Fundraising Ideas
We've collected some ideas for you and your group to use to raise funds for your missions trip. Check em out below:
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The Support Letter
The first step in raising support is to inform others of what you are doing. Read on for tips on how to do a support letter and for a sample letter.
An effective tool in raising support is found in a letter presenting the vision and needs of each individual and the team. Each person should generate a list of names of extended family members and friends to whom the letters could be sent. Church members may be included but take care that one member does not receive letters from four or five youth! A form letter, like the example on the following page, can be reproduced on the church or youth group letterhead for each team member to use. The team member should fill in the recipient’s name, sign the letter and, without exception, add a personal note on the bottom of each letter before sending. The letter should give a general idea of where the team is going, what the team will be doing, and, most importantly, why the team wants to go. Including information about the area the team will go to will encourage the support team to pray for the people in that country and for the outreach. The letter should give a clear invitation to partner with the individual in prayer and finances and inform the recipients of the team member’s intent to follow up the letter with a phone call within the next several weeks to hear of the potential supporter’s decision.
It is important for each team member to be upfront and honest. The persons receiving the letter should sense the privilege of joining with the team in the outreach. The supporters should know they are an integral part of the team. Regardless of the decision, the potential supporters should be asked to partner with the team member in this mission through prayer both before and during the trip.
It should be noted that a similar support letter could be used to ask for team donations from corporations and businesses. Many companies allocate money each year to be used for tax-deductible donations. It would be best to compose a letter for the entire group that represents the group’s total financial need. Several team members should personally deliver the letters to the businesses. Most corporations would be eager to support a team of passionate teens wanting to serve the needy and love the orphaned. Asking can be a powerful witness in the communities!
Click here to download a sample copy of a support letter. Feel free to change it and use it for your group.
The Ideas
Dessert or Dinner Social:
An individual or an entire team can plan the dessert or dinner social for extended family, friends, church members, etc. This provides an opportunity to orally present information about the trip as well as visually offer insight through the YWAM video provided. It may also be a good idea to offer the guests the appropriate ethnic cuisine while hosting the event in a home setting. Asking for a donation or receiving an offering at the end of the evening is appropriate.
Pennies for Heaven:
Most people are irritated by a purse or drawer full of pennies and are happy just to get the pennies off their hands! As a fundraiser, those little bronze coins can really add up. Ask church members, family, neighbors, and school friends to bring in all the lone pennies lounging around their homes. Decorate coffee cans (possibly with pictures of your outreach country) and use as coin receptacles. Or, as one team going to Egypt did, pass out empty water bottles and ask that people fill them with pennies and give them back to you. If 100 people deposit $5 in pennies, your group has just earned $500. Run the penny campaign several weeks in a row at church or several consecutive days among classmates at school. A local bank may lend a sorting machine to roll coins and count them.
Mother’s Day Gifts:
Several weeks leading up to Mother’s Day, groups should take orders for special gifts to be given to mothers on Mother’s Day. The team might offer balloons, flowers, or baked treats. A customer can hire one or more group members to personally deliver a gift to his/her mother on or around the holiday. It’s a great service for husbands, fathers, and children. Helium tanks are reasonable to rent. Look for donations of balloons, ribbons, flowers, and treats.
Walk-a-thon
Have your youth get people to sponsor them for your walk-a-thon and then pick a date to have the event. It is a no-cost investment, and brings awareness to the community about your trip.
Church-Wide Yard Sale:
Group members should ask church members and neighbors to donate unwanted items to the group’s yard sale. In order to advertise for the rummage sale, groups would benefit by making an announcement in church several weeks in advance, run an ad in the local newspaper, and place posters around the church neighborhood. People will need to drop items off a few days before the sale, in order for group members to organize and price the items. Group members can pick up items from those unable to drop off items. Working the sale in shifts is a good way to divide up the responsibilities.
Car Wash and Bake Sales:
Car washes and bake sales are good traditional sources of raising funds. Car washes can be free with each team member raising sponsors on a per-car-washed basis or the team may charge a flat rate. Also, bake sales can be held at church, high school sporting events, or alongside the church-wide yard sale! Both events are a lot of work but have been known to generate substantial income.
Servant Auction:
This type of event can be done at any time of the year. Have each of the youth commit to jobs for which they would hire-out. Guys and girls might offer to cut grass, paint, shovel snow, baby-sit, clean house, or do laundry. The list is endless! Hold an auction during the fellowship or greeting time on Sunday. As the person and job offer is announced, a bidder can “hire” the team member and set up a time for the task to be accomplished. An hourly rate should be agreed upon or a flat rate set specific to the job.
Fast Food Fund-Raiser
You can partner with local food establishments and have part of the proceeds from purchases in a given day go twoards the team - Sonic Burger, Carl's Jr., Baja Fresh, Etc. As well Krispy Kreme has a fundraising campaign for thier doughnuts Click here for more info