Phillip Ndoro reflects on the impact of fundraising coaching and the Staff Catalyst Fund on his ministry in Mexico City
Beauty and Phillip Ndoro are Servant Partners staff in Mexico City, where they work with local leaders through house churches, a discipleship school, and children's ministries. Since they first moved from Zimbabwe to Mexico City 11 years ago, they have encountered significant transformation—and limitations.
“Since we first arrived here, our resources have been low and we’ve faced challenges in building our networks of support,” Phillip said. “This has restricted our ministry, as we have been unable to initiate all the projects that we would have loved to see happen.”
Resource limits have inhibited the Ndoro’s ability to expand and reproduce their ministries. They operate a children’s ministry in two neighborhoods, but have been unable to reach other neighborhoods with limited resources. Before the COVID-19 pandemic began, they hoped to start a literacy program—but lacked the funding for it. They also led a leadership development program at their church, but found they could only take the program so far with few resources.
As the Ndoros regularly contended with these limitations, the Staff Catalyst Fund provided much-needed support. It provided funding towards a three-month coaching program that coaches under-resourced ministers on fund development. This coaching helped Beauty and Phillip build their networks and raise substantial one-time gifts, and trained them with long-term tools and strategies for fundraising.
“The coaching helped me realize several limited beliefs that I held onto about fundraising,” Phillip said. “I thought my failure to get new partners was a cultural one—coming from a Zimbabwean African background, I had learned that asking for money is like begging. Coaching helped me see fundraising in a new way, and gave me cross-cultural perspective to partnership-building.”
The Staff Catalyst Fund helps under-resourced staff develop support networks for long-term ministry—and one such way is through coaching. Support-building is challenging, especially for under-resourced staff, and coaching helps individuals move into new capacity to sustain strong networks of prayer and support.
“Coaching helps us remove our own limits and open up opportunities,” Phillip said. “Coaching helped me realize the options we have, and helped me access those options through fundraising strategies.”
Phillip continued, “This is not just a gift to help people raise money, but to help people become more effective in bringing about transformation in their communities.”
The Staff Catalyst Fund aspires to equip under-resourced staff with long-term networks of support that will sustain their ministry. You can learn more at www.servantpartners.org/vision2030 and give towards the fund at www.servantpartners.org/donate.