Being Good Stewards

The Current Family

Greetings Fishers of Men Supporters. My name is Don Current and I am a Board Member and Treasurer of Fishers of Men.  I have been performing this task for a couple of years now. We thought it might be a good idea to give everyone some insight into how your donations to the ministry are handled.

Since the operations of Refuge Ranch and the Evangelistic Medical Mission Crusades (EMMC) take place in Mexico, and the primary funding comes from the U.S., we have established procedures to help get the money from here to there in the most efficient and cost effective way. With modern banking, we are able to quickly make funds received in Shelbyville, Indiana available in Cuecuecuautitla, Mexico.

Once a week (or more if funds are particularly tight), I make the trip to the Post Office in Shelbyville to pick up the mail. I record all of the donors and donations. I also note if there is a particular project that the donor requested the funds go towards, such as the building fund, a particular EMMC or mission trip, or a short term project like last year’s mini-bus fund.

I then take these funds to the bank and deposit them into the main spending account. When I get back to my home, I record all of the information into our Quickbooks program and notify Julie of the amount of the deposit and any designations.

We also have some regular donors who pay via Paypal which is an easy and convenient means of creating a reoccurring donation to FOM. I am easily able to transfer these funds directly to the FOM bank account. I record these donations in the same way as checks. There is a small fee that Paypal takes out, so if you’d like to avoid having that happen, many banks have free electronic banking that allows a regular amount to automatically be sent to us via a bank draft check each month. Several regular donors have chosen this means of donating.

Once Julie receives the weekly donation report from me, she does some transferring of funds between bank accounts that are established for specific purposes such as medical funds, building funds, emergency funds, and others. She also has a detailed budget she follows. Since we don’t always receive as much money as the budget calls for, she divides up any general funds by the pre-established percentages from the budget. These values are then recorded in her budget book so she knows how much money they have to spend in each category. By dividing the total general deposit up by a percentage, she can be assured that at least some funds are deposited into each category for them to spend and that way no category gets overlooked. For example, when it’s time to order school books, it is very important that there are funds available and this process helps assure that.

These funds are usually accessed in Mexico via their ATM/Debit cards provided by the U.S. bank when spending needs to occur. We have found this to be the most efficient and cost effective way of accessing these funds in Mexico.

I’ll also give you a rough snapshot of how we stand here at the half way point of the year. This is just a snapshot look without regard for the various categories money may have been designated to. The total budget for Refuge Ranch and the planned EMMC’s for the year is nearly $182,000. That means we should be at $91,000 to be on budget. Unfortunately our total to date is just over $56,000. This means that emergency funds have been spent down to the point where there are no buffers left. If this continues, future EMMC trips will have to be evaluated, staff salaries may be missed, and of course any thoughts of expanding the ministry have to be evaluated. 

God is our ever present Provider, and in past years, He has always provided for Fishers of Men to reach their annual goals. Please consider if there are any ways you could spare some funds, or perhaps take on a fundraising project such as Kids Inspiring Kids for your church’s VBS program.  (More information to come later in the week about this exciting opportunity!)

My family was able to raise over $5000 to fund a family mission trip to visit and serve Refuge Ranch later this month for three weeks which we are excitedly anticipating. Perhaps your family could do the same to either physically serve at Refuge Ranch, or to send the funds for direct use in the ministry.

Of course the most important support you can provide is your prayer. Fishers of Men is totally dependent on God for its continued success and the prayers of His children are the best means of support toward that end. Thank you for your continued support whatever form that may take.

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding the finances of Fishers of Men, feel free to contact me at don.current@currentfinances.com

Donations may be mailed to Fishers of Men, PO Box 0940, Shelbyville, IN, 46176. Paypal donations can be made at  www.fishersofmenmexico.org or sent to fishersofmenmexico@gmail.com.