For a community church, event fundraisers are an important source of income that allows you to expand your good works beyond the scope of member tithes. Fundraisers can be put together for a specific purpose or used to create a budget for a wider range of church maintenance and, community programs, and charitable initiatives. Some churches have traditional fundraising events that the community looks forward to every year, while others explore unique fundraising ideas each time additional funds are needed to budget a new project or program.
This article is designed to help church leaders and fundraising committees explore how to boost church income through fundraisers. This is a great way to boost your church’s income and create events that the whole community will enjoy. From brainstorming event ideas to post-event follow-ups, we will take you through each step in preparing to host events like charity runs, concerts, festivals, and community dinners.
Planning and Executing Successful Church Fundraisers
Putting together a church income-boosting fundraiser takes a lot of planning and teamwork. Planning a successful church fundraiser event you’ll need a committee of leaders and volunteers that can envision the event, plan every step, and put those steps into action. Start with a budget and a schedule, then build your event from the ground up, sourcing supplies, planning the setup, and marketing to draw in a crowd from both inside and outside your congregation.
1. Understanding the Basics of Event Fundraising
The core purpose of a fundraising event is to provide an enjoyable experience in exchange for tickets and potentially greater individual donations. Each participant to attend will pay a small fee for the fun and the event may include other opportunities to pay for activities, raffles, or make a direct donation to the cause. Through these simple methods, you can significantly increase your church income for your overall operations budget or specific projects, groups, and charity initiatives that your audience will come to support.
2. Generating Fundraising Ideas
The first step is to brainstorm an exciting fundraising idea that your community will love. If you come up with several, you can always turn your first fundraiser into a fundraising calendar of events for your community to look forward to. Let’s explore some of the most popular church fundraiser ideas that might be perfect for your congregation and cause.
- Charity Runs
- A charity run is a fundraising race, much like a marathon event but it can be any length you like. Participants sign up to run the course and their supporters pledge to donate a certain amount if they finish – or based on the distance they complete if the race is a long one where people are predicted to drop out.
- The charity element is a way for the runner to donate their energy while their supporting friends and family cheer them on by betting charity donations on each runner’s performance.
- Seasonal Festival Event
- Everyone loves a seasonal festival. You can set up carnival games, food stalls, and outdoor activities like sack races for the church charity event that the whole community can get into. There’s a little something for everyone with a festive atmosphere that people will look forward to every year.
- The proceeds from the games and food stalls serve as the fundraiser, while your church groups can each contribute a stall, booth, or game idea. For a larger event, you can even partner with other churches in the community.
- Music Concerts and Performances
- Invite local artists and performers to put on a concert. Then charge ticket sales and food concessions to raise money for your church event fundraiser.
- You can also hold a free concert and make donation an internal event with a raffle or auction ‘backstage pass’ time with the artists.
- Community Yard Sale
- One of the best fundraiser styles is a communal yard sale. Invite everyone in your church to start by donating items that they no longer need or want to a big yard sale collection. Then host an all-weekend yard sale event run by volunteers to sell off the goods to anyone who passes by.
- Community yard sales are not only fun and profitable, but it also facilitates your community to swap treasures and offload unused items.
- Penny Drive
- A penny drive is a pocket change collection fundraiser. You set out buckets or cans and encourage everyone to drop their spare change. Often, churches mobilize their child Sunday school classes, sending children out to collect every penny and quarter they can find for a cause that helps other children.
- Movie Night and Concession Stand
- Host a free movie night, but charge for concessions. Selling popcorn and candy is a classic fundraiser and your movie night sets exactly the right scene for everyone to have a good time.
- Rent a cotton candy machine, a popcorn maker, and a shaved ice machine to offer fresh classic treats that are even better than packaged snacks.
- Bake Sale
- Of course, you can’t forget the classic bake sale. At a bake sale, everyone brings their best-baked goods and sells them at a shared community event. There might be tasting contests or eating contests, but there will always be pies, cakes, and decorative bags of cookies.
- Community Dinners
- Lastly, community dinners are a church tradition. You can encourage your community to bring pot-luck dinners or put together a core of volunteer chefs. Each person who attends will pay a plate ticket and there may be additional opportunities to donate for fun through games and raffles.
3. Planning Your Fundraising Event
Build a comprehensive plan to put your fundraising event into action.
- Setting Goals
- Setting goals can help you visualize the results you want to see with your event planning. Start with your fundraising goal, but include other goals like the number of attendees, food quantity and variety, or clear items by the end of the event.
- Budgeting
- Plan a budget for throwing the event. This is your investment with aim to make back much more than you put in. Some of the best church event fundraisers cost very little to create and are a big hit with the community.
- When budgeting, list every step of your plan and account for all associated expenses.
- Scheduling
- Pick a date or weekend and build your event schedule around this. You may be planning an afternoon or evening event and will want a timetable to keep.
- Assigning Roles
- Split up the tasks necessary to enact your plan and assign roles to people in your committee. This will include organization, sourcing, setup, advertising, and leading volunteers to name a few typical roles.
- Recap the event
- Be sure to schedule time shortly after the event to recap everything. This is the ideal time to discuss key performance indicators (KPIs) for the events, like funds raised, number of attendees, or donor engagement metrics. You’ll want to discuss what went well, but also what didn’t.
4. Promoting Your Fundraising Event
Promotion is essential to a fundraising event. Ideally, you will invite not just members of your congregation, but members of the greater community as well. Put out flyers. Make announcements with local news networks. Start a social media campaign and, of course, make a landing page on your church’s website that includes useful information about the event and early sign-up opportunities for volunteers and participants.
You might partner with local shops and restaurants to get the word out and create materials that your congregation can use to invite their own circles of friends and acquaintances.
5. Running Your Fundraising Event
On the day of your fundraiser, it’s time for implementation. Start setup as early as possible, getting your space and facilities ready for the big event. Then prepare to see your plan come to life as it becomes active with people arriving to participate.
- Sticking to the Schedule
- If you build a schedule, stick to it. Make sure shows start on time, dinner is ready when advertised, and that games go as planned.
- Logistics
- Handle logistics with grace and flexibility. Try to make sure everything goes perfectly, but have a few backup plans in case they don’t. Think through different situations that include items like parking, weather, inventory, food, etc. Creating a map and a flow of how everything will run will help keep the logistics running smoothly.
- Volunteer Management
- Wrangle your volunteers to provide guidance and ambiance to your event. Whether people are manning carnival game booths or monitoring the charity run. Ideally, you’ll want volunteers who will be passionate about the event, charismatic and professional, it makes it easier to manage.
- Donor Engagement
- Make sure your donors/participants are having a good time. Keep everyone engaged and enjoying the fun to ensure your crowd stays in a giving mood all night.
6. Post-Event Follow Up
Sending everyone home is not the true end of your event. Plan to send out post-event follow-up emails, texts, or even cards in the mail. Thank each participant and share some of the good works the charity effort will go toward.
From there, evaluate your success and use this information to strategize future fundraiser planning. Discuss the importance of thanking participants, evaluating event success, and strategizing for future fundraisers.
When all is said and done
In the end, successful event fundraising is an art that combines strategic planning, community involvement, and the spirit of generosity. From understanding the basics of event fundraising to setting the wheels in motion, each step you take brings you closer to achieving your church’s financial goals while fostering a stronger sense of community. Whether you opt for charity runs, music concerts, or community dinners, your fundraising efforts can extend the impact of your church beyond its four walls.
Remember, the heart of a great fundraiser is not just the income it generates, but the unity it cultivates within your congregation and the wider community. With proper planning, promotion, and follow-up, your event will not only increase your church’s income but also create an unforgettable experience for all participants. Embrace the challenge, have fun with the process, and witness the transformative power of community-driven fundraising.
