Posts Tagged ‘Mission Possible’

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Benefit Auction 2013 Gross Totals

by Tuna

Greetings Friends!  Here’s a message I wrote internally just now (to board, staff and auction committee).  It’s so exciting I just HAD to share it with everyone!

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I just did the math and here’s what it seems we’ll receive (gross) when all payments are made.  This of course does not include any further rounding up people may do ( or any mistakes I’ve made!).  I’ll publish the net when we finalize that and receive outstanding payments.

Source Amount
Cashier including (live and silent bidding and raffle tix paid cash/check) 24500
Bidding (live and silent NOT paid to date) 3830
Bidding (live and silent paid by Credit Card) 9146
Snowmobile Raffle sold BEFORE auction 980
Cash Box From food/beverage 540

TOTAL = $38,996.

When we add the match to that we’ll be pushing $60K raised from the day!!!  As a German-speaking friend of mine says: “awe inspiring”
Thanks to each of you for your part in making the day a success and for your commitment to helping young people develop their relationship with God!
Brandon
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To God be all praise, honor and thanks!  And to many who gave items to be sold and who bid on those items.  As the saying goes, “it takes a village.”  Here at camp, we say it takes a community of love.  And how fun to be part of that community!
In case you missed out on the fun, you can do three exciting things from this post:
[button-medium color=”green” link=”eepurl.com/puW8r”]Get Camp Emails[/button-medium]     [button-medium color=”green” link=”bethanybirches.org/wp-content/media/2013/09/2013-auction-lot-list-w_.pdf”]View Winning Bids[/button-medium]    [button-medium color=”green” link=”bethanybirches.org/donate/”]Make A Donation[/button-medium]

Bethany Birches in The News for Mission Possible: The Pavilion Project

by Tuna

Greetings friends. The below blog post was written by a friend and consultant, Mark Vincent.  He has been working closely with me (Tuna) on our campaign to rebuild the pavilion.  This summer we are entering the “Public Phase” of this effort and so I thought I’d share it with you this “Tuna Tuesday”.

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Capital campaign communication: 2 awesome examples

We learn so much from our clients. Occasionally we can pass the benefits along.

I have been privileged to work with Bethany Birches Camp as they ready themselves for their first big capital campaign. Their Executive Director, still in the early stages of his career, is an outstanding example of someone who knows he doesn’t know and is therefore able to learn and grow and put a lot of long-timers to shame at the excellence he is already achieving.

Most noticeable is the way he, the board and volunteers have been able to inject the organizational culture of the camp into all their campaign communication. Whenever the constituency interacts with them they are having a camp experience, not just a communication from the camp. Here are two awesome examples:

1. Their video that introduces the campaign and makes the case provides an excellent standard other organizations can aspire to reach:

 

2. A recent update on an unanticipated project that could have harmed momentum conveys a non-anxious, thankful, yet light-heartedly determined way forward. Anyone who participated can find themselves in the blogs/photos etc. that are linked in the note. It provides a great personal touch mixed with the benefits of social media and web. Here is the text:

Greetings friends.  I’m writing with deep joy in my heart for each of you.  As you probably remember about a year ago we received some tough news from the fire marshal: that the Bethany Birches Cabin would be shut down April 1, 2012 until we complied with numerous requirements.
One of my biggest concerns was how we’d pay for the upgrades to the building.  My second concern related to how to get the work done.  Because of you, the work was finished and paid for!  THANK YOU!
Some goodies for you:
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support of this effort and for your ongoing help in Bethany Birches’ mission to help young people develop their relationship with God.  Without you we would still be without the use of the cabin!
Brandon
 

And here is one more idea.  Why not take these examples to your development and/or communications team to view and then ask what is one step we might take to better inject our organization’s culture into our communication–especially in a capital campaign? How might our constituency have an ongoing experience and not just another communications piece?

-mark l vincent

mark l vincent, design group international

 

Originally posted at Design Group’s blog

Spring Newsletter 2013: Mission Possible, The Pavilion Project

by dsleeper

Intel is on a need to know basis. Here’s what you need to know. The effort to replace the old pavilion with a new one is under way.

We’ve been hard at work raising money since October 2012.  Some of camp’s faithful supporters have given generously to achieve nearly $700,000 in commitments already.  The project total is $1,800,000. This will pay for the new pavilion and subsidize program for 4 years (we wanted to consolidate all our fundraising needs for the length of the campaign into one effort).

Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to make a gift (or at least a commitment) by August 15, 2013.  If you complete your mission you will receive a couple free gifts.

You may gain intel about the free gifts and give here.

In order to proceed, you must watch the video about the project here.


 

Les Miserables & Camp: Tuna Tuesday

by Tuna

So Cheeks and I watched Les Miserables on video the other night.  It’s a classic story and the most recent version done on video is very good.  As I was watching the scene when Javert decides to drown himself, I realized one of many reasons to learn to love our enemies – so we don’t drown ourselves!

Here’s what he says in the song that made me think of this:

Da.ned if I’ll live in the debt of thief
Da.ned if I’ll yield at the end of the chase
I am the law and the law is not mocked
I’ll spit his pity right back in his face
There is nothing on Earth that we share
It is either Valjean or Javert!

Full Lyrics


In short, he can’t handle the fact that his enemy, Jean Valjean, loved him enough to help him in his time of need (Valjean gains permission to release him from behind enemy lines – he would have been most likely killed had Valjean not done this).  He can’t stand this kindness so much that he decides to drown himself.

An article from Wikipedia explains the narrative this way:

“Javert wanders the streets in emotional turmoil: his mind simply cannot reconcile the image he had carried through the years of Valjean as a brutal ex-convict with his acts of kindness on the barricades. Now, Javert can be justified neither in letting Valjean go nor in arresting him. For the first time in his life, Javert is faced with the situation where he cannot act lawfully without acting immorally, and vice versa. Unable to find a solution to this dilemma, and horrified at the sudden realization that Valjean was simultaneously a criminal and a good person—a conundrum which made mockery of Javert’s entire system of moral values—Javert decides to resolve the dissonance by drowning in the river Seine; his body is later found.”

Here’s my point – Jesus’ teaching to love our enemies is for our own good.  Whether we drown ourselves in an actual river or a metaphorical river, hate causes deep inner turmoil.

One of our goals at camp is to build a community of love each week, each summer and over the lifetime of the camp, with all who participate.  This helps each of us learn to love those we otherwise might not get along with.  In learning to love those hard to love, we become free from hate.  Just one of the many things Jesus saves us from.

Tuna

Summer 2013 Registration Open!

by Tuna

It’s true. It’s open. AND, you get a $50 discount for registering between now and next Friday at noon. An automatic discount that is. More details here.

If you already know your sessions and dates, just go ahead and sign up!

 

[button-medium color=”green” link=”bethanybirches.org/summer-camps/registration/”]Register Now[/button-medium]

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