Fundraisers

Have the youth go out, and find people to sponsor them a certain amount per pin. For example, if they were sponsored a penny per pin, and they knock down 200 pins altogether, they get $2.00 from that sponsor. Kids can get as many sponsors as they want, and include information for the sponsors. (What the money is going towards, what the group is doing, and stuff like that).
If everyone could get 10 sponsors for a nickel a pin, and got 200 pins, they could bring in a $100 minus the $5 it takes to play the game. Kids get to benefit from fellowship, as well as raise money for activities.

Buy a few dozen pink lawn flamingos. About 3 dozen would be good. Then at night select church members homes to place the flamingos at. Leave a note letting them know the youth group will come remove the flamingos for a set price. Like ten dollars. The students will get a kick out of sneaking around setting the flamingos up and it will raise money as well! It would probably be best to inform the church about the fund raiser before hand! Perhaps people would even sign up their homes.

We did this fundraiser just a few weeks ago and it did really well. About 4 weeks prior to the yard sale start asking members of the church to bring any items they would like to get rid of. We then had a room designated where they could drop off their items. We then had the youth sign up to bring plates, napkins, chips, soda, onions, choppped bbq, etc.
We chose a Saturday morning to hold our sale. We placed an announcement in the local paper and hung signs all over town. Then, instead of pricing each item individually, we had tables set up on the covered sidewalk outside with one price for that table. (ex: 5, 10, 15, 25 cent table, etc). We had the youth sell tickets for the bbq beforehand for #3.00 per plate.
This included a sandwich, chips, soda, and the extras. We also brought enough to sell to the public. Even though it rained, we still collected over $400.00 in one day. The items that were not sold were taken by van to women’s shelters and apartment complexes in town. The youth loved every minute of it, and the money is going towards their youth camp fund.

Put on a Valentine’s banquet for the couples in your church. Have finger foods that they go through a line to select, but the youth will serve them drinks, take their plates away for them, get dessert, and etc. Put on some entertainment such as: select members from the audience for the dating game, put on a beauty contest with the youth leader dressed up as the UGLIEST girl you ever saw, do a skit, or whatever you want. Ask for food donations from the church members. Charge $10 per couple. It is lots of fun for everyone & can draw in quite a bit of money.

This idea plays on the natural competitive spirit of our youth. You need two teams – we did boys vs. girls, but you can also do jr. high vs. senior high, sunday school class vs. sunday school class, etc. Each team was given a jar that was kept in the youth area.

The challenge is to collect as many pennies as possible in a set amount of time (we did it in one month). One penny = one point. The catch is, silver money (nickels, dimes, quarters) and bills subtract from the point value. So if one team collects 200 pennies but one dollar bill and one quarter, they only get 75 points. Competition was kept high by announcing each team’s score every Sunday morning service and Wednesday night meeting. This also got the congregation involved. The winning team was treated to a pizza party. This made us about $500, all from just spare change!

Allow your youth or members of the church to issue a warrant for other members arrest. They also set a “bail” amount upon filling out a warrant. Then on a particular day, go to their house and have them “arrested” by officers of the church. Those that are arrested are brought back to the church where they must call everyone they know to try and raise their preset “bail”. The “bail” that is collected is actually the funds you raise for the youth group!

Get the kids involved by having them make a mock jail cell and take photos of the Pastor, Deacons, and Church Organist behind bars!

Divide your youth group into teams. About one or two months before the funds are needed, give each youth member something to put coins in (e.g., jars, piggybanks, plastic containers, etc.). Each team member tries to collect as much change as possible from friends, family, etc. We had 20 youth participating in this fundraiser and raised over $300! The winning team were treated to a nice dinner and night out with the youth leaders! Easy and inexpensive, but brings great returns!

For this fundraiser you will need to take pictures of each student or the group of students who are trying to raise money. It is best to use a digital camera for the pictures as it will cut down on your overall cost. You will then print out several 4×6 pictures (We printed in black & white to save money) of each student or group picture, place it in a cheap frame, and sell them for donations during or after a church function. Have a list detailing the pictures you are selling and who is buying them and have the purchaser sign the sheet and commit to pray for the student(s) in the picture they purchased. You can put personal information on the actual picture so that the purchaser will know something about the student they are supporting. Obviously, you can change things to fit your particular group. It might be helpful to contact local craft stores and ask for donations of cheap frames or paper to print on. This fundraiser is a great way to connect the adult congregation with the youth in your church and to promote prayer rather that simply solicit financial aid. Enjoy!