God may be leading you to give to Vision to Victory Campaign, but your circumstances are such that you feel there’s just no way. We understand your concern and empathize with you. Following are some creative suggestions that you may have overlooked and could consider. Each one requires sacrifice on your part. You may want to combine one of more of these suggestions to represent your commitment. 1. Commit to drink only water at a restaurant. On average one person could save $5 a week or more. That’s a minimum of $260 a year, just for drinking water!
2. Be a coupon clipper! By taking the time to use coupons, you could save up to $30 per week. Thirty dollars a week is $1560 in one year!
3. Wait for a movie to come out on DVD instead of seeing it at the theater. One trip to the theater can cost over $25 with popcorn and candy for two people! If you cut out two movies per month, that’s almost $500 annually.
4. Give up a habit. Easier said than done, but not impossible. For example, a gourmet coffee, plus tax each day, costs nearly $1,000 per year.
5. Cut down to basic cable TV service instead of standard cable. In most areas basic cable is about $18 per month, compared to $40 per month for standard cable. Cutting out the premium channels can save another $10 - $50 per month as well.
6. Skip a meal each week as a family. Missing one meal a week at an average of $20 per family to devote to prayer or fasting is $1040 a year.
7. Continue a bill payment. If you will be paying off a car or school loan in the next year, commit to continue to “pay the bill” by redirecting the money to From Vision to Victory after the bill is paid off. A $100 payment per month over years time is $1200.
8. Give a gift of stock. When you make a gift of stock, you get two main advantages: you can write off the current value of the gift (current stock value) as a charitable deduction on your income tax and you don’t have to pay tax on the appreciation that built up while you owned it. The church receives more than if you had sold the securities and donated the after-tax proceeds.
9. Commit your income tax refund check, and/or the tax rebate check that President Bush has just enacted ($600 for individuals and $1200 for couples) to the Lord.
10. Commit an estimated raise in salary to the Lord.
11. Adjust your vacations. For one or more years, do something close and inexpensive like day trips, picnics, or take a three-day vacation instead of a week and save on the airfare and hotel costs. This can save $1,000 to $2,000 easily.
12. Put off a discretionary major purchase such as a car or new carpeting for your home and redirect the money to From Vision to Victory.
13. You may want to consider re-financing your home at a lower interest rate. The amount you save on your monthly payment could be used as your commitment. Likewise, if you have a large amount of equity in your home, you could consider leveraging this for your commitment.
14. Find out if your employer has a matching gifts program. Typically, if a company has a matching gifts program, for every dollar an employee donates to a charity, the company also donates a dollar to the same organization. Some employers choose to double or even triple match their employees' donations! American Express and Starbucks are two such companies. Matching Gift Programs are a wonderful way for employees to make their charitable dollars stretch farther at no cost to themselves. Simply ask your company's human resources office or benefits administrator for a matching gift form and instructions. You may be able to effectively double your contribution
15. A dollar increase per week. This is a great idea for those who have never given or do not see a way to increase current giving. Start by giving one dollar the first week, then two, then three, then four, etc., praying all along that the Lord would show you a way to add that next dollar and increase each week. If you were to keep this up for three years, you would give $12,000!
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