Church Fundraising

MATH

We are half way through a million pound refurb at our church. Part funded by Methodist grants, local noncomformist grants and council money as they will be using part of the building once completed. We still have to raise thousands and thousands ourselves though from an enthusiastic but ageing congregation. Over the last 12 months here are some of the fundraisers we have run.

Christmas Fayre
Summer Fayre
Wedding Fayre
Bric a brac and cake stall (weekly)
Beetle Drive (well you have to don't ya. LOL)
Safari Supper - where you eat a different course at eat house on the Safari
Family Photographer (bit like schools photos system)
Quiz Nights
Choral Evening and Organ recital
Gift Day
Handmade greetings cards
Carol Singing
Hot soup and a roll morning
Flower Festival
Christmas tree Service and Sale

There were other events but I can't remember them all. Last year we set a minimum taget of £10,000 and met it.

DrFluffy

VickyA wrote:

How about asking people to donate and get their name on the tower? Ok, I haven't thought of this all by myself, but it's a scheme that Lincoln Cathedral is running for their west front. It's also been done by a local hospice when they were building a day care centre - buy a brick to help them build it.

I will carry on thinking.......

My parents local church was built in part by 'by brick' donations... IIRC they charged £10 a brick, and raised a lot of money!

Emmylou_2

How about the "pound game".

Give people a pound and challenge them to turn it into as much as possible.

Ianna

Don't forget to advertise yourself a little so that people are more likely to give and give more. Do you run soup kitchens for example? Support single parents? Do listening ears for people in crisis? Is the building significant to the local community? A heritage site? Give them a reason to give you money.

daisyboo

Does your church have any uniformed groups involved e.g. Brownies, cubs guides? They could hold an event to raise money. Our Brownies raised money for children in need by having a sponsered sleepover in the church hall, so maybe something like that could work? Hope that helps.

Nile

Hello hybrid

Why not organise a 'Bats in the belfry' event? Your church is bound to have a bat roost, either within the church building or in a nearby tree.

Contact your local Bat Group and ask them to bring their bat detectors to do a bat count/identification.

These type of events are normally for Bat Group members only but you could invite local children and their parents..........for a small fee towards the church funds.;)

Bats will be emerging from roosts in May onwards.

Sallys_Savings

What a great idea Nile......I remember taking my children to one of these in our local nature reserve a few years ago and they absolutely loved it

full-time-mum

I'll ask my FIL as he does fund-raising at his church.

Things that I can remember off the top of my head....

• Quiz sheets (the ones where you give the initial letters or cryptic clues)
• Quiz nights with a fish and chip supper
• Children's funday
• Strawberry Tea is quite popular
• Provide a pre/post-service breaky (depends on facilities)
• Do you know anyone who would do a party plan evening and donate a percentage. (Body Shop, Virgin Vie etc) I used to do this - it doesn't make a huge amount but every little helps and it can be a good evening out too. Do a raffle, sell refreshments etc to increase revenue.
• Xmas tree festival - charge to enter a tree and then charge to view - church looks fantastic filled with trees in every nook and cranny! Again, refreshments and stalls to boost income - you need plenty of pre-publicity and you do need quite a few volunteers to man the church and refreshments. Everyone has a sheet and gets to vote for their favourite one with a prize for the winner. Get local schools involved - especially if you have a linked school, challenge each class or do it on a school by school basis. Best bit is that all the kiddies want to come along and see their tree and their parents have to pay up!
• Scarecrow festival - similar to Xmas trees but you don't have to wait until December.
• Auction promises

A lot depends on the size of your church, the age of the majority, where you are located etc

full-time-mum

Emmylou wrote:

How about the "pound game".

Give people a pound and challenge them to turn it into as much as possible.

Or like the challenge somewhere on DFW, first week make your £1 into £2, second week make £2 into £4, third £4 into £8 etc.
If you did it over 8 weeks, you would convert £1 to £128.
Get 10 people to do it and you've got £1280

Not sure how practical this would be in reality but it might be worth throwing out the challenge. If you are starting from £1 then maybe people would be prepared to 'donate' the first £1.

People could ebay, or bake/sell cakes and jam, grow plants to sell.