The above document answers most of the questions, but there are a few unanswered questions specific to our mission:
* How much of your money is spent on overhead?
When we get a
donation, we take out no money for administrative costs, living
expenses, or anything not directly related to the cost of the project.
There is usually a 5% fee which the bank charges us to transfer the
money down to Nicaragua.
* Who employees you, or pays your living expenses?
We
are volunteer missionaries. We are not employees of any organization. We do receive some
money from some rental property we own in America, and that pays our
living expenses, so no project money goes to our personal living
expenses. All the donations we receive go directly and completely
to their intended purpose, 100%.
Some people have chosen to give us money specifically for
our personal living expenses, for this we are very grateful. This shows in our financial statements as officer compensation, which was 8.1% of total income for 2010.
* Does any church or organization support or sponsor you?
We
are members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Everything we do is in
within the guidelines of their organization. We accept gifts of offerings from
the church, but never tithe. The Goldendale Seventh-day Adventist church in
Goldendale, Washington, USA is our sponsoring church, and we are
members of that church. They do not provide us directly with monthly
support, but serve as a channel to guide funds from their own members,
other churches, and individuals to the work down here. We are grateful
for their support. We also have donors from other denominations, and some
who have no church.
* How long will you be in Nicaragua?
We plan on staying down here as long as we are useful. The Lord
opened the doors to come here, we figure he will close the doors when
it is time for us to leave. The nice thing about being a volunteer, is
we have no set term of service.
