Out of the Box Ways to Raise Money for Your Church

The time has come to raise money for your church and money isn’t an easy thing to ask for. Church renovations, erecting a steel building for the youth group or sending a missionary group out of the country all cost a lot more than you would think. Asking for money from your church is hard. The fact is, it takes money to run a church. And, it’s okay to ask for it!

The traditional ways of raising money for your church like hosting a bake sale, a carnival, or after-worship breakfast are outdated and not viable moneymakers anymore. Bring your church into the 21st century of fundraising by trying things like crowdsourcing funds, campaign consulting and using social media to raise funds.

The top three things to remember about people and their money are as follows:

People want to spend their money
People want to give to something they are passionate about
People want to know how their money will be spent.

You may have a few of these bullet points covered already, so your work is not entirely as hard as it may seem. Your congregation is already passionate about your church if they return to hear a sermon week after week. Define a clear directive for the money given, easing the minds of your congregation. Give your congregation a reason to spend their money by asking for extra help for special projects.

If you have notified your congregation of the church’s needs and you’re not achieving the results you would like, think about hiring a church consulting firm to help you lock in your needed funds. There are several companies that will visit your church and personally help church leaders figure out how to raise more money. In most situations these consultants will follow through with materials you need to raise this money, whether that be mailers, handouts or notes on a sermon.

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
2 Corinthians 8:7

Have you considered crowdfunding to help you raise money? Crowdfunding companies such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo have become a popular way for organizations to raise money towards a certain goal. Though these examples have downfalls (if you don’t meet 100% of your funding goal, you get to keep 0% of any funds raised). Christian based crowdfunding platforms are a great alternative. Faithlauncher works much like Kickstarter, only you get to keep 100% of all funds raised no matter if you reach the goal or not. Other Christian based crowdfunding sites work in a similar way, helping you get your fundraiser online and allowing you to keep all of your funds raised no matter whether your project is erecting a steel building for church offices or sending the youth group to summer camp.

While some consulting firms will help you preach a better giving sermon, give you direction for taking your fundraiser online and provide marketing materials, there are companies out there who will even help you find volunteers for your outdated fundraisers as well. Need more bakers for the bake sale? No sweat. These all-encompasing consulting firms will help you inspire your congregation to help you in any way that they can.

Don’t forget about social media! Many churches, youth groups and congregation small groups have joined Facebook and Twitter to better communicate with the younger generation of church-goers. So much of your congregation spends a lot of time on their phones and social media, it is smart to join that outlet! You can announce fundraising milestones and news on Twitter and Facebook, inviting your congregation and other followers to share the joy in your church’s achievement. By becoming a part of the conversation during the week, not just on Sunday morning, your needs will be in the minds of your congregation constantly.

Does your city have a nice park? Host a 5k Run or Walk! These low-cost, high return events are simple to put together, with very low cost. Keep entry fees between $20.00 and $30.00, give each participant a day-of packet including a t-shirt and a race number and set up water stations along the route. Dependent on the number of entries, the profit from a 5k race can be upwards of $15,000.00! Not to mention, you encouraging your congregation to be healthy by asking them to get out of the house and get some exercise.

Last but not least, you can always work with a fundraising company like to sell specific items like candles, wrapping paper, pizza cards and pretzels. These product resell fundraisers are a tried and true solution to raising money for your church, though it’s not as effective as taking your fundraising needs online.

When the time comes to raise money for your church, take a look at solutions that are different from more traditional fund raising tactics. Chances are, your efforts will yield more profits than you expected when you try one of the out-of-the-box ways to raise money for your church’s needs.

Photo courtesy: Andrew Dyson, Alex Liivet