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Check out these fundraising ideas almost any small church can do. If you have a church of 10 or your church is over 100, try one of these ideas to help support your next project or your operating budget.
Choosing the right fundraiser for your small church is important. You want to pick the fundraiser that best fits your church. Just because someone else had great success with a specific fundraiser doesn’t mean it is right for YOUR church.
Planning Your Small Church Fundraiser
- Ask a friend or more to help plan. Don’t do it by yourself.
- Check with local & state laws and ordinances
- Calculate what your upfront costs will be
- Consider how many volunteers you’ll need and how many you have
- Make a plan
- Be realistic – don’t overload yourself or your team
- Remember your purpose – to raise money. Can you do it simply and still accomplish the goal?
- Understand the dynamic – every year you repeat a fundraiser, it has the potential to grow bigger. People tell their friends.
Top Sports & Games Fundraising Ideas
Sports and games fundraisers take a little more planning than other fundraising ideas. Safety must always be planned for and be a top concern. If you want to plan a golf tournament, find an avid golf player and ask them to join your planning team. Their knowledge can be super beneficial to your planning for this event.
Set an entrance fee for participants. Give trophies or prizes to the winners. Offer a prize big enough to attract more entrants. Seek out prize donations from local businesses in exchange for advertising.
- Sports clinic
- Walk-a-thon
- Volley Ball Tournament
- Dance-a-thon
- Golf Tourney
- Game Tournaments: Uno, Jenga, Corn Hole
- Tennis Tournament
- Adult Swim Meet
Fundraiser Meals For Small Churches
Small churches have several options in how they do fundraiser meals. Offer a meal, such as a Pancake Breakfast, Spaghetti Dinner, or Soup & Salad meal before or after the service. Either ask for donations or set a minimum donation per person/family. This can be a great option for youth groups because meals are easy to make and can be done in a relatively short period of time.
Offer a pre-order Carry Out Dinner. Participants pay ahead of time for their meals so you know how much to make. (Always make a few extra meals for those who need an extra or those who heard about your fundraiser past the sign-up date.) Promote these types of fundraisers on your social media and provide a QR code or other information to place an order.
For a food tasting or cook-off, entrants bring their entries and participants usually pay a small charge per taste or for the entire event. To encourage more entrants, plan to give a trophy or big prize to the winner. Remember prizes for second and third place as well.
- Food tastings, chili cook-off, BBQ cook-off
- Pancake breakfast
- Soup and Salad dinner after church
- Spaghetti Dinner
- Carry Out Dinner
- Chicken, cole slaw, potato salad, roll, dessert
- Lasagna, salad, roll, dessert
- Tamales, pico de gallo, dessert
- Kielbasa & Sauerkraut, Roasted potatoes, salad, dessert
- Summer Grill Out: Burgers, summer salads, dessert
Offer Hobby Classes To Raise Money
Hobby classes can be great fundraisers. Participants cover the cost of materials, and $5-$10 more goes towards your fundraising. If you need to get an outside instructor, ask if they can donate their time.
- Kids cooking class
- Adult date night cooking class
- Painting class
- Container gardening class
Holidays Can Be A Great Time For Fundraising Ideas
Fourth of July, Christmas, and local holiday festivals are great opportunities for fundraising. Fundraising at church, during these seasons, is usually done to provide a service or an added element of fun.
Be on the lookout for a local business that wants to give back to the community in the way of lining the neighborhood with flags. The business orders the flags, and your small church group walks the neighborhood, offering to put a flag at each house to the side of the driveway.
A Snowman Campaign can be lots of fun if you have teens and adults (and kids, too!) who like being outside in the snowy weather. Be creative and see how many snowmen you can sell to your congregation that you build on the pastor’s front lawn. Or, sell snowmen builds for the elderly or other congregation members.
Great Small Churches Holiday Fundraising Ideas
- Face painting at a fair or holiday festival
- Distribute flags in neighborhoods
- Christmas tree removal
- Gift wrap for Christmas
- Build snowmen
- Christmas craft-a-thon
Host A Community Event To Raise Money
When a small church hosts a community event, it can increase community presence as well as bring in funds for the project. These projects can be well worth it, although they take a good amount of planning.
These community event fundraisers are ones that often grow bigger from one year to the next. People remember them, word spreads, and your audience/participants can grow bigger every year.
- Yard sale
- Bingo night
- Car wash: stand-alone or business-sponsored
- Decorate yards with flamingos
- Movie night
- Host a concert
- Carnival
- Art sale – display at a local coffee shop
- Dinner at a specific restaurant for a portion of the sales
- Could also include specially made punch cards for a coffee shop
- Ask community members and businesses to join you in sponsoring an event
Sales Events For Church And The Community
Caution – these can give the least profit for what you purchase. If you do this, the best way is to get things donated so you aren’t spending tons of money with an unknown of recouping funds plus making a profit.
- Accessory and jewelry sale
- Bake sale – at church or a local grocery or hardware store
- Sell popcorn tins
- Cake sale
- Garden Plant sale
- Mother’s Day flower sale
- Poinsettia Sale
- Lily Sale
Auctions & Raffles Raise Money
For small church congregations, sometimes it can be better to pair an auction or raffle with another event. For instance, hold a raffle for themed gift baskets at the outdoor community Fall Festival. Host a dessert auction at your All-Church New Year’s Eve event. Host a booth at your county fair and hold an auction or buy-now sale for crafts or wall art.
- Silent auction for crafts and artwork
- Host a raffle – big items or donated theme baskets
- Silent auction
- Time and talent
- Dessert auction
- Theme Basket Raffle or Auction
Our Fundraising Ideas Worksheet can help you get started. This free PDF gives you some basic questions to think about and discuss at your first planning meeting for your small church fundraiser.
Try Venue Rental To Bring In Money
The easiest way to fundraise with venue rentals is to combine efforts with an outside group. Contact the local car club to offer your parking lot in exchange for an event fee or a price per car. For community yard sales or craft shows, set a fee for space; add $10 to the fee if the church provides a table, too. Ask for a portion of the profits for plant, flower, or tree sales. Set a monthly rental for outside groups that want to use your building on a regular basis.
- Car show
- Community yard sale
- Outdoor craft show
- Gardening event, plant sale, or flower sale
- Tree sale & Christmas wreaths
- Homeschool Group
Involve Your Town In Church Fundraising
Fundraisers don’t have to be and shouldn’t be limited to your small church congregation. Fundraising for a church project can take its toll on a small church congregation. Your small church members are most likely already tithing and giving money to the church. Even with their generosity, you may not be able to fully fund your project.
Invite your community to participate in your fundraising efforts by planning events they can join and support your small church. Almost any fundraising event can be planned with your community in mind to make it easy for them to participate. Be strategic in planning and create specific promotions. Your small church can do it.
Even if it is a stretch, get your small church involved in the community. Host a food collection for the local food pantry. Collect socks for the homeless shelter. Provide snacks or meals to your local fire station. Meet other needs in the community.
As you become a stronger part of the community, you may find local businesses and others can develop a greater desire to support your fundraising efforts. They want to support those who are actively involved and contributing to the betterment of their community.
Many of these fundraisers can be planned from the beginning as community events. Think about what can be well-received in your community as a church fundraiser, and plan accordingly.
You Can Fundraise With Success
Do your best to set up yourself, your team, and your church for success.
- Get people excited ahead of time
- Enlist help to plan
- Promote to your church and community
- Make the event memorable
- Take pictures
- Evaluate for future fundraising ideas
Gather at least one other person to help you plan. Consider the fundraiser that could work best for your small church. Develop a plan and goal that is realistic with your church, resources, congregation, and community. Understand events can grow bigger from one year to the next. Take pictures to celebrate this event and for promotion for future fundraisers. Evaluate what went well and what you might like to change for next time.
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