Getting the Most Out of NSO

Getting the Most Out of

Your NSOFunding School

The information in this section represents the building blocks for the training during the NSO. The more you have thoughtfully and prayerfully prepared before you come to the NSO, the more you will get out of the training.

Confirm Your Funding Goal

Develop a Contact List

Assemble Your Contact List

Prepare Your Funding Presentation – Bring with you to NSO

Confirm Your Funding Goal

A Navigator budget is made up of four components:

  1. Gross salary
  2. Ministry expenses
  3. Benefits (medical insurance, life insurance, retirement, etc.)
  4. Administrative charges

Your total budget depends on several factors, including:

  1. Your job grade
  2. The number of hours per week you plan to work in Navigator ministry
  3. The Mission or Ministry you’ll be serving with

During NSO:

We focus on the Monthly Fully funded Goal. This is your future funding goal or target that will adequately provide for you, your family, and ministry when you are eventually working “full time”for The Navigators (some people plan to work fewer than 40 hours per week in Navigator ministry). Your Monthly Approved Support Plan is a “live budget”that will be determined by your Mission. This Support Plan will stair-step up over time as funds are raised to reach your fully-funded goal.

For Navigators who will be ministering overseas:

NavMissions will prepare your funding goal and send it to you before NSO.

For Navigators who will be coming on with EDGE:

The EDGE Director’s Team will prepare your funding goal and send it to you before NSO.

For Navigators ministering in the U.S.:

There are four primary steps to setting up your funding goal:

  1. Cammie Karr will work with your ministry “sponsor” (the Nav staff person who’s helping you join the organization) to get a preliminary budget set up for you.
  2. We’ll email the file containing this preliminary budget to you.
  3. When you receive the file, discuss the suggested full-funding goal with your spouse (if married), your sponsor, and Cammie Karr to be sure the suggested amounts for salary, ministry expenses, benefits, and charges for core services seem appropriate for your situation.
  4. Please make any adjustments necessary to the Excel worksheets. Have the appropriate person review and approve the (adjusted) fully-funded goal. Email the confirmed (with no changes) or adjusted Budget Calculator worksheet AND Ministry Expense worksheet (another tab in this file) to no later than August 25th.

Develop aContact List

Your Navigator ministry will be funded by a variety of people, churches, and anchor donors. You need to identify whom you want to talk with about how God is leading you and about some of the details about the ministry you’ll be doing. The people you put on your list are your potential ministry partners.

How many names do I need on my contact list?

The first step in developing a support team is to put together a contact list. You’ll always add new people to this list as you continue in ministry. A good guideline is to have 50 to 100 names per $1,000 of monthly support. God can certainly raise your budget from a limited number of financial partners, but we use these numbers for projection purposes.

To raise my monthly budget of $______, I will need approximately

_____ to _____ names on my contact list.

(Remember 50-100 names for every $1,000 monthly)

How do I brainstorm a contact list?

To begin compiling your full contact list, pull out your:

Facebook list of friends, cell phone address/contact list, names from other electronic databases

Hard-copy address book

Christmas card list

Church directory

School directory

List of donors from a short-term missions trip, etc.

Ask yourself, “With whom do I have some level of relationship - casual acquaintance, close friend, family member?” Do not ask yourself, “Will this person support my Navigator ministry?” You need to think about people who may be interested in hearing about the ministry to which God is calling you.

Assemble YourContact List (use the template provided in the link below)

Your contact list will be used to set up a database that will help you manage your donors and mailing list. The program we use is called TntConnect. You will create your contact list as a part of the installation process for TntConnect.Please go to the MPD website for detailed directions on assembling your contact list:

Download TntConnect

TntConnect is a donor-management system to help you manage your contact list, fundraising efforts, donor ministry, and more! It is offered for free by a missionary named Troy Wolbrink (formerly with Cru). More information about TntConnect can be found at

Prepare Your Funding Presentation

Articulate your vision

You may have a wonderful vision for ministry, but you will face difficulties attracting financial partners if you can’t articulate it.

To get you ready to develop your presentation, complete this worksheet before you arrive for NSO. Be sure to bring the worksheet with you!Also, view this video ( to give you an example.

  1. Jot down some key thoughts or Scriptures related to each of the following that will help you in developing your personal presentation. Use an additional piece of paper if needed.

Someone impacting your life spiritually

You impacting someone spiritually

An unfinished ministry story

Why are you going on staff? (Pinpoint that decision and who/what led up to it.)

Why are you drawn to join The Navigators?

Questions? Contact Cammie Karr at 719-594-2416 or 1