For the Every Day KidMin Leader
What's this about a Freebie Library?
Yep, you read that right! Deeper KidMin offers a freebie library with 100+ free downloads to all of our weekly email subscribers. These downloads can be anything from an object lesson to a prayer printable to a volunteer resource to a craft idea.
Who creates the resources and posts on Deeper KidMin?
The resources found in the DKM Marketplace and on the Deeper KidMin site were created for KidMin leaders by KidMin leaders. All of our Vendors serve in children’s ministry in some capacity and share resources they’ve tried and tested within their own ministries. Read more about the founder of Deeper KidMin here.
How do I access my download?
- Through either the “Orders” tab “Downloads” tab on your Deeper KidMin account. Sign into your account on the Deeper KidMin site, then hover over the person icon in the top right corner of the page. A drop-down menu should appear, with options to view your orders and downloads, where you’ll find access to your download links.
- With every order you place, you’ll also receive an email confirmation of the download with a link to download the resource. (Check your spam folders to make sure your download didn’t get lost in the shuffle if you haven’t seen that email yet!)
- Email Brittany directly at brittany@deeperkidmin.com for more help.
What exactly do you believe?
Deeper KidMin’s Statement of Beliefs:
- We believe the Bible is the living word of God, written by authors inspired by the Holy Spirit, and as such is truth that all Christians should live by. (Hebrews 4:12, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, James 1:22, Psalm 119:9, Psalm 18:30)
- We believe God is the creator and ruler of the universe and is equally three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 90:2; Matthew 28:19; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Corinthians 13:14)
- We believe that we are all born sinful, and sin separates us from God. (Isaiah 59:2, Psalm 51:5, Galatians 5:4, Romans 3:23, Genesis 8:21)
- We believe God provided his Son, Jesus Christ, as a redemptive solution to our problem of sin. (John 3:16-17, John 1:14, 1 John 4:10, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 5:8
- We believe that Jesus lived a sinless life, died on a cross, and rose from the dead three days later, defeating sin and death. (1 John 2:2, Matthew 1:21, 1 Peter 2:24, Hebrews 4:15, Luke 2:7, John 19:30, 1 Peter 3:18, Matthew 20:17-19, Mark 8:31, Luke 24:1-12
- We believe that God offers salvation, eternal life with Him in heaven, to all who believe in Jesus. (Romans 6:23, Acts 4:12, Ephesians 2:8-9, John 14:6, Romans 10:9-10, John 3:36)
- We believe the Holy Spirit lives in the heart of every believer, equipping them with spiritual gifts necessary for the overall health of the church. (Acts 2:1-4, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 2 Timothy 1:14, Romans 8:11, Galatians 5:18, Galatians 4:6, 1 John 2:27, Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 1 Peter 4:11)
Deeper KidMin’s Core Values:
- We believe in equipping parents and ministry leaders with affordable, creative resources that grow kids deeper in their relationship with Christ.
- We believe effective KidMin reaches not only children but their parents and the volunteers too.
- We believe all KidMin leaders should be given paid time off after VBS or camp season, preferably in a tropical location.
- We believe that church should be fun, for the kids and the volunteers who serve them.
- We believe that when you stop learning, you stop leading.
- We believe in connecting the Bible to things kids know, love, eat, and interact with on a weekly basis.
- We believe in pursuing excellence and innovation in all that we do.
- We believe in connecting with other KidMin leaders for support, growth, and collaboration.
- We believe in staying culturally relevant yet Biblically reverent.
- We believe KidMin is the most important ministry in the church (and the world).
Is paying through your site safe?
Yes. See that “s” after the “http” in the URL? HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, and it’s just like HTTP except it works in conjunction with another protocol, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), to transport data safely. We use Stripe/credit card as the form of payment on Deeper KidMin. You can see our full Privacy Policy here.
What is your refund policy?
Select products include a 30-day money-back guarantee. A note will appear at the bottom of the product page for downloads that offer this refund. Because each Vendor establishes their own prices and shop practices, refund policies may vary across the site.
What is the diameter of an M&M?
About 1.04 cm. I had to look this up for a craft for VBS one year when we did Armor of God pixel art with M&Ms, and I’ve had it memorized ever since.
For DKM Marketplace Vendors
Help! Those Submission Guidelines scare me!
Oh no! Don’t be scared! Take a deep breath, and read on.
The submission guidelines will help you modify the resource you’ve created so other KidMin leaders can use it with ease in their own ministries around the world. They may seem intimidating, but these guidelines focus more on formatting than content, and they can be applied to almost any resource.
We want all of the editable Word Document versions of the lesson formatted the same so when a kidmin leader downloads a resource from the DKM Marketplace, they know exactly what to expect, no matter which shop they actually downloaded from. It will help make the resources easier for them to use in their own ministry, and they won’t have to search or dig for what they’re looking for. By creating submission guidelines that focus on formatting, we can ensure the lessons submitted are already organized in an easy-to-use format for the kidmin leader who eventually downloads them.
What kind of resources do you sell on the DKM Marketplace?
The DKM Marketplace offers resources in 3 main categories, with specific submission guidelines for each:
- Teaching Content (Lessons, Curriculum, etc.)
- Leadership, Admin, and Text-Based Resources
- Games & Media
BUT. We’re always open to new ideas that equip KidMin leaders to grow kids deeper in their relationships with Christ.
Before you submit a resource, we highly suggest you take the time to look at your resource through the lens of our submission guidelines listed above.
You can also read more about the process for becoming a DKM Marketplace Vendor and sharing your resources here.
How do I become a vendor?
- Create an amazing KidMin resource, making sure to use our Submission Guidelines detailed above.
- Register as a Vendor on the DKM site and set up your shop. (Full video instructions here.)
- Share your amazing resource!
More details on becoming a DKM Marketplace Vendor here.
What are the expectations for being a Vendor?
We’re glad you asked! We ask that all DKM Marketplace Vendors meet and adhere to these expectations.
How do I submit a resource? And then what happens?
After registering as a Vendor and setting up your shop in the DKM Marketplace, you’re ready to submit a resource! Make sure your resource follows our submission guidelines, and follow these steps to submit it to us through your Vendor Dashboard. Watch the video below for a full walk-through of submitting your resource.
We’ll get back to you within 4 weeks with either approval (you’re up and running!) or suggestions for changes. Once your resource is live in your shop, we may contact you from time to time about using free pieces of the resource as promotional content, but otherwise, all you have to do is wait for payday at the end of the month. We take care of all of the “business-y” things of maintaining your shop for you.
Do I need to follow up with leaders who order from my shop?
No. We ask that you do not contact leaders who download your resource. Because of the nature of our site, 1 leader may download resources from 4 different Vendors at once. If all 4 Vendors reached out to that leader, that’s a big crowd for their inbox over a single order. Deeper KidMin handles all of the “business-y” things for you, including a 3-part follow-up system for every leader who orders from our site.
How do I set prices for my resources?
Coming from a ministry setting, it can be difficult to answer this question. You want to share your resources with other KidMin leaders, but you don’t want to overprice them. You might even feel weird about setting prices on your resource at all. That’s OK! What we’ve found is that leaders will value your resource more if they have to pay at least a little something for it. Free resources are great (I mean we give one away each week, right?) but all of the time, effort, and prayer that went into your resource is valuable, and it’s OK for your resource prices to reflect that.
How you price your resources is totally up to you, but we encourage you to keep these tips in mind when setting your prices…
- Think about how much you would be willing to pay for a resource as a kidmin leader, and stay within that range.
- Compare what you are offering to other curriculum providers and DKM Marketplace shops. If your resource offers half the amount of material as another, consider offering your resource for half the price.
- Consider bundling some of your resources. Offer them for one price if bought individually, but then offer a discounted price for ordering several related resources at once.
- Just as an example, here is how Deeper KidMin often prices its resources…
- Games – $5-$10
- Single Lesson – free (as a sample of a larger unit/series) or $9-$15
- Curriculum series – $8-$15 per lesson in the series depending on how extensive each individual lesson is (if each lesson covers 90 minutes, the curriculum may be a little more expensive than a series where each lesson covers just 60 minutes)
- Admin Resources – $4-$10, depending on the resource
- Training & Volunteer Resources – $5-$30, depending on the resource
How much do I get to keep for each resource sale?
DKM Marketplace Vendors receive 50% of all sales transactions. A portion of all transactions go toward Deeper KidMin’s mission partners, and the remaining goes to Deeper KidMin for processing fees, site maintenance, and organizational processes. Deeper KidMin reserves the right to offer discounts, sales, or specials of any and all products listed on the site, up to 50% off the original price listing. Commissions are then split on the sale price.
How and when do I get paid?
The how:
We work with third party service providers to issue your payments to you.
In order to receive your payments paid, you’ll need to make sure you follow all instructions in any communication emails when setting up your Vendor account.
The when:
We pay out Vendor earnings on a monthly basis. Payments are sent within 14 business days of the beginning of a new month. The 50% Deeper KidMin commission is automatically deducted from your payout, and depending on the service provider, some transaction fees may be applied.
Can I use images I found on the internet in my resources?
It depends.
When you’re looking for images to include in your resource, it’s tempting to turn to Google images. Don’t do it. Just because you can access an image for free doesn’t mean you’re free to reuse it for commercial purposes in your DKM Marketplace resources. It’s important to know whether the person who owns that image allows folks to use it, and what uses they allow.
The key is to make sure that you have the right to use anything you include in your resources. That includes photographs, clip art and other images, borders and other design elements, and so on.
As always, your safest bet is always to use only things you’ve created yourself, but we know that’s not practical for everyone. We can’t all be clip artists and font designers as well as amazing kidmin leaders.
Please know that even graphics you “create” through sites like Canva and Adobe Spark are not eligible for commercial use.
Fear not! We’re here to help. As luck would have it, the Deeper KidMin community has a graphic designer who can get you all set up with the graphics you need. See all that Chris has to offer here.
We also encourage you to reach out to someone in your congregation or on your staff who has graphic design skills. Share your ideas and themes with them, and see if they’d be willing to create some graphics for you.
There are also lots of other websites of image and clip art libraries. It can be tough to know which sites to trust, and how to navigate their licensing rules, so it’s good to be cautious and read carefully. We’ve done some research for you and found a few sites you might want to check out.
Free/Public Domain:
Subscription-Based/Pay-Per-Image:
What about income tax?
Because income taxes vary from state to state (and country to country), you should consult your tax advisor on how to report your DKM Marketplace sales. If you earn more than $600 in one tax year from our site and live in the United States, we will file a 1099 Form with the IRS and share a copy with you for your personal tax records.
What about copyright?
There are several layers of copyright protection built into Deeper KidMin’s site, and there are some additional steps you can also take to protect your resources.
Built into the site:
- All texts, downloads, images, and ideas on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
- Under our Terms and Conditions, we discuss how Vendors retain all rights to the original products and resources they list, and Deeper KidMin retains the rights to any final, edited versions: Vendor agrees to grant to Deeper KidMin worldwide English language rights to publish and sell their work in digital text or audio format. Unless a separate agreement, the Vendor will retain 100% ownership of the original works/resources submitted to DKM Marketplace. Deeper KidMin reserves the rights to the final, edited version of the resource. Vendor reserves the right to remove their resources from Deeper KidMin at any time and to list their original version of the resource on another site or platform, but they may not share the Deeper-KidMin-edited versions with any other site. Deeper KidMin may also select resources to cycle on and off in their availability based on season, performance, or other reason. Vendors will be notified via email of cycled-off resources. DKM Marketplace and Vendor seek by this Agreement to have a clear understanding of their relationship, to clarify expectations and to ensure a healthy affiliation. Upon expiration of this agreement, all rights to the original resource shall revert to the Vendor unless an agreement to renew or extend this agreement is reached.
- Our Terms and Conditions also spell out how resources downloaded from our site can (and can’t) be used by the customers/users who download it:
- Permission is granted to download the materials on Deeper KidMin’s website for non-commercial transitory viewing only. This is the grant of a license, not a transfer of title, and under this license, you may not:
- use the materials for any commercial purpose
- make any materials downloaded from the site public domain
- redistribute resources outside of your church or ministry in any way
- transfer the materials to another person or “mirror” the materials on any other server
- You may use the resources downloaded from Deeper KidMin within your church or ministry in the following way:
- customize and edit downloaded materials ONLY for use in your church or ministry
- make unlimited copies of the materials to distribute ONLY within your church or ministry
- share digital copies of graphics and printables ONLY within your church or ministry
- This license shall automatically terminate if you violate any of these restrictions and may be terminated by Deeper KidMin at any time. Upon terminating your viewing of these materials or upon the termination of this license, you must destroy any downloaded materials in your possession whether in electronic or printed format.
- Permission is granted to download the materials on Deeper KidMin’s website for non-commercial transitory viewing only. This is the grant of a license, not a transfer of title, and under this license, you may not:
Steps to take on your own:
- Include copyright on your resource. Our formatting guidelines encourage you to include © (your name) on every editable page of your resource.
- Include the use license details in your resource. I usually encourage Vendors to include a “note from the author” in their downloadable resource that includes details about how to use the resource, the heart behind it, and any usage explanations.
- Pursue full, registered copyright. Visit copyright.gov for details on registering your resources (FAQ page is particularly helpful). They explain that your work is protected from the moment you create it, whether you register the work with their office or not. You do not have to register your work with them in order to be protected, unless you are filing a lawsuit. I’d only recommend pursuing registered copyright for major projects.
I remember seeing a helpful PDF somewhere. Where was that again?
Well, we’re not exactly sure which PDF you’re talking about, but peruse all of the Vendor resources below, and contact us if you’re still not seeing what you’re looking for and have more questions.
DKM Marketplace Submission Checklist (Access all of the Submission Guidelines from this page.)
DKM Setting Up Your Shop (Watch the video here)
DKM Vendor Dashboard (Watch the video here)
DKM Submitting a Resource (Watch the video here)
Teaching Content Submission Guidelines
Leadership, Admin, and Text-Based Resource Submission Guidelines
Ministry is lonely.
That’s not really a question, but you’re right. Ministry can be lonely. As a DKM Marketplace Vendor, you are invited to join the DKM Marketplace Vendor Facebook Group. This private Facebook group is only for DKM Marketplace Vendors, and it’s a great place to connect with other leaders, brainstorm ideas, and share wins and frustrations.