"Whole-istic" Planning

Programs are often begun, sometimes for the purpose of fundraising, without enough planning and overall consideration of their cost. We need to be very careful to assure that the eventual result did not actually cost more than its benefit.

For example, often a meal is used to draw people to an event that is intended to provide funding for a special activity. Volunteers will either prepare the meal or arrange for catering. If the proceeds from the requested fee or donation for the meal total less than the actual cost of preparing the meal, the activity seeking funding would have actually been better served by just asking the volunteers for the amount of cash they spent on the event.

The intangible in this logic, however, is the fellowship value of the event. If interest or an understanding of the spiritual value of the pending activity can be shared and perhaps result in more interest or more participants, then the event has much more to offer than just fundraising. And, often there is value in just getting people together, especially if they find themselves surrounded by people they don't often see or are with whom they are not yet well acquainted.

It's important to use prudence when the exploiting the funding and efforts of those volunteers willing to serve. The value of their contribution needs to be obvious to all involved, so they will be happy to do it again and more people will want to do the same.