Fundraising guide
How to Write a Mission Trip Support Letter (Free Generator)
A support letter that gets answered names a place, a date, a specific job, a specific dollar amount and a way to give. Here is the structure, a worked example using real mission numbers, and a generator that writes your first draft.
Every member of Don Nichols' team raises about $1,200 to go. That money is raised the same way it has been raised for generations: a letter to the people who know you. This guide is the site's own — not a letter Don wrote — but the numbers in the example are his, and specificity is what makes a support letter work.
What a good support letter contains
Be specific about the money
Vague asks get vague answers. "Any amount helps" is true and useless. Compare it with Don's published breakdown: $1,200 sends one missionary — $800 of it is airfare and $400 is a week of lodging, meals and ground transport. A reader who knows that $2.50 is a Bible and $3 is a hygiene kit can picture what their gift becomes.
Be specific about the work
Don's description of a clinic day is the standard to aim for: "Once we arrive, our work begins early each morning and often continues until the last patient has been seen. Medical providers evaluate illnesses and injuries, pharmacists carefully dispense medications, and volunteers assist with patient flow, registration, vision testing, reading glasses, and hygiene kit distribution." One paragraph, no adjectives doing the work of facts.
Ask for prayer as seriously as money
Don puts it plainly: "Just as important as financial support are your prayers." Name two or three things — safe travel, wisdom for the medical team, the pastors you will serve alongside — and give people a way to hear back from you after the trip.
Use the generator, then make it yours
Use it
Tools that go with this guide
Questions people ask
- How long should a mission trip support letter be?
- One page. Who you are, where and when, what you will do, a specific ask with a deadline, how to give, and two or three prayer requests.
- How much should I ask for?
- Name the real number. On the Nichols team a missionary raises about $1,200 — $800 airfare and $400 lodging — and readers respond better to a breakdown than to a round figure.
- Should I ask for prayer in a support letter?
- Yes. Don Nichols treats prayer as just as important as financial support. Ask for specific things and tell people how they will hear back.
- Is the generator free?
- Yes. It runs in your browser, saves nothing, and you can copy or download the letter as a text file.
Everything on this page is given away free in Belize.
Somebody back home pays for it first. If this guide was useful, that is how you stand in it.
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More guides
Packing guide
What to Pack for a Medical Mission Trip: The Trunk System
Hygiene kit guide
How to Make a Hygiene Kit for a Mission Trip (About $3 Each)
Prayer guide
How to Pray for a Mission Team: A Seven-Day Guide
All guides and tools live on the Resources page. Every fact about the mission on them comes from what Don has published at www.donandpatti.com.