OLAAT Talking Points

1. OLAAT Talking Points Adoption-Virtual Adoption

2. Key issues to overcome • The kids appear to be well cared for already so what impact does my sponsorship have? • There are significant needs at each orphanage that are not apparent to the short term trip member, particularly personal connections. • I need a long term vision of “success” for my child. Meeting the needs of the day are important but so is helping them to be self sufficient and productive over time. • Needs are met in order of urgency, and a long term vision is very important in this process. • I went on a trip and I am connected with lots of kids, how do I pick one or two? • The children do not need more relationships; they need more personal ones. • What is the difference between OLAAT and my sponsored child through Compassion international? • Our program views the children as members of your family and places more responsibility on you as a sponsor. • Why doesn’t my money go directly to my sponsored child? • Your money is more effective when it is pooled.

3. Why Sponsorship? • The fundamental need of an orphan is a family. Our ‘One Future’ program is more than sponsorship. It is inviting the child into your family. A participant is expected to support a child emotionally and spiritually, as well as financially. To show our commitment to it being relational only individuals who have personally met a child can virtually adopt. • It allows us to connect each child with a family. If we don’t have one to one relationships identified clearly, then it is likely the most outgoing kids in a given orphanage would have the majority of the relationships. Formal sponsorship is the vehicle for identifying who has connections and who still needs to be connected. With OLAAT every child can have a family. • Orphaned children have daily needs. Funding single projects does not cover the daily needs to care for a child. Sponsorship offers stability to the orphanage so the staff can begin focusing on other needs, such vocational training.

4. Why Sponsorship? • It begins with the most urgent needs of each child. OLAAT is in conjunction with the business plan for each orphanage and meets needs in order of urgency. No parent would save up for college when there was no food to eat for dinner. • It includes a long term vision for each child. When each child in an orphanage is sponsored there is significant funds available for vocational training, facility renovation, community development, etc. This allows ONet to partner with each orphanage to meet not only today’s needs, but to help each orphanage have a comprehensive model of care and have a Christian presence in their community. • It is the most effective way to make an impact at an orphanage. After trying various methods to help orphanages, this is the best model ONet can put in place to really make a difference physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

5. Questions on Finances • What is ONet’s admin fee? ONet takes out a 15% admin in order to cover costs associated with managing our monthly support of the orphanage. The goal of the withheld funds is to offer accountability and allow us to make the other 85% more effective through proper planning. • Where does my money go? Any check written to ONet from a donor connected to an [or a child at an] orphanage can only go to the specified orphanage. Your monthly support, less the admin, is sent monthly to support the needs of that orphanage. No other churches fund your orphanage and you church funds no other orphanages. • Why is my money pooled? After doing market research we decided it was the only realistic option to offer monthly support. World Vision, Compassion International, and Christian Children Fund all follow the same model. We are committed to equal treatment at every orphanage and would not want a sponsored child to have special treatment over a non-sponsored child. Simply put, your money is able to have a bigger impact when it is pooled.

6. How to Sell OLAAT Before a Trip • Tell a big story! Explain how OLAAT is there to make the trip experience more meaningful. People want to know their trip is much more than playing with kids. If these kids are put into families then playing in a pool makes far more sense. • Be very clear and honest! It is very important the trip leader completely understands that ONet is planning on presenting OLAAT during the trip. You do not want to surprise your church contact by presenting OLAAT on the trip. • Use church (-centric) language! “ONet is helping the church be the church!” There are dozens of verses in the Bible about what we are doing. Present OLAAT in the light of building lasting relationships between local and foreign churches. Explain how OLAAT helps their experience in Nicaragua become a more full picture of what the Bible talks about missions being. OLAAT is not to build up ONet as a brand; it is to help make their church missions a more impactful program.

7. How to Sell OLAAT on a Trip • Have a list of sponsored children from that orphanage available at the beginning of the trip. Team members can then spend the majority of their time with children that do not have families caring for them. • Make sure the church contact buys into it before the presentation Spend time discussing OLAAT with the church contact before you approach the group. Talk specifically about reasonable expectations of the group, which you can later use when addressing the group. • Have the leader introduce the program as supported by their church/group ONet trip leaders should not open this conversation because it is their product to sell. If the church contact opens the conversation they are asking you, as a representative of the group, to share the program with them. • Do your presentation with at least 2 full days past and remaining at the orphanage This allows them enough time to have already connected and not feel you are selling something right away, while still giving them time to choose which child the would like to sponsor. • Have application available on the trip.

8. How to Sell OLAAT on a Trip • Focus primarily on ‘One Future’ because they are the only individuals that can sponsor at that level Most committed team members can figure out a way to find $74 a month if the believe in the program. If money is a concern suggest involving family, small groups, classes, etc • Mention ‘One Child’ as a way to involve friends, neighbors, co-workers, church members, etc. This makes each team member a recruiter for OLAAT and ONet. • Use language consistent with OLAAT throughout the week’s porch times • On the last night have the church contact remind the group of OLAAT and turn in their personally completed form Teams want to see their leaders are personally committed and will feel more comfortable committing if it is clear others are committed as well. • Make sure to get at least 2 people committed to OLAAT from a team. This is needed to serve as a building block for future teams. • Complete a brief profile on each team member to equip the ONet follow-up person with information concerning each team member’s trip experience.

9. Thoughts on Communicating OLAAT on a Trip • Be honest! Do not present OLAAT as a sales pitch. This is an invitation for the team-members to make their trip experience something more meaningful by participating in this work throughout the year. The team will already care about the needs of the orphanage, so explain OLAAT as their opportunity to become a part of the long-term vision of their orphanage. • Be direct! Tell the team how the money will be spent. Directly address the admin %. This honesty will help them trust you. ONet has designed OLAAT to distinguish itself among its competition. • Do not be scared! Team members want to hear about this program. You are making their trip experience better by explaining OLAAT in its entirety because this is how their trip experience becomes something that makes an impact all year long. Don’t worry about them being offended because teams genuinely connected to the kids will already be looking for a program like OLAAT. • Begin and end with God! We believe God has a redemptive plan for these kids and we are a part of it. OLAAT is the invitation to be a part, to be the ‘Good Samaritan.’ It’s easy to let this be about money or program, but that cheapens what we are doing. OLAAT is supposed to be a vehicle of hope for every child in an orphanage.

10. How to Follow-up on OLAAT After a Trip • Be Quick! Team members are often ready to sign up very quickly after the trip, if not on the trip. It becomes more and more difficult to have a team member sign up as more time passes. However, it is important to give the group a few days after the trip to regroup before pursuing them for OLAAT. • Use ‘critical mass’ Team members are more likely to sign up in a group setting. If there is a post trip meeting make sure there are OLAAT applications available and someone to answer questions/collect forms. As people turn in forms use that information as part of the sales pitch. They will be far more likely to commit if they know others in their church are doing so. • Work very closely with the church contact Allow the church contact to share his insight and leverage in the group. He will be able to help ONet approach the church and the team. • Use the credibility of the trip leader The trip leader just spent a week with the team in a very emotional setting. The team likely thinks the world of the trip leader, and this is an “in” with much of the team. Pay attention to his notes on the team, and make sure there is a clear passing from trip to OLAAT by conference call or personal meeting.

11. Keys to Managing OLAAT • Make the familial connections real This is the real power of the program, children are given families. Respect the families by viewing their commitment as more than finances. • Make the connections ongoing, drawing at least monthly interest from the sponsor Create opportunities for the sponsors to foster community and connect with ONet consistently, such as a forum on the website or small gatherings. The power of ONet in our best current partners is that it becomes an ongoing community and not a one-time retreat experience. • Show the sponsor how their money is making a difference ‘One Future’ is a significant financial commitment for many people, and ONet can honor their commitment by creating good reports on the progress of the orphanage. Reports will be able to be reused for many donors at each orphanage. • Offer better material than market competitors to differentiate OLAAT in ways other than finances It will be difficult to compete with Compassion or World Vision on basic child sponsorship, so ONet must demand more while offering better material to the sponsor

12. Keys to Managing OLAAT • Engage the sponsor in creative ways Sponsors will initially be sensitive to OLAAT being another child sponsorship program. Offer creative ways, such as scrap books, to connect them with their child to further separate this program. • Connect it to the trip experience Sponsorship is far more powerful when they know they will be seeing their child every year. Make it clear ONet wants them to see their child, and do all we can to make that happen (this is a common criticism of other sponsorship programs). OLAAT also makes the trip experience far more powerful because they are going to visit a specific child. • Make giving consistent and simple Automate as much as possible in order to guarantee monthly payment and standardize payment method for ONet. Perhaps, ONet sends a mail merge or email each month thanking for their sponsorship support, a la Young Life. This serves as a reminder of their support. • Keep ONet information more current and accurate than the sponsors OLAAT families will be keeping their own information on their child, much of which will be personal and different than the info ONet offers. It is important we offer relevant, accurate, and desired information to them regarding the progress of their child.

13. Brief Feedback from a Current Sponsor • Put OLAAT on the website • Place the children’s picture on the website, and if indicate if they are sponsored (you could put a symbol around the picture like a heart). In this way, the people who have been on trips will be the “recruiters”. Imagine the people at CFC who have been to Nicaragua looking at the web page for Puerto Cabezas regularly, tirelessly trying to get friends and family to sponsor kids until every single one has a relationship. • Make it easy to sign up- in other words just give your credit card info and contact details to get started. • Show connections matter • Having a familial relationship gives each the feeling they are special and worth sacrificing for. In theory this leads to hope and a subtle understand that he can realize his dreams. Ideally any child at an ONet orphanage that has the desire and ability to go to college should have that opportunity. • It would good if a statistic could be developed to quantify in some way the impact external relationships/sponsorship have (in terms of they are x % more likely to stay in the program or y% more likely to graduate from high school if they have a sponsor than if they don’t)

14. Leveraging the People Who Have Gone on a Trip • How do you equip them to be salespeople? • Cast a very clear vision and explain their role in it • Give them professional and current marketing materials • Offer tangible encouragement for individuals who are successfully marketing for ONet • Keep them connected and invested in the vision by working with the church contact and core team members • How do you keep them invested? • Use the website to foster community, but you must give them reasons to keep coming back to the ONet website • An online forum could offer a good means to exchange ideas amongst trip members from different churches and teams, as well as allow ONet another means to tell their stories. Ideas for a forum: • Trip suggestions- how do you have a successful trip • What’s going on a specific orphanage? • Newsletters from staff • Trip reports from people who went • Projects- let people collaborate with other churches to help achieve common goals • What’s going on at ONet • Put pictures of the orphans from each orphanage on the web site and who is sponsored- people who have been can point their friends and family to that area and encourage sponsorship