A “When We Were Young” guessing game is a great way to raise money for your ministry while also helping your congregants get to know each other better.
Ask everyone to submit a fun story or tidbit about something from their childhood. Once you’ve collected every submission, there are many ways you can host the game. Print every story or fun fact out on sheets of paper and display them gallery-style in your church lobby for a set period of time. Your congregants can walk through to read every entry and pay to submit their guesses for who each submission belongs to.
As a virtual alternative, have church fundraising ideas of your congregants set up a personal fundraising webpage. Post submissions one-by-one on your social media sites church fundraising ideas ask people to donate to personal fundraising pages to indicate who they think the story or fact is about.
This is a great fundraiser for small churches where everyone knows each other well and your whole church fundraising ideas community can make submissions and guesses. To adapt this game to a larger church, consider having church leadership and staff make submissions, and then the congregation makes their guesses.
40 Days of Lent challenge
The 40 days leading up to Easter are dedicated to reflection, fasting, and generosity, so why not give your members an opportunity to practice giving with a “40 Days of Lent” fundraising challenge?
One way to run a “40 Days of Lent” challenge is by providing all of your congregants with jars. If they choose to give up something like coffee or some sort of daily expense, ask them to church fundraising ideas that money they would’ve spent and put it in the jar. When Lent is over, they should bring the jars back to church as a donation.
A 50/50 raffle
50/50 raffles are usually done in conjunction with other fundraising activities, like silent auctions or other contests. The concept is simple – members buy a raffle ticket, and all the money goes into one big bucket. At the end of the event, someone draws a ticket, and the owner of that ticket gets half the money while the church church fundraising ideas the other half.
These can be especially fun if you have a competitive group of people; everyone wants to have the winning ticket! They’re also an effective way of keeping people engaged throughout an event; if you sell raffle tickets at a cook-off and do the drawing at the end, your attendees are more likely to stay until the last moments of the dinner. It’s a fun way to encourage people to stick around!
Sporting event parties
People already pay to watch major sporting events, and they often make a night out of it. Try throwing a party for a major sporting event and selling tickets.You can keep direct costs down by keeping ticket prices to a few dollars and asking attendees to church fundraising ideas a snack or a drink to share. In return for buying their ticket, they get to watch the Superbowl, World Series, or another major sporting event on a large-screen television and get to share tons of snacks.
This is another opportunity to offer childcare, especially for younger kids who don’t watch sports! This is another example of a fundraiser that raises money and offers a good service and an opportunity for fellowship with other members… all at the same time!
Host a shoe drive fundraiser
Everyone has shoes that they no longer wear. Rather than letting them wind up in a landfill, encourage churchgoers to repurpose them by donating them to your church’s shoe drive fundraiser. They’ll appreciate the opportunity to declutter their homes and support your mission. Plus, this is a great way to instill a philanthropic spirit throughout your congregation.
All you need to do is partner church fundraising ideas a shoe drive fundraiser facilitator. They’ll provide you with all the materials you need. Place the collection materials around your church and the community. Then, encourage churchgoers and community members to donate their gently worn, used, and new shoes that they no longer wear. Watch as the shoes pile up and your church’s funds skyrocket.
Food or toy drives
Over the holiday season, many families can count on having a turkey on the table and gifts under the tree, but not everyone is as fortunate. Help your congregants get into the giving spirit while also raising funds for your church by hosting a toy or food drive at your church to provide support to those who might be in need of some extra festive cheer.
Partner with a food bank or toy drive facilitator to collect the supplies you’ll need to run your drive. Place collection boxes around your community, or host a drive-thru event where people can swing by and drop off any goods during a specified time. Once your collection boxes are full, send your goods off to your drive facilitator and celebrate the funds you’ve raised!
Envelope fundraiser
An envelope fundraiser is an easy and engaging fundraiser any church can run, and the best part is that it’s accessible to all of your church members. All you need is a stack of envelopes, some tape, and an empty wall in a highly trafficked area like your church lobby area.
Simply number your envelopes from one dollar to $100 to indicate specific donation amounts and then tape them up to your wall. Your congregants can stop by your fundraising wall before or after your church service and donate the amount written on the envelope of their choice. If you’re looking to raise more money, add more envelopes to your wall.
This is a great fundraiser in part because it provides your congregants with a visual gauge of how close you are to meeting your goal. Studies show that people are more likely to donate as you get closer to your goal, so when there are only a few more empty envelopes left on your wall, you’re sure to find dedicated congregants who will fill those final empty spots.