Mission trips are exciting, yet we know that same excitement so quickly can fade away when confronted by fundraising efforts. Fundraising, for many, can be uncomfortable, placing you far out of your comfort zone. This is why we have created our Youth Missions Fundraising eBook, filled with creative and detailed plans to get your next fundraiser all ready to go at your church!
Listed below are a few of our favorite fundraisers, download the ebook for a complete listing:
Pastor Bobblehead: The concept is simple: create a bobblehead of your pastor or a prominent staff member. The key is to do the right person at the right time. A great time to do this is if you have someone retiring, a new hire, a birthday or a special event. We have seen this fundraiser used for a pastor retiring, which brought in thousands of dollars!
Purchase Miles: Most churches going on a mission trip have quite a few miles to drive, so here is a visible and fun way for your congregation to help their youth arrive at their destination. Create out of poster board a large mileage scale (bar graph) showing clearly how many miles it takes to reach your mission field. Determine the price it will cost you to travel to your destination. Divide the total cost of the trip by the number of miles it takes to get there to find the cost per mile that you’re trying to raise (e.g. $10,000.00/500mi. = $20.00 per mile). And then…Sell miles! People can give $10 to buy a half mile, $20 for a whole mile.
Parents’ Night Out: Youth can give parents a night out by babysitting their kiddos for a donation! Plan games, crafts, movies, and music for the kids and see how not only a large donation comes in but also how the relationships will forms and grows between your youth and the children at the church!
50s Dinner: Themed dinners are great fundraisers for everyone! There are so many themes to choose from (e.g. 50’s, Italian, Mexican, Hawaiian, etc.), but remember, if you want to make this dinner a memorable experience for your congregation, as well as have this be an annual fundraiser for you, your presentation is very important! This event requires many volunteers and a lot of work to get it all set up, however, it can be very profitable and tons of fun!
Chili Cook-Off: During those cold winter months, a chili cook off is a wonderful way to warm up. This is a great event to do right after church on a Sunday. With this event, your dollar investment is low and your profit margin is high.
Rent-a-Youth: This event can be a great deal of fun, as well as a great opportunity to help out those in your congregation who are in need of help with physical labor around their homes. This event would be great to be coupled with one of the dinners, and another way to draw in your needed audience. The key to this fundraiser will truly rely on your volunteer base, especially that of the auctioneer’s ability to work the crowd.
Singing Telegram: Does your youth group have some talented singers in it? If yes, you could start an ongoing singing telegram service! You could sing over the telephone, deliver the singing telegrams in person, place of work, or at your local church.
Dog Wash: Here is a unique fundraiser for your youth group. Everyone needs their dogs groomed and pampered once and a while, so why not pamper them and have their money given to a worthy cause at the same time. For one day or weekend, a church congregation and their friends bring in their pets for grooming (partnering with a local groomer’s shop is ideal)!
Company Sales Partnership: Pizza Hut and Krispy Kreme both offer fantastic fundraising programs. They are perfect for raising money in your congregation or local community.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game: Local and professional sporting teams and events are always looking for volunteers to run their concession stands. Many concession companies (such as Aramark) will give non-profit organizations 10 percent of the sales that is sold during the sporting event. We have heard youth groups bringing in nearly 50K from this type of fundraiser!
For our complete list of ideas and plans for each fundraising ideas, click HERE
