We have four "chunks" of funds to raise. The first two are monthly recurring costs. The second two are one-time costs. The amounts were decided upon based on standard costs for living in Kenya, insurance costs, taxes, administrative fees, visa fees, travel costs and estimated costs here in the US for our Home Assignment travel and living expenses.
MONTHLY SUPPORT
Monthly support includes not only our monthly salary, but prorated expenses such as home assignment travel and living expenses, visa expenses ($3000 / person every 2 years), admin costs, health insurance and retirement. The total monthly support is $5,638. It's broken down in the following way:
MONTHLY MINISTRY
Like monthly support, monthly ministry is a recurring cost. Ministry expenses are sort of like business expenses. Although they must be raised monthly (and are typically expended monthly), they are taxed differently. These are costs directly related to expenses incurred through our ministry....mostly on Jeff's side. This covers communication expenses, gas and vehicle maintenance for his travel throughout Kenya, and security expenses. We have budgeted $670 / month for ministry expenses.
TRAVEL
We call this First-time Passage. This is a one time amount that is needed to physically get us and the stuff we are taking from here to Kenya. It also includes the first month's salary. We have budgeted $13,638 for three round-trip plane tickets, 6-7 extra bags (maybe more depending on the cost of airline tickets at the time of purchase), and the first month's salary.
MINISTRY SET-UP
This category is a one time amount needed to set up our life in Kenya. It includes the cost for a vehicle, home furnishings and tools/equipment, inoculations (nearly $2,000 worth!), language school and deputation travel. We have budgeted $32,310 in this category.
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TODAY
Praise God, He's brought in all of our one time costs, both ministry and first-time passage! We have about nine month's worth of monthly ministry "in the bank." SIM requires us to be at 100% of monthly support in pledges and giving before we can go to the field. Currently, we are at 46% of that goal..approximately $2,600.
So, the thing holding us back is about $3,000 in monthly pledges. One time donations do not count toward this goal, but do work wonderfully toward our monthly ministry needs. Annual or quarterly gifts are prorated out to a monthly equivalent and count toward our monthly support. However, if a donor has not specified that their year-end or one-time gift will recur next year, we cannot count that toward our monthly goals.
I hope that helps! If you've given a financial gift, THANK YOU! If you gave a one-time gift and mean it to recur at some fairly regular point (i.e. once a year, twice a year, etc.), please let us know.
