Where does the money come from?

Every YWAM worker, from Loren Cunningham, our founder, to the newest students, raises funds to meet their own financial needs. For most people in YWAM, these funds come from friends, family and churches who contribute financially. YWAM has purposefully chosen to emphasises personal support raising as the primary means of funding for our staff. So much so that it is one of our foundational values and has enabled us to multiply quickly around the world.

Jesus gives us this example. In Luke 8:1-3 it states He had a team who supported Him. It was not a fund, or someone else doing it for Him; it was relational, between Jesus and the ones He had ministered to. He was accountable, in a sense, to them because of their financial giving. Paul also followed Jesus' way, where individuals who knew him and those whom he had ministered to were able to give to him. It’s also a financial model that enables many important ministries to exist in our world today.  Just as the staff of a church or a community service organization relies on donations to pay their salary, so our staff also rely on financial partners to meet their financial needs.

We believe, and have experienced over and over, that personal support raising provides many benefits to YWAM staff. It often creates a close bond between the financial partner and the worker on the field, it helps our workers experience God’s faithfulness in tangible ways, and when combined with a commitment to pray as well as to give, it provides powerful teamwork that results in encouragement for our workers and supernatural blessing on our ministries.

- Youth With A Mission, International