5 Great Church Fundraisers

Like those of all churches, your congregation needs to raise funds, whether to pay for a mission trip, finance different activities, or cover the costs of renovation. Confused about what kind of fundraiser the members of your congregation should do? Well, the answer to that is determined by the size of your congregation and how much you aim to earn. Keeping this in mind, here are several simple, profitable church fundraisers.

There are several types of candles that the members of your group can sell for a good profit. The members of your congregation simply take down orders from your supporters, and the candles are shipped to you so you can sell them. One type of candle offered is the Journey of Faith candles, whose packaging includes inspirational quotes from Scripture. Each candle—there are 8 scents in all, one for each of the beautiful quotes—comes prepackaged in a gift box for easier selling. Each candle sells for $12, for a total of 50% profit.

Does your church have a choir group? If so, you can hold a choral recital. Hold it on a nice evening, and have the congregation donate money rather than charging them. Have your choir sing the songs you know your congregation adores.

If your church makes enough money from the choir recital, you might be able to hold one every year, or even several times a year! If you hold one in Christmastime, have your members sing holiday carols.

Everyone’s always wanted to know how Joan from next door makes her amazing apple pie - so why not give them the recipe? For this fundraiser, have the members of your congregation donate their home-grown recipes and use them to make a cookbook. Have photographs and hand-drawn pictures accompany each recipe. This works best in a small community, where everyone knows everyone - and yes, where everyone has tasted Joan Anderson’s amazing apple pie, and are willing to pay a few dollars to get her recipie.

Do the members of your congregation love reading Biblical stories? Put their knowledge to the test with a quiz bowl. You can tailor the quiz for specific audiences—for example, easier questions for students of Sunday school, or harder questions for the later rounds, when but a few contestants remain. Have your guests and contestants donate money at the door, and sell treats for them to nibble on while they watch the contest.

The Bible is a really long read, one that many of those in your congregation - and most certainly the young ones - haven’t read in its entirety. With this in mind, challenge your congregation to read the entire Bible. Have them find sponsors who will donate money to your church for each book of the Bible that they read. To encourage your readers, offer prizes for those who read it in the shortest amount of time.

If you’re stumped about what your congregation can do for your next church fundraiser, several ideas are possible: you can hold a choir recital, make a church cookbook, sell Journey of Faith candles from JustFundraising.com, and hold a quiz bowl or a read-a-thon. Whichever fundraising idea you choose to do, they’re all profitable. Best of luck to your congregation - we sincerely hope everything goes well!