// Ways to give
Stewardship, plainly accounted.
Support for the ministry flows through the partner congregations. A plain description of how gifts are received, how they are spent, and how the books are kept.
// How support arrives
Through the local church.
The great majority of support for Jehovah Jireh Ministries is collected by partner congregations through their own benevolence offerings — a dedicated envelope in the back of the pew rack, a line on the weekly bulletin, a month in the calendar set aside for the ministry — and forwarded quarterly by the congregation's treasurer. A smaller portion comes from private donors who give through a partner church of their choosing. The ministry does not operate a public donation platform, does not hold a paid fundraising staff, and does not solicit contributions by direct appeal, by mail or otherwise.
If you wish to support the ministry and are not currently attending a partner congregation, the customary path is an introduction through a pastor in our region. The board clerk can respond to such introductions when they are made.
// How gifts are spent
Four lines, one page.
The annual budget is organized into four line items corresponding to the program areas — pantry parcels, winter relief, pastoral visitation, and parish support — with administrative expenses reported separately. Administrative costs consist primarily of liability and vehicle insurance, shed utilities, and vehicle upkeep for the one-ton flatbed and the delivery van. Administrative expenses have not exceeded six percent of total disbursements in any year since 2009.
The quarterly financial summary is a single page and is circulated to every partner congregation. Partner pastors may request the full ledger at any time. The annual report is filed with the state charities bureau and kept in the board clerk's archive box.
// 2024 disbursements
A year in figures.
Figures rounded. Program-to-administrative ratio for 2024: 94.8% to 5.2%. The full ledger is available to partner congregations through the board clerk.
// In-kind contributions
Goods, labor, and quiet help.
The ministry also receives in-kind contributions: cords of standing hardwood from two landowners on the south ridge, bulk staples at wholesale from a regional grain cooperative, volunteer labor from the partner congregations, the unpaid service of the three chaplains, and occasional professional services at no charge (bookkeeping review by a retired CPA who is a member of a partner church; legal review of the annual filing by a retired attorney). All in-kind contributions are logged at fair market value in the annual report.
New in-kind arrangements are considered through existing relationships and reviewed at the quarterly board meeting.
// What we decline
Gifts not accepted.
By board practice, the ministry does not accept: gifts with restrictive naming conditions (no sign goes on the shed); gifts contingent on publicity; gifts from sources whose business would create a conflict with the work; or gifts of perishables that cannot be distributed within a single parcel cycle. We have returned a small number of such gifts over the years, always with a brief letter of thanks and an explanation from the board clerk.
// A word on stewardship
"Plainly accounted" is not a slogan.
Every dollar that comes into this ministry is tracked in a carbon-copy ledger book at the shed and a spreadsheet kept by the board clerk. The two are reconciled quarterly. Discrepancies, when they occur — and they occur, this is bookkeeping kept by volunteers — are noted, resolved, and recorded. We would rather be slow and plain than fast and polished. This has served the work for thirty-one years.
The plate is passed at each service of a partner congregation; the benevolence envelope sits in the pew rack for the whole of the month the congregation has set aside. That is how the offering reaches us. There is no other way it needs to.