Church Fundraising

For many who have been through the process before, church fundraising is a subject that brings on apprehension and dread.  It seems like an incredible amount of planning and work, and it can be at times – particularly if you choose the wrong activities or products.  If you have been involved in the planning portion of church fundraising before, you might feel that it was a great deal of work, and something you never want to do again.  In this article, you will find out just how easy it really can be to raise the money you need for a new church building, the youth group or any other need!

There are dozens of church fundraising ideas, most of which you have probably heard of or even tried before.  Many people do one event or sell a product in order to raise the money they need, but why limit yourself to only one activity?  By combining products and events, you can raise the money much quicker, and with fewer headaches.  For example, you may want your youth group to offer discount cards to neighbors, family and other members of the community, while at the same time running a car wash in town (great during the summer months) or having a bake sale.  If you’re really feeling ambitious, go for even more products and events in your church fundraising efforts.

In order to make things as simple as possible on everyone involved, it’s best to determine exactly how much money you need before you decide how you will raise the funds.  This way, if you are selling products you can figure out how much on average each person would have to sell in order to meet your goal.  For example, you need to raise $6,000 and you have 20 in the youth group, so basically each person would need to sell $300 in product.  This is an unrealistic goal if you are selling candy bars, so keep things like this in mind.  With church fundraising, you also want to make sure that the products you choose offer great profit margins, so that you can raise the funds you need with less effort.

Also, consider how much work is involved when choosing a product to sell.  If you decide to design t-shirts, there will be some work involved.  Someone has to create the design (or many people may be involved in this), then you need a company to print the t-shirts for you.  With candy bars, consider that small children may have a hard time lugging the box around, and that they can be messy – especially in summertime months.  Catalog sales require time spent by the customer browsing the pages, placing the orders, waiting for the shipment to come in, then going out once again to deliver the goods to the customer.  This may not be the best church fundraising idea, but if it has worked for you in the past don’t discard it either.

With church fundraising, sometimes simple is best.  When you want exceptional results with minimal effort, choose products that are readily available to the customer at the time of payment and offer spectacular value.  Discount cards are the perfect product, as they offer incredible profit margins and customers love them because of the savings they get.  Participants simply carry around these credit-card sized cards, offer them to the customer, and experience easy sales!  You can’t get much simpler than that, and there is practically no planning involved.

When you think church fundraising, think car washes, bake sales and other simple activities – combined with discount cards!  Easy work, easy profits, and customers love them so much they will be glad to buy them again next time you decide to have a fundraiser.  In fact, they will look forward to it – and who can blame them?  Everyone loves to save money on things they would have spent money on regardless of whether there was a savings or discount.

Mark South
Church fundraising

The words ‘church fund raising‘ may already have you doing somersaults, simply by thinking about your past efforts. But do not worry, there is no need to turn the church over and shake out all the change.  Church fund raising is a project that should be enjoyed by all who are involved, from the group or individual responsible for the planning to the ones who actually raise the money.  You can choose to make things hard on yourself, or you can put an action plan in to place that will have you looking forward to your next project.

All too often, especially if it is the first effort, church fund raising is done in an unorganized fashion.  It may be that you didn’t really know how to proceed, and everyone just jumped in blindly.  If you plan and organize well ahead of time, your efforts will be streamlined and you will experience a profitable and successful fundraiser.  Here are a few tips to help make your next church fund raising project a complete success:

1.  Write out a detailed plan that includes how much money you need to raise and how many people will be involved.  What is your deadline for raising this money?  Consider every aspect of your project and be ready for ‘plan B’, in case ‘plan A’ doesn’t pan out so well.

2.  Consider multiple activities to raise the funds you need.  While it is simpler to sell only one product or participate in one event to raise the money you need, combining several activities may help you reach your monetary goals quicker.

3.  Carefully research the profit margins on the products you are considering for your fundraiser.  Many times, people simply think “Oh, we can sell cookie dough!” and that’s the end of it.  Did you take the time to think about how profitable the product is, and how many containers your group will have to sell to reach your goal?

4.  Take into consideration the age group of those that will be doing the selling, and fit the product to the age level.  Those over the age of 12 or so are better able to handle selling products that require additional tax, shipping, etc.  Small children shouldn’t be required to lug around a lot of “stuff” they have to keep up with.  Make things as simple as possible for the maturity level of those responsible for raising the money.

5.  Remember, the fewer details the easier your church fund raising will be.  Consider all of the activities your church members can engage in to raise a portion of the funds, such as bake sales, raffles and car washes.  Add to these activities a product that is readily available and that people will find value in, such as discount cards.  These cards offer great profit margins, and people love them because of the tremendous value they offer on common, everyday goods and services.

Many people in charge of church fund raising automatically think about products that are commonly used these days to raise money such as candy bars and popcorn.  To be successful without placing a huge burden on yourself, it often helps to think outside the box just a little.  Get your creative juices flowing, and you will no doubt come up with dozens of church fund raising ideas that are original and profitable.

Your next fundraiser doesn’t have to be filled with headaches, stress and endless problems!  The tips above outline a plan of attack that will make church fund raising easier and highly profitable.  The truth is, when done right you can experience double the profits with half the work – and that sounds like music to anyone’s ears.

Mark South
Easy Church Fundraising