FUNDRAISING IDEAS...

Hopefully these ideas help you come up with some creative and practical ways which you can raise money for the experience. Please be creative with these and modify them until you feel totally comfortable with what you will be doing. The keys to these fund-raisers are good preparation, good publicity, and somehow promoting friendly competition among the members of the congregation.

Window Cleaners Extraordinaire Sell your window cleaning services to people in the church for $20 a small house, $30 or $40 for a large house. Make sure you take long brushes for the top story. Spend all day one Saturday cleaning in groups of 4 or 5.

Theme dinners (50's, 60's, 70's, UFO's, Sports, Football, etc.) Pull out all the stops and sell tickets for a modest price.

Baby-sitting (Parents night/day out) On a Friday or a Saturday evening, or even for a whole Saturday, staff the nursery and the church playground with youth. Have them plan and lead games, lead crafts, etc. Parents will gladly pay for this service, because it is for such a good cause. Works great around Christmas or other busy season.

Gigantic Garage Sale Publicize it well in the newspapers and in the congregation. When deciding where to have it remember location, location, location. Have all congregation members clean out their garages and donate stuff. People will give large ticket items if the group keeps only 50% of the big items.(i.e. Cars, motorcycles, etc.)

Keeping the Congregation informed Find a visual way to record your financial progress and update it weekly. Also, regular reports keep the congregation with the group right until the end.

"Change the world with change." Have the whole congregation bring in their spare change and keep track of it somewhere. (maybe 5 gallon water jugs in the back of the sanctuary). Think of a way to get people competing for weight (pennies are better) and/or for amount (dimes are better). Allow people to put in bills, but take them to a bank and "changed" and put in the next week. Have a huge change counting party. (A goal may be 5 pounds of change per youth, or the pastor's weight in change)

"Free" car wash. Location, location, location. Explain why you are doing the car wash and accept donations. Publicize this with the congregation as well.

Manual Labor Auction. Flat rate or auction them off. Rent them on a Sunday and have them work for the people the next Saturday. CD and Tape sale. Get the whole church (including the youth) to give up the music they no longer listen to and have a stall at a flea market or near a busy store and sell them.