When preparing for a missions trip there are several things you can do to raise money. Some activities can be done as an individual and others are group fund raising ideas. Beyond writing letters, which you should do to encourage prayer as well as financial support, here is a list of activities you or your church can do to raise the money needed for your upcoming trip.
Individual Fundraising Idea: Odd Jobs
If you are a teenager you can let your parents’ friends know that you are trying to raise money for a mission trip. See if they will hire you to do some yard work or other task for them one evening or over a weekend. Often they will pay you more per hour if you let them know what the money is for than they would pay normally. People in the church may be able to hire you for a short time as a regular employee for their business.
Odd jobs you can do include yard work, house cleaning and babysitting. While group car washes are a popular activity, you can also walk through your neighborhood offering to wash cars for people who you may not even know well.
Make sure you work hard for the money you earn. Your testimony as a worker will help people see that investing in you as an individual is a good investment in the mission trip you are raising money for. You should also see the work you do as an investment. God has provided a job for you. You should work to honor Him as you look forward to what the job means in terms of you being able to go on the trip.
Individual Fundraising Idea: Crafts
Are you handy with some craft or skill? If there is a craft you can make that people will buy, then consider making a stockpile of the items and offer them to the people in your church. Again, let them know that the money goes towards your upcoming trip.
You can also sell your crafts online. Etsy and eBay are two popular places for selling items online. Etsy is more geared for craft items. Look around for similar items to what you can produce and try to finda good price to offer your goods. You may be very surprised at the price people will pay for your handmade items. Selling online is not as easy as selling in person. You have to work hard to write a good description of your item. But, if you do well, it is a great way to raise money for a mission trip.
Group Fundraising Idea: Babysitting
The people raising money for the trip can offer to the church to watch the children for a few hours on a Friday or Saturday night for a nominal fee. This allows the parents to go on a date after dropping their children off at the church. This would not need to be limited to small children. For a charge of $5 or $10 per child, the babysitting group can provide a basic meal and activities for the children.
This can be done a few times throughout the year, or it can be a special thing that is done every weekend for a whole month. It should be announced as a special time and not allowed to become so common that people see it as a babysitting service and not as an opportunity to work for the mission trip. Keep the focus on the trip and people will be more willing to help the young people.
Group Fundraising Idea: Special Meal
The mission trip participants can prepare a meal and sell tickets to the event. Tickets can be at a set price or for a donation. Encourage church members to sell tickets to their co-workers. Some may buy a ticket without coming to the meal as an easy donation. Those going on the trip should be the ones serving the meal.
An alternative is to this is to have themed nights after church on Sundays. One week the special meal could be an ice-cream social. Another week it could be a full meal. It could also be something as simple as bags of nacho chips and every nacho condiment known to man.
Group Fundraising Idea: Yard Sale
Ask the church people to donate items for a yard sale. It is a great way to eliminate unneeded items while raising money. With enough advertisement you can attract the attention of the whole community and not just the church members.
When the sale is over the left over items can be stored for a future yard sale or donated to a local rescue mission.
Group Fundraising Id
ea: Car Wash
Typically car washes aren’t well advertised and rely on capturing passing traffic. This may work well, but can also limit your fund raising potential.
Advertise in the church previous to the car wash. Also, sell tickets to church members and allow them to sell tickets to their co-workers. Like the meal suggestion above, there will be people who will buy tickets but not attend the event. Of course you would also wash cars of those who did not have tickets. The tickets are mainly a way of advertising previous to the event. Check with local laws as to whether you can have a set price for your car wash or if it must be done on a donation-only basis.
Church-wide Fundraising Idea: Restaurant Donation
Talk to local restaurants, especially those near your church, and see if they will donate a portion of the meal price on a certain day to your mission trip. Most of the time they will require that the people from the church show a church bulletin or mention to their server that they came to the restaurant that day for the specific purpose of helping the church with their fund raising event. This needs to be heavily advertised in the church since church members are typically the only ones who can participate in this fund raising activity.
Do you have a fund raising suggestion? Share it in the comments below.
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