Lots of fundraising ideas for churches exist. For a church to fund its programs or activities, fundraising can be just as much about collecting money as it is a community outreach and marketing initiative. If you are looking to raise funds for your church, many church fundraising ideas might do the trick.
Donations and fundraising efforts help to support many churches around the world, like the United Church of Canada. Here are ten popular church fundraising ideas to help you make money:
1. Host Classes
As a long-term fundraising strategy, consider setting up classes for community members to volunteer their time as instructors to teach a skill. The lessons can be about gardening, bread-making, woodworking, technology, and the like. These can be done monthly or quarterly, which will attract new people to the church. You don’t even necessarily need to make this a church-centric activity to use it as a fundraising strategy.
2. Hold a Raffle
Visit local small businesses and ask them if there’s anything they might be willing to donate for a church raffle or auction. For example, a restaurant may donate a free meal, a fitness center a free month, or a dentist’s office a free teeth cleaning. This is an excellent way to promote local businesses while generating funds and interest from community members attending your church.
3. Have a Movie Night
Have a family movie night on a big projector screen. Throw an early evening party and invite families. The summer’s also a great opportunity to have this outside, although a church doesn’t necessarily have it. You can have it be pay-what-you-can or PWYC, ensuring you increase attendance which further promotes your church while also gathering funds from the families that can donate.
4. Yard Work and Maintenance
Offer up yard work services at a reduced cost for people around the community. These services can be cutting grass, raking leaves, shoveling snow, and even doing some painting. This can be at a fixed rate or PWYC. Seniors or homeowners who might not have been on top of things this season would certainly appreciate a little help. Many would be willing to give a donation in exchange for these services.
5. Host a Ticketed Dinner
Ticketed dinners are great fundraising activity you can do around a holiday. Celebrating Christmas, Easter, or even doing a Mother’s Day or Father’s Day ticketed dinner can help raise money. Things like pastas, potlucks, and boils are all relatively easy to arrange. Although this fundraising event isn’t something you want to do every month, it can grow to be a tired concept, it’s another way to build community while also generating a financial return.
6. Host a Music Night or Coffeehouse
Your church can be a venue for all sorts of things, including live concerts. Invite community members to bring their guitar, pianos, and instruments, and play a song or two. You can further expand this concept to make it into a talent show if you like. If you want to keep an event strictly music-driven, host an ‘Open Mic Night’ or have a sign-up that gives more people a chance to showcase. This can either be ticketed or PWYC but it is all-around a fun way to have community members connect at your church.
7. Host an Ongoing Food Drive
Lots of us have things in our cupboards, fridges, and pantries that sit there for months and unfortunately expire. Instead of letting all this food go to waste, host a food drive. Make it an ongoing thing and allow community members to drop off any food items that are approaching expiration. These can be turned into meals for those in need or made into a variety of baked goods or snacks.
8. Host a Yard Sale
Much like a food drive makes use of food sitting around the house, a yard sale or a rummage sale’s a chance to do the same with community members’ furniture, clothes, and items they no longer want. A big, big once-a-year garage sale is a great chance to raise money and help declutter. Whatever you don’t sell can also be donated to local organizations or thrift stores. Although this can be a lot of effort, it isn’t costly to set up and can help bring in a lot of donations.
9. Baking Competition
A cooking or baking competition is a fun way to bring in people of all ages and help showcase all sorts of recipes. If you feel making it a cook-off or competition is not appropriate, an alternative is to make it a bake sale. Baking is something so many people have taken up in the COVID-19 pandemic and it’s a hobby people of all ages, cultures, and backgrounds share. Entertaining baking as a way to promote gatherings and bring in donations has only positives attached.
10. Babysitting and Childcare
During the day, childcare is easy to find. At night though, not so much. Couples looking to do a movie night, a date night, or who need a night off may be scrambling to locate a decent babysitter. A church may consider offering a volunteer babysitter during certain evenings in exchange for a small donation for willing couples. This can be a way for couples to save money on babysitting while also contributing to the church.