See what God can do in one day when U.S. Mennonite Brethren join forces on Giving Tuesday and donate online to support USMB mission and ministry.
Giving Tuesday is a global day dedicated to generosity that falls on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This year, Giving Tuesday is Nov. 28, 2017.
“Giving Tuesday provides a specific time to call our constituency together to help raise the funds we need to do what God is calling us to do,” says Don Morris, USMB national director. “Although many other organizations now also use Giving Tuesday for raising funds, it still is a fun way to see what God can do in one day. It gives us a needed boost in our fundraising. Overall, we need to raise about $240,000 this coming year. That’s significant. Giving Tuesday helps us get there.”
While USMB also employs traditional fundraising methods, Giving Tuesday, with its emphasis on online giving, is an opportunity to attract a new and younger group of donors who are comfortable giving online. Over the four years USMB has been part of Giving Tuesday, donors have contributed more than $112,000.
As in the past, 2017 Giving Tuesday donations will support current USMB church plants as well as new projects that will begin in partnership with C2C US. This year Morris is broadening the Giving Tuesday emphasis to also include internships for potential leaders and LEAD (Leadership Education And Development) initiatives: LEAD One training events, LEAD Cohorts and LEAD Coaching.
“We are expanding our focus to provide for not only church planting but also for our ministries that help our churches be better disciple-makers and for leadership development,” Morris says. “Giving Tuesday, coming at the end of the fiscal year, allows us to plan better, knowing that there are funds available to begin the next fiscal year in full stride.”
USMB is using #USMBTogether for its Giving Tuesday campaign.
“We use this hashtag because it easily articulates our long-time passion for helping our churches do things collectively,” says Morris. “Together we can accomplish many things that we can’t do very well as individual entities. Together we sharpen each other, and together we can raise the funds needed for ministry.”
The Giving Tuesday movement began in 2012 and last year raised $168 million, fueled primarily through social media and collaboration. In 2016, more than 100 countries and millions of people participated in Giving Tuesday.
For more information on USMB’s Giving Tuesday campaign, visit www.usmb.org/GivingTuesday or follow #USMBTogether on Facebook and Twitter.
Connie Faber joined the magazine staff in 1994 and assumed the duties of editor in 2004. She has won awards from the Evangelical Press Association for her writing and editing. Faber is the co-author of Family Matters: Discovering the Mennonite Brethren. She and her husband, David, have two daughters, one son, one daughter-in-law, one son-in-law and three grandchildren. They are members of Ebenfeld MB Church in Hillsboro, Kansas.
