Donations: Frequently Asked Questions
Why do you need donations?
Roughly 60% of our annual revenue typically comes from registration fees for our events. We intentionally try to keep our fees low so that more people can participate, and that means we require donations to fill the gap.
Our donors are almost exclusively individuals and families, usually those who have experienced the benefits of our programs first hand and want to “pay it forward” so others can benefit as they have. We have no corporate sponsors, although some of our donors do contribute through their employers’ gift-matching plans (thus doubling their contribution).
So we are highly dependent on — and grateful for! — the generosity of our donors who believe in what we do.
Where do my donations go?
Your contributions help us live our mission to help men and women grow and heal through some of life’s biggest challenges. We support them in addressing difficult issues in affirming ways that align with their own personal faith, values, beliefs and life goals. As a result, we often see individuals and couples dramatically change their lives for the better — often saving marriages and holding families together in the process.
Specifically:
- Your donations provide partial sponsorships or grants to men who want to attend Journey Into Manhood or to women who want to attend A Woman Who Loves but do not have the resources to cover the full expenses themselves. Typically, we offer sponsorships between about $100 and $400 so most applicants still need to pay at least the regular deposit out of their own pocket. This helps ensure their commitment to their own growth and healing.
- When event registration fees don’t cover all the hard costs of producing about 10 experiential personal-growth and inner-healing workshops each year in the U.S., Europe, Israel, and Mexico, your donations help fill the gap. Hard costs include renting group retreat centers for our events, meals and accommodations for participants and volunteer staff, and sometimes airline tickets, especially when experienced volunteer staff need to travel to foreign countries. (Even then, our unpaid “staff” members pay at least $100 towards their own accommodations and meals at each event.)
- Your donations help cover expenses associated with services we provide at no charge — such as our outreach initiatives, administration of online support groups (private Facebook groups), and responding to individual calls and emails asking for help, etc.
- Your donations help with general administration expenses that are necessary for running a significant international, non-profit organization. This includes communications (phone, email, web), website development and management, liability insurance, bookkeeping, storage units, materials, paying some part-time contractors (we don’t have employees) — and all the other built-in costs of running a small but international enterprise.
Are my donations tax deductible?
Brothers on a Road Less Traveled is registered in the United States as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. As such, your donations are normally tax-deductible, at least in the United States. Check with a qualified tax advisor.
Do you prefer one-time or recurring monthly donations?
We welcome both! Some of our donors prefer to give a lump sum once a year, often at the end of the year. Others give monthly, in amounts ranging from just $5 to as much as $500 a month. Everything helps, and we couldn’t be more grateful.
Monthly donations are especially helpful in providing a steadier and more predictable revenue flow, smoothing out the unavoidable ups-and-downs of revenues and expenses that fluctuate depending on our event scheduled.
How does Brothers Road manage its finances?
Brothers on a Road Less Traveled is overseen by a volunteer board of directors and council of advisers made up of men and women of faith who have significant professional experience in business, finance, management, health care, mental health and public relations. They also have significant personal experience with issues related to same-sex attractions, either directly or as wives or counselors.
We manage our finances very conservatively. For example:
- We are a volunteer-based organization. For every Journey Into Manhood weekend, for instance, volunteers give, collectively, over 1,000 hours of service to make it happen.
- Volunteer staff at Brothers Road events are asked to pay their own transportation costs plus a $100 staff fee to offset much of their weekend overnight and meal costs.
- Brothers Road “staff” members are part-time employees or part-time contractors who work from their own homes and are compensated conservatively. They have other sources of income in addition to their Brothers Road work. They provide strategic leadership, administrative, marketing (outreach), bookkeeping, Website management, and other related services.
- We are a virtual organization, operating by phone and online. We have no walk-in office to pay for.
- We try to carry over a small surplus each year. We do not carry any debt, nor have we ever.
Please feel free to talk to the founder and executive director about donating. Call or email Rich Wyler at 1-434-227-9346 or [email protected].
Thank you for supporting this vital work!
How do people who need financial assistance apply for it?
- Click here to view details on how men can apply for financial assistance to participate in our Journey Into Manhood program.
- Click here to learn about the Mary Jane Morgan Memorial Fund and how women men can apply for financial assistance to participate in our Woman Who Loves program.