Raising money for a church is simultaneously the easiest and the hardest thing you’ll ever do. Easy, because the church automatically has a volunteer base to draw from; hard, because church volunteers have often volunteered for many years and it may be hard to introduce new ideas.
Still, the main strategy for a successful church fundraiser, or any fundraiser, is to motivate volunteers and get everyone in unity and working toward the same goal: Set a clear and tangible goal in mind that people can understand, like a new children’s playground or nursery for example, and then update the volunteers regularly on the progress.
Because church members already give on Sundays in the offering basket, they may feel “put out” if asked to give any additional money. But if you can convince them to spend some of their time instead, you could possibly get double or triple of what you would have received if you had just asked for money. There are hundreds of church fundraising ideas on the internet, but the list of possibilities is really endless. Find out what talents, gifts, and abilities church members have to offer, and motivate them to use those:
Some of the best ideas for church fundraisers include:
• Bake sale. An old standby. Volunteers bake cakes and pastries to be sold at any venue you choose.
• Community cleanup. Requires a fair amount of planning, if you’re going to solicit pledges for each pound of trash collected.
• Candle fundraisers. The latest in church fundraising. People will buy candles anyway; why not buy them for a good cause?
• 50/50 Raffle. This one is good for a last minute fundraiser: no planning required. Sell some tickets (you can even sell them at the event where the raffle will be drawn) andthen pick a winner. Winner gets 50% of the pot; the church takes the rest.
• Car wash. A regular Saturday car wash for donations or a fixed amount can raise several hundred dollars a week.
• Church carnival. Lots and lots of planning here, but if you can pull it off, everyone will be chomping at the bit to do it again next year.
• Scratch cards. The upside to this method is that there is no product to be delivered, like pizza, or candles, for example.
• Yard sale/Garage sale. Most suburban churches are filled with people whose garages are full of junk they never use. Tell ’em to bring it to church (or you’ll pick it up) and sell it.
• Cookie Dough. Who doesn’t love just thinking about fresh cookie dough? M & M’s and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup and Oreo Cookie flavored cookie dough, oh my…
• Pizza. You can do this one of two ways: order in bulk and sell by the slice at a 100% markup, or using do-it-yourself kits where the group takes orders in advance, then delivers the goods at a later date.
• Order taker brochure fundraising. Selling things from brochures provided for free can have fabulous returns.
Whatever you do, make having fun a priority, so that they’ll be willing to sign up again next time.