Church Fundraising: Thou Shalt Not Be Lame

A power of the t-shirt! It’s a mighty power, not to be messed with. You can screen print your church logo for cheap on t-shirts, hoodies, muumuus, loincloths, whatever you like and sell them to the public and congregation. Or let your creative juices flow and put favorite quotes or funny pictures on them, anything you think might resonate with your community and represent the voice and personality of the church. Everybody loves a t-shirt! And don’t think your consumer base is limited to churchgoers – you’ll make a killing on “ironic” sales from the disenchanted, hipster population of your community (every community has one  – check your local Urban Outfitters).

Calendars

First let me say, get your mind out of the gutter. Not “CALENDAR” calendars, unless the 85-year-old organist has lived with a secret desire to be known as “Miss January” (then who are you to deny an old woman her dream?). People love calendars almost as much as they love t-shirts, and since they’re composed of pictures they offer the same freedom for creativity. If you’re catering to churchgoers who have a personal attachment to the church, then fill them with pictures of the congregation, funny photos from past events and so on. If your church fundraisingcampaign is meant for a wider audience, then the world is your oyster! Fill them with pictures of oysters if you want. (Disclaimer: do not fill them with pictures of oysters as that is weird and nobody will buy them.)

Concerts

You know there’s this whole genre of gospel music and Christian rock with a massive cult following and tons of artists? Oh you did? Yeah I was just sayin’. There’s no doubt a local group with built-in fans in your community that would love to be part of a church fundraising concert. They get a sweet venue, you get a cool band and everyone’s scratching each others’ backs until they need your hands free since they can’t really play guitar without them (you can pick it back up later). If you’re looking to go big or go home (in which case, stay! Go big!) then it’s worth it to try and reach out to bigger acts in your area. It’s for a good cause! They could be willing to help out if you ask.

Cookbooks

This is like the bake sale on steroids (not literally, please). While the bake sale route is nice and yummy and great for finally fitting into those pesky jeans that are just WAY too big for you (thanks cupcakes!) they’re pretty labor intensive and don’t generate a lot of revenue. Instead, you can whip up a cookbook with favorite recipes from churchgoers and sell them for $10 or $15 a pop instead of watching your profit go up in 50 cent increments with each disappearing cookie. There are tons of sites where you can make your own cookbooks, complete with pictures and customized designs. It takes your church fundraising bake sale to the next level – and everyone will just EAT. IT. UP. (So sorry. Couldn’t resist.)

Online Donation Drives

Speaking of taking things to the next level, every ounce of effort you put into your church fundraiser offline can be maximized by incorporating an online campaign. This is the best way to reach your audience and increase your donor base, and the most efficient source of donations. You can sign up for an online fundraising platform that allows you to reach people through email, Facebook and Twitter and lets people donate to your church with the click of a mouse. It’s an incredibly simple way of spreading the word and reaping the biggest rewards for your church fundraising efforts. Maybe we should start a list of the church fundraising commandments: 1) Thou Shalt Not Be Lame, and 2) Get Online!

There are of course tons of ways to raise money for your church fundraiser – car washes, rummage sales, and the always popular and gut-busting pancake breakfast. Just make sure to be a little creative with whatever you choose to stand out from the crowd – and at the very least, use the web! It’s the easiest way to get a lot of bang for your buck. No, wait – a lot of buck for no bang. Bang is effort. You get the drift.

Church Fundraising Online with Free Fundraising Tools

 Churches need money for its operation, maintenance, renovation, charity, and mission trips. They are able to get money through communion services and offerings from parishioners and churchgoers.  Church fundraising is often necessary so that the church’s needs are met. They also solicit for help from the neighborhood or community they are situated in. There are times that the money raised is not enough therefore they constantly need to think of ways to generate cash for other necessities.

Nowadays, many churches have used online fundraising platforms to raise money for their needs. They have discovered that in having their own website, they can reach many people and solicit for their support. Their website serves as their virtual office and very minimal expenses are spent. They no longer have to incur communication expenses such as phone and fax bills and they can use the money saved for other charitable purposes. People, especially those who are located in other cities, states or countries, can still visit the church via its website and acquire information or make a donation with just a click of the mouse.

Church fundraisers can also be conducted online. They can hold a live auction in certain websites that do auctioneering and ask their supporters to donate some items to be bid in these online auctions. Many people from all over can participate in this event and they can donate at their convenient time as the auction can run 27/7 for a year or so. In traditional fundraising activities, much time is spent on planning and these can also be very expensive. Churches have to rent a venue for the event, get additional staff, and spend on advertising and invitation.

The use of the Internet for fundraising activities breaks all geographical boundaries as people from the United States can correspond with individuals, organizations and governments from Asia in seconds. The Internet allows massive exposure of the church and its activities. Social media sites have millions of members and when the church has its account on such sites, its mission and objectives will reach many quickly. An online church fundraising campaign for an orphanage does not only reach a nearby community but a global level.

Most of the time, church fundraisers end up spending a lot of money for advertisements and other expenses.
They make banners to be placed in specific locations. These banners however will not be used again once the activity they are promoting is finished. Sometimes, churches also advertise on local dailies and radio and TV programs to get support for their causes and this can be very expensive. With online advertising, such expenses are eliminated. There are even search engines that pay for ads of charities and place the link to the church’s website on their pages, as long as they are a registered 501 c 3 non profit.

Donors can also make online donations to the church fundraisers using their credit cards. They no longer need to travel all the way to the church and give their donations. In just seconds, they can give to their favorite churches to support their causes.  Fees for credit card transactions online are paperless and less expensive and hectic than depositing money through a bank.

Using multiple channels for church fundraising online is indeed very convenient, traceable, and economical.