One of the greatest ways you can help us grow our impact is to help facilitate opportunities for our partner's stories to be heard.
We find that when people hear about the kinds of partners we have, and the stories of how they are making a difference in the world, God tends to touch certain people's hearts. We always look for those people that are stirred by these stories, and we begin a conversation - and a relationship - with them.
We would be delighted to receive more opportunities to speak at churches, home groups, business groups or even just to a couple of people who have an interest in seeing the poorest of the poor be lifted out of poverty. We have team members around the country, so can usually make an appointment just about anywhere.
But, if you are familiar with what we do, and are keen to help in a more hands-on way - we have a couple of ideas...
Bright Hope World Presentation
We can provide a range of presentation materials and brochures to help you tell the stories of our partners. Our web write-ups for partners also carry a lot of information. We've started collecting key stories from our partners as a resource, and you can view them here.
Please contact us and we'll put together whatever you might need.
Creative Advocacy and Fundraising
A number of our supporters have come up with smart and creative ways to spread the word about Bright Hope World's partners. This includes La Mai coffee tasting evenings, opportunities to simply hear the latest partner stories, or some even more creative endeavours...
For some years, Phil and Greta Greenwood of Nelson have held an annual summer banquet that provides an opportunity to promote Bright Hope World partners. Greta's story is as follows:
How do you support Bright Hope World?
I run a home group of mums that meets weekly through St Barnabas Church, in Stoke near Nelson. In the summer we put on a Banquet and invite our friends and people from the community to buy a ticket and come for an evening of live music and a three-course meal under the stars. This year we had a silent art auction that ran through the evening as well.
What gave you the idea?
We as mums sometimes felt that our world was pretty small - children and work and house and busyness and we wanted to do something to make a difference. As a group we approach our contacts (friends and family) and local businesses and ask them to donate goods. We have no costs! This year the garden venue was donated (worth $600) and each year the marquee is gifted and erected (at least $1,000 worth). All produce and meat by local stores and supermarkets is donated then we cook the menu. This year we also approached local artists to donate works which were auctioned off on the night. It is quite a feat and a major day as we cater for about 90 people. This year the youth group helped serve on the night.
Who have you helped support so far?
We like to support specific projects so on the night and when we sell tickets we can give as much info about where the money is going. We have shown video clips and we give a small talk about the project and we have a display for people to read. We have run four so far. The first year was smaller and we were purchasing sewing machines for a project in India supporting women who wanted to work. This year we supported Bright Hope’s project for displaced orphans in Uganda. We make sure we claim the tax too and sent that refund later to the project also.
What do the people who come think?
They LOVE it and come back each year with their friends so we grow in numbers each year. People (Christian and non-Christian) love being part of something where they know where their money is going; they have a sense of ownership and often give extra when they hear about the projects. On the weekend we were having dinner with friends who came (non-Christians) and he stopped and said "You know I still think about that night in the garden and how amazing it was."
Do you enjoy doing it?
It is a lot of work but as we are a group we share out the responsibilities. But it is a great night out and very rewarding for the difference the girls know they are making but also making people aware of looking outside their worlds when they don’t regularly.
What would you say to people thinking about doing something like it?
JUST DO IT! People often think the problems are so many and too huge but when you are specific about your focus you realise that for not a lot of impact on your life you are making a huge impact on someone else's AND you get a great night out! It’s a great witness to the community too. We had articles in the papers and non-Christians wanting to be part of our group because it was obviously speaking louder than words. And a great growth curve for the group - young and old, new and mature Christians, on a spiritual level and a bonding level. It does help that we all like food and dinner parties!
If you'd like to do something like this and want to discuss it, just let us know - we'll do what we can to help.
Click here to view or download our Organisation Profile.
