FAQs

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Upon receipt of an inquiry, a potential church/ministry partner is asked to provide a job description/tasks list for their virtual assistant.  The clearer a church/ministry can describe their expectations and results desired, the better.  Once a job description is received, depending on its thoroughness and clarity, a 10–20-minute conversation may be needed to address any questions and/or flesh out some details.  After we have a good job description/task list in hand (and it is not uncommon for us to help churches/ministries prepare those), a virtual assistant is selected and a custom proposal is sent to the potential church/ministry partner.  Every proposal we write is custom.

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None of the above.  Our contracts are month-to-month.  Our partners can cancel anytime during the month with a 30-day notice.

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There are no upfront costs.  Churches/ministries pay VMA a flat monthly rate (not an hourly rate). Bills are sent via email in the middle of the month and are due at the end of the month.  For example, if a contract starts in March,  the first payment is due March 31.  VMA does have a startup fee. The startup fee is due with the first month’s payment, not in advance. The startup fee is reduced for church plants and churches under 150 in average worship attendance.

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The startup fee covers the time it takes to write proposals, draft contracts, get our church/ministry partners set up in our systems, and the typical additional initial time needed by the virtual assistant to get acclimated to the church/ministry.  Usually, there are more/longer conversations between the virtual assistant and our partners during the initial weeks of the contract.  The startup fee is a one-time fee.  If a church/ministry adds services, they do not pay an additional startup fee. The startup fee is reduced for church plants and churches with an average worship attendance less than 150.

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Our goal is to give our ministry partners the very best support they can afford.

Hourly billing cheats them because it puts their interests and our interests at odds with each other. Billing by the hour, we obviously make more money the longer things take, whereas our partners naturally prefer things to take the least amount of time possible to save money. That’s a horrible dynamic between us when the goal is to work together! And so we don’t do hourly billing because it doesn’t foster the relationship we want with our ministry partners. The work that’s going to truly get results for our partners, move them forward, and keep their ministry running smoothly can’t be dependent upon a clock.

Monthly billing also allows a church/ministry to have predictable costs and eliminates the need for them to manage hours.  Churches/ministries love the fact that they can lock down a number in their budget, not worry about it fluctuating month to month, and have guaranteed results.

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We love the church. Our virtual assistants serve in the local church and have the administrative and technical skillsets necessary not only to accomplish tasks, but also to add value. With years of experience and familiarity with proven best practices, our virtual assistants are much more than task completers. They are a seasoned team of people who bring with them years of experience in diverse ministry contexts.

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The church/ministry creates a folder in a cloud storage service such as Google Drive or Dropbox, and gives access permission for that folder to the virtual assistant. Windows Remote Desktop and similar programs are also utilized when needed. The church/ministry retains ownership and control of their information.

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All of our virtual assistants are located in the continental United States.

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Every virtual assistant signs non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements. You can be assured your information will be handled with the utmost integrity and care.

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Virtual assistants are matched based on the primary needs of the ministry and the skillsets needed to accomplish the church's/ministry's tasks. Each church/ministry has a primary virtual assistant. Each virtual assistant has a team that can be resourced when needed to ensure the needs of the church/ministry are met.