National Youth Conference 2010

Fundraising ideas

November’s Fundraiser of the Month is Child Care for Date Night.

Remember to keep your congregation updated how much money you are making. They will probably be interested since they will be the ones contributing the most. Some groups have done a thermometer that fills up with red as money increases. Some groups have a map from their church to Colorado and as they get more money they move a bus/plane closer to Colorado. Coloring in a picture of pottery would also be good to go along with the NYC 2010 theme.

There is a Facebook fundraising discussion group.  (You need to be signed in to Facebook to see them.)

Other ideas

Candy Easter eggs
Make and sell Candy Easter Eggs. Have people pre-order or simply have a certain number available on Sundays leading up to Easter.

Car wash
Car washes can help involve the community in your fundraising. A twist to a normal car wash would be to offer to travel to an individual’s home in order to wash their car.

Christmas trees
Contact a local Christmas tree farmer and work it out so that you will cut and purchase a certain number of Christmas trees. Pre-sell the trees to people in your church and/or community for more than you are being charged and less than the going rate for a pre-cut tree in your area. Have a set day and time that the trees will be available as well as offer to deliver the trees for an extra fee.

Cook a meal
Prepare a meal for the congregation after church. You can either accept donations or have a set price. Some meal ideas are: BBQ, Fish Fries, Potato Bar, or Soup and Salad.

Child care for date night
Have a night at church where the youth group offers couples child care.  Suggest this would be a good time for the couple to go on a date without their children.  This would be good around Valentine’s Day so the couple can go out together.

Harvesting
Make arrangements with a local farmer to come and pick/collect. Take orders from members of the congregation and sell by the bushel for cheaper than someone could buy already picked items in your local area.

top

Holiday gift wrapping
Offer to wrap presents for people in the congregation around the holidays for a set fee.

Jumping pictures
Has your youth group gotten in to jumping pictures? Here is a great way to incorporate that in to fundraising. Set up jars with the name of different members of your congregation on them (make sure they have agreed to do this first). Ask the congregation to put money in the jar of the person they would like to see do a jumping picture most. You can even sell the jumping picture to your congregation later (once again, make sure that each person has agreed to this first)

Lost treasure
Have each person go home and search in all of their furniture for spare change.  Ask them to donate their change.  Having a piece of pottery available for members of the congregation to drop their spare change is a great way to incorporate the theme.

Meal auction
Have persons in the congregation with certain skills or services (such as a pool or the best pot roast in the county) offer up dinner at their house to enjoy those skills or services. Auction off those meals to people in the congregation

Messenger subscriptions
Contact Messenger Magazine and work it out with them to sell subscriptions to their magazine for a percentage of the profits.

Money donation
Some people want to just be able to donate money. A creative way to do this is have a week for donations. Each day of the week have a different ways to donate money. For example have a family count how many shoes they have in their house and for each pair they donate a dollar. You can get creative and have the different ways to donate money be related to the NYC 2010 theme, like counting how many pieces of pottery there are in a family’s house.

top

Pink flamingos
A pink flamingo lawn ornament travels from lawn to lawn of church members. People pay a certain fee to have the youth group place a plastic, pink flamingo in someone else in the congregation’s yard. There should be a phone number to call to have the flamingo removed (for a price, of course) somewhere on the flamingo. If someone does not wish to have the flamingo travel to his, her lawn, that person may purchase “flamingo insurance.” A variation on this (if you want people to be more motivated to participate) is a pink toilet.

Snack auction
Have a gathering of your congregation or other large group (this could be a potluck dinner or at a community meeting) and have members of your youth bring in goodies to auction off (it can be anything from cookies and cake to bags of pretzels or potato chips whatever you think people will buy). Have an energetic auctioneer auction off each group goodie to the highest bidder. You might even ask good bakers in your congregation to donate a pie or other specialty items to have at the auction. You can make good money and have good food all at the same time!

SERRV
Contact SERRV and work it out to take orders for their merchandise for a percentage of the profits. We suggest looking into fair trade coffee and chocolate.

Service auction
As a youth group, brainstorm different services that a group or an individual could do for people in the congregation, such as leaf-raking or babysitting, and auction off those services.

Recycling
Recycling is something that is not only good for the environment but can earn you money. Collect bottle tops, cans, and sometimes old cell phones works. You just have to find out where these items are collected in your home community.

Business Deals
Some businesses (i.e. restaurants) will give you deals by letting you sell items and the business will share the proceeds with you. Talk to businesses in your community. It is also helpful to talk to business owners in your home congregation. An example of a business that does this is Jamba Juice.

top

Talent Show/Open Mic benefit concert
Showcase the talent of your youth group or another special person in your congregation by having a benefit concert. Entry could be by donation and you could charge for drinks, coffee, or snacks.

Valentine fundraiser
Take orders for valentines that the youth group will hand-make and deliver to certain sweeties on Valentines Day. You may also have singing valentines and candy as options to buy.

The 500 Dollar Wheelbarrow
Did you know that a large, heavy-duty wheelbarrow can hold 50,000 pennies? That amounts to $500! Borrow the wheelbarrow from a church member and place in a high-traffic area of your church. Always keep a sign nearby to explaining what the wheelbarrow and pennies are for. It also helps if someone can “work” the wheelbarrow, standing nearby to explain the fundraiser, why you are raising money, and to sell rolls of pennies. Don’t forget to place the wheelbarrow in a secure area when it’s not in use or no one is around.  Another variation on this would be to use large pottery, that way you can explain the theme to those that are donating money.