How is Meet the Need different than other “volunteering” web sites?
- Meet the Need is a Christian ministry, not just a charity… our goal is to mobilize more people to demonstrate God’s love to others through acts of service.
- Meet the Need works primarily with and through churches, ministries and missionary organizations. We are essentially an outreach service provider to churches and ministries, equipping them with software, tools and support to help them reach those they want to impact, locally or across the globe.
- With most volunteer recruiting sites, you’re competing for volunteers and resources with education, arts, sciences and other secular charitable organizations. However, with Meet the Need you’re not competing with non-ministry causes because we are a ministry organization ourselves – so we only allow needs to be posted by Christian organizations like yours. Best of all, because churches and church members are our primary base of users, you’re reaching an audience that cares about ministry causes and are called to get involved in outreach by the Great Commission.
- Meet the Need is not just an automated connection of individuals to organizations. We also have a full-time staff that provides services to support the outreach efforts of your church or ministry, like taking calls from those in need and following up on pending (i.e. not yet completed) donations.
If anyone can give through Meet the Need, how does Meet the Need fulfill its mission of ministering to others through every donation?
With Meet the Need, anyone can give but every need must be met through a Christian “conduit”. If someone wants to give to a family but has not been confirmed as a member of a church or ministry that is registered with Meet the Need, then they can only give “through” a local church or ministry, not directly to the family. That approach has the added benefit of exposing those donors to local churches and ministries. Anyone registered under a church or ministry that is registered with Meet the Need may choose to connect directly with families in need.
When a person registers under the name of our organization, how does Meet the Need validate their association with our church or ministry?
As soon as someone registers under the name of your church or ministry, you will see them show up as a "Pending Member" on your organization's Dashboard when you log in. If they are in your database, you can automatically confirm their affiliation with your organization by changing the status of that "Pending Member" from Pending to Approved. As soon as you do, that individual will instantly see any needs you have posted for volunteer opportunities, missions opportunities or local families on their individual Dashboards when they log in to their account (either on MeetTheNeed.org or on your own web site if you decide to Run Meet the Need Through Your Web Site). Making them "Approved Members" will also let them opt to give items or services directly to local families if they so choose (we only give "Approved Members" of registered churches the ability to meet needs of local families themselves… that way there's always a Christian "conduit" delivering the goods or services).
What information does Meet the Need provide to help us manage our outreach programs?
You can view and update a wide variety of need and donation activity through your organization’s private “Dashboard” at My Account on MeetTheNeed.org, including:
- Your profile and primary contact information
- The status of needs of your own organization
- The status of needs of local families
- The status of needs of any missionaries you may have
- The outreach activities of any individuals or groups within your organization (e.g. Bible Study groups, Women’s groups, etc.) that are using Meet The Need
- Easily create a “Help Someone in Need” section of your very own web site complete with Meet the Need’s database, search engine, software and all other functionality… and it will look like you built all of that yourself!
Do you release e-mail addresses or any other contact information to any other organizations?
No. Your organizational and personal information is only used to administer the Meet the Need program. We do not disseminate, distribute, sell or otherwise share your information with other organizations without your consent. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy.
How much will Meet the Need cost us to use?
Meet The Need provides churches and charities with sophisticated software and services that would be expensive in the for-profit world. Meet The Need takes work off your staff, increases your impact in the community, enables you to manage volunteers, etc. However, as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization whose mission is to see the Body of Christ do more to serve families in need in their communities, we offer you this state-of-the-art solution at no charge. We request only that your organization consider making a donation to help cover our costs of providing this valuable service to you and other churches and charities.
We do not want the cost of Meet the Need to impede ANYONE from being part of this global effort to mobilize the Christian community to meet the needs of those less fortunate!
Will Meet the Need solicit contributions from any of our members, employees or volunteers?
No, it is not our intention to ask your members, volunteers or anyone else associated with your church or ministry to donate money to Meet the Need. Although Meet the Need is a 501(c)3 Public Charity and can accept tax deductible public contributions, we do not solicit funds from individuals who use Meet the Need. Our philosophy is that we don’t want those who give THROUGH Meet the Need to give TO Meet the Need. Instead, we want them to focus on continuing to use Meet the Need to give to others.
How is Meet the Need funded?
Meet the Need is funded by donations from our church and ministry members and a select group of individuals and foundations that believe in our mission and feel called to support this ministry.
How did the idea for Meet the Need come about?
Meet the Need was an idea that started in 2000 when its founder, Jim Morgan, was working as a strategist for a Dot Com consulting firm. As a Christian, he wondered how the power of the Internet could be leveraged for a ministry purpose rather than just as a money-making or money-raising tool. God gave him an inspired thought… rather than people shopping for what they want to buy on the web, why can’t they “shop” for someone who needs what they want to give away! Through one-to- one connections, donors could not only help meet physical needs but spiritual needs as well. And the rest, as they say, is history. A local ministry based on that principal was launched 2 years later in the Tampa area as a pilot and Meet the Need was launched in 2008 after three years of additional design, development and, most importantly, prayer!