way to set up your fundraising to encourage donations that are tax-deductible for donors!
What makes EM's approach to support letters different?
EM has sent more than 35,000 short-term volunteers to serve alongside local partners and long-term ministries in the U.S. and around the world. Our goal is to keep the fundraising process focused on those partners, not on the volunteer. Letters are written to highlight the community's existing work and the exciting opportunity the volunteer has to come alongside their work and join in. See our example support letter template below.
Example support letter
Note: It might seem intimidating to create a formal letter that looks professional, but you can do it! This example was created entirely using Google Docs!
Ready to write yours?
Start drafting your letter and share the news with your friends and family. Consider waiting to post on social media until your letter has reached the people closest to you first. They will feel more personally invested and are more likely to follow through with support once they have heard from you directly rather than seen an announcement online.
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