Inside the Campaign - #9
An insider’s view of Young Life Liberty Region’s long-range plan and fundraising activities
November 2019
The Advancing Liberty fundraising initiative is part of the Liberty Region’s five-year strategic plan and our expression of Young Life’s FORWARD campaign. Your awareness of and contribution to Young Life’s mission in the Liberty Region makes you an insider, and this newsletter helps to keep you informed.
Advancing Liberty
Our fundraising initiative – Advancing Liberty – is the Liberty Region’s expression of Young Life’s FORWARD campaign. It is a five-year plan to add staff, improve existing and launch new ministries, dramatically increase our impact, and provide the additional funding to enable and sustain the Liberty Region’s long-range strategy.
Ours is not a strategy to collect-and-hold campaign funds for a “rainy day”, but to quickly allocate raised funds back into the Areas and ministries with the greatest need, to reach more kids now. We’ve seen this in practice already in the hiring of sixteen new Student Staff (see newsletter #5), a program aligned with our Develop Leaders objective (below).
Our Strategic Objectives
The core of the Advancing Liberty campaign is the Region’s five-year strategic plan. There are myriad alternatives and programs we will pursue to realize this plan; however, we have defined three main strategies under which to raise funds:
Plant + Cultivate – New ministries in urban and small-town areas and places that have never had a Young Life presence. Target: $3.6 million
Develop Leaders – Foster and guide volunteers and new staff who will reach the next generation of kids. Target: $4 million
Advance Liberty – Invest in existing staff and volunteers to grow their impact, provide life-changing camp experiences, and help young people to grow in faith, education and career opportunities. Target: $1.4 million for ministries; $1 million for Legacy camp scholarships.
Overall Progress Against Goals
The Advancing Liberty campaign is in the “quiet phase”, a time of extensive planning and early engagement of key donors. This phase will continue through most of 2020 before we announce anything publicly about the campaign. Still, we’ve received pledges and donations from individual donors totaling more than $200K; we received a grant (which we must match) from the Harold C. Smith Foundation for $380K; and we’re in receipt of the first $100K advancement on a significant legacy gift. This newsletter will be your source for updates on our progress.
Prayer Requests
Praise for the success of Casting a Wider Net event. Let's all be praying that the Lord would continue to move the hearts of those who attended and those who could not. Pray for fruitful follow-up conversations.
Pray for the identification of matching funds for our Harold C Smith Foundation grant, which is funding our student staff initiative.
We’ve claimed this truth from Isaiah 61 to guide us:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” — Isaiah 61:1
Reaching more kids in the Liberty Region through Young Life is easier when you’re standing with us. Thank you for your partnership.
Casey
for the Advancing Liberty campaign team