If your church needs money, you’re probably looking for some easy church fundraising ideas that don’t cost a lot of money up front but will produce some much needed funding for your church nonetheless. Some good ideas include:
Holding a bake sale
Have church members donate their culinary talents for a bake sale, offering what they can afford to in terms of goods for sale — a loaf of banana bread, a dozen cookies, etc. What’s great about a bake sale is that everyone can donate what they can without feeling overly stretched if their own budgets are tight. Proceeds from the bake sale go to your church’s coffer.
Selling discount cards
Discount cards are great for church fundraising events because you can make them good for any product or service in your community, assuming the retailer in question is willing to participate. They’re easy to store, and
they don’t take a lot of effort. For a small fee up front, your church can contract with a discount card company to both contact the retailer(s) to ask for their participation in donate goods or services, and to print up the cards themselves. These cards sell easily, because they’re for goods and services the car buyers will already require anyway. Some possible examples of discount card ideas include a “buy one get one free” haircut at a local barber or styling salon, or a “buy one get one free” meal at a local restaurant.
Hosting a carwash
This is especially a good project for a youth group to do; sell tickets to a carwash, and then have ticket holders show up with their cars on a Saturday morning when the weather is nice. If you’ve got the space and the supplies, this church fundraising effort can really “clean up” both in terms of funds raised and in terms of the clean cars ticketholders now have in exchange for their monetary donations.
Offering a quilt raffle
Although this is becoming a lost art, some church women especially still enjoy the art of quilting. Sell raffle tickets for a specific dollar amount, such as $10 apiece, and ask those who can make quilts to donate their services (and materials, if possible) to make one quilt for a quilt drive. The quilts are then raffled off by pulling winning tickets from a pool of all of those who bought raffle tickets. This is a great way to undertake church fundraising when you have relatively few people who can make quilts such that it wouldn’t do a lot of good to sell them directly as a means to make money.
Hosting a pancake breakfast and/or spaghetti dinner
Deciding to hold a church fundraising pancake breakfast and/or spaghetti dinner a few times a year is a great way to raise funds for your church on a regular
basis. Both types of meals are inexpensive to make, can draw a significant crowds, and best of all can turn a handy profit that can then go into your church’s coffers. Charge a modest fee for the meal itself, with enough profit to benefit your church.
Hosting a yard sale
Perhaps your church members regularly donate clothes and gently used household items to families in need anyway. Now, they can donate clothes and other gently used household items to your church for sale, whereupon the sale’s proceeds will benefit your church. This is a great church fundraising idea to hold when the weather is nice; it’s also a great boost to church and community members who want to get rid of no longer used items easily. Invite church members to donate items; if you’re amenable, you can also have those church members invite friends and neighbors to donate items as well, and then have the entire community come together for the yard sale.
While there are numerous church fundraising activities that can be enjoyed while you raise the money you need, it’s always more profitable to add fundraising cards to the mix! Enjoy the fellowship while your group collects more money in a shorter amount of time than ever before.
Mark South
Easy Church Fundraising