SPECIAL OFFER FOR IYC FUNDRAISING:
From Youth Pastor Daniel Bungard at Bridgeport Church of God, Bridgeport, OH:
M&M mini’s fundraiser: We purchased cases of M&M’s Minis tubes from Sam’s Club and sold them to our congregation for $1.00 a piece. We then asked them to fill the tubes up with quarters (after they ate the chocolate). Every time they put a quarter or two in, they could say a prayer for the youth group attending the convention. Once a tube is filled with quarters, it will hold about $14.00 in quarters, so that’s a $15.00 donation from each person who buys one and brings it back to the church for drop off. We gave people a month to fill up their tubes; you could go longer if you’d like. This is an easier way for people to donate money by using their spare change, plus it’s a little different and kids have a blast filling their tubes with quarters for the youth group.
From Pleasant Prairie Church of God, Santana, KS:
Current Fundraiser—it's easy to do! Shoppers can choose from lots of fun and practical products, and 50% (that's half) of their total purchase (before taxes and shipping) goes directly to our Youth Group! Shoppers just follow these easy steps:
- Log on to the Internet at http://currentfun.com/category.asp
- Shop to their heart's content—choose from loads of reasonably priced cards, gift wrap, gifts, candy and treats, even popular magazine subscriptions. Look for special fundraiser Internet offers, too.
- When they check out they select your Organization's State (example: KANSAS Organization: PLEASANT PRAIRIE CHURCH OF GOD YOUTH), place a student's name in the participant # line so your group knows who gets the credit, (otherwise it will be credited to the Youth Group as a whole)
- Submit their secure order (using their credit card for payment).
The purchase will be shipped directly to the purchaser. They enjoy top-quality Current products, while helping your Youth Group meet your fundraising goal!
From Nitro Church of God, Nitro, WV:
Car Wash plus Advertising Book: You can make $1000-5000 depends on your community.
Make a letter in your own words to sell ads. Make sure the letter has your Church letterhead and make sure they know what the ad is for (fundraiser for IYC?). Sell your ads depending on your community for X amount of $'s.
Idea: sell your ads (we live in a small community)...$15...$25...$35 business card size...1/2 page and full page ads.
Now once you have sold the ads, put together a book of them. Make sure they know you are photo copying their business cards or yellow page ads, etc. Make sure that the purchaser knows that this book will be given to at least 500 cars that you are washing. If you do not wash 500 cars make sure you pass out all the books in the neighborhood. (500 books passed out to 500 customers that will see the purchaser's ad.)
We made sure our car wash was on a day that the community was having a Homecoming... that would bring lots of business.
We made 300 books and made $1000 in a car wash. We sold $750 worth of ads and made the rest with donations the day of the car wash.
From Muren Church of God, Winslow, IN:
In 2007, we made close to four thousand peanut-butter eggs around Easter. The Muren youth group makes peanut-butter eggs every year for the month of April; when we first started doing this, we sold about one thousand eggs. They are becoming very popular in our area. These are chocolate-covered peanut-butter eggs. People in the church donate many of the ingredients. This is our major fundraiser. If anyone has questions or wants the recipe, you can contact me, Eric Rowe, at erowe@wtvw.com.
From First Church of God, St. Johns, MI:
Our youth group was recommended by a realtor in our church (also the mom of two of our youth) to repaint the basement of a house that was going on the market for sale. We had parents and youth working together and finished the task in about eight hours (about 2000 square foot basement divided into five rooms). You may also wish to check with local realtors about cleaning houses for sale before they are shown. This was a job offered to us but we didn't have enough people available on short notice to do the job well. We are being kept in mind for other jobs like it though.
Rock Concerts: Another project we do is pick up rocks in farmers' fields before they plant their crops. The rocks being tossed on the wagons make noise so we call them our "Rock Concerts." We recommend doing this early in the morning or evening to avoid the heat of the day. Some farmers also need people to go through the fields and pull weeds before they take over the crops.
From Woody Crosthwaite:
Little Caesar's Pizza Kits: Excellent repeat sales, easy, and profitable! Five dollars profit per kit! 1-888-4-LC-KITS
Candle Sales: A local candle company makes candles with the longest lasting fragrances we've seen. Candles are really popular and repeat sales are also good. Can be reached at specialtycandles@usa.net or (513) 932-8935. Good fund raising plan!
From Allen Urness of Richland, WA:
Drive new cars from a car dealership to a mall or colosseum for a show. The dealership donates to the youth group instead of paying an outside company for this service. Contact a car dealership to see if they need help transporting their vehicles.
Pre-baked Pizza Sale: Take orders for pre-baked pizzas. After you take orders, go to a wholesale store and purchase enough supplies to build the pizzas. Wrap them in shrink wrap and stick an instruction page on top of pizza. Sell the pizzas for ten dollars at a cost to you of five dollars.
From Jeromy Walsh of Midwest City Church of God, OK:
Pie in the Face Election: Get volunteers that are well known in the congregation (i.e. pastors or youth leaders). Put their name on a collection jar of some sort. People make donations by putting money into the jar of whoever they want to get the pie in the face. Then hold either a social, or even an additional "Pie Auction," and announce the winner (or loser, I should say) and everyone gets to watch him or her receive the prize. This is an easy 100 percent profit fundraiser.
From Sara Guzman of Church of God of Exeter, CA:
Pancake Breakfast: Our small town hosts a large Fourth of July celebration and a fall festival. From 6:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. we host a large pancake breakfast. This year we served over three hundred plates of pancakes for a profit of $1,300! If you need details please e-mail me! oneuac@hotmail.com
Free Car Wash: Each student takes pledges per car washed. On a certain advertised day the youth group hosts a car wash that is absolutely free. Someone must keep track of the number of cars washed and at the end, you tabulate how much money each student has earned. This fundraiser has the potential of raising thousands of dollars in profit if the students will get the pledges! Feel free to e-mail any questions to oneuac@hotmail.com.
From Ryan Barker of University Blvd Chapel of Jacksonville, FL:
Christmas Trees: Our youth group operates a Christmas tree lot each year and sells Christmas trees. It's a lot of work and planning because you have to order the trees in August and then have people working it at all times. It's well worth it though. We usually profit around four or five thousand dollars.
From Dana Wilson of First Church of God of Dallas, TX:
Golf Tournament: We have an annual golf tournament in the spring. There is a committee of five people that contact the golf course where will we hold the tournament and help to get hole sponsors, golfers, door prizes, and prizes for winners of the tournament. Most of the money from the tournament will be made from hole sponsors. The first year we did it we approached local businesses and personal contacts to sponsor holes and donate prizes. Each year since we have been able to go back to those same sponsors and have also gained new contacts. We usually have forty to sixty golfers who participate in the tournament. Last year after expenses we made $3,200 from the tournament. If you would like more details, e-mail Dana at danawilson@nlbf.org.
Silent Auction: The silent auction is a great way to get the people in your congregation involved in supporting your mission trip. About three to four months before you want to hold the auction you will need to contact local businesses and local pro sports organizations for donations of items that can be auctioned off: such as tickets, products, gift certificates, etc. Once you have your items you set up tables somewhere in your church where there is a good flow of traffic and display your items (if it is tickets or gift certificates make a copy of them and put that out with the bid sheet instead of the actual item) on the tables with a bid sheet. Put a minimum bid on the sheet for the item. People can come by and view the item and put their name and bid on the sheet. Then if someone else wants to bid the item up they can come behind that person and put their name and bid on the sheet. Stand back and watch your competitive people try to out bid each other over the next couple of weeks while you have the silent auction running. When you are ready to close the auction down whoever has the final bid on the sheet gets the item. This is also a great way to auction out your youth to do spring cleaning, wrapping Christmas presents, etc. for people in the congregation. We usually make about $1,200.
Stock Options: Another successful fundraiser we have done is our stock options. This is where people can buy a twenty-five dollar stock in a youth that is going on the mission trip. For one or two Sundays you have a stock option ballot in your Sunday morning bulletin for people in the congregation to fill out and turn in with their money. Once you have their form you match them up to a youth that is going on the mission trip so that they can be praying for that student. Also, during the trip we have our students write to their sponsor and give an update on what is happening on the trip. Then when we you get home you have a get together with the students and those who purchased stock and give them an account of what happened on the trip and how God worked through the students who went.
Barbie of Donica Memorial Church of God of Bedford, IN:
Chocolate Suckers: Get plastic molds, sucker sticks, and white chocolate. Make suckers and other fun treats. Our youth group makes it and we sell the suckers for fifty cents a piece. It is so much fun!
Jim of First Church of God of Ravenna, OH:
Basketball Tournament: We recently held a three on three basketball tournament in our gym. If you have access to a gym or an outdoor court and a lot of help you can pull this fundraiser off. It was a sixteen team tournament (you can have as many as you want) set on four courts (22-by-20). Each game had a scheduled time and court. Set-up was done the night before and we were ready to begin at 9 a.m. The thirty-third game was finished by 6:30 p.m. Each game was played two ten minute halves, two one minute time outs, and a three minute half time break. In the event of overtime, the first one was five minutes and the second one was three minutes. We charged seven dollars per player and they could have up to four players on a team, open to anyone in the community sixteen years or older. We had a meeting with all the teams ten days before the tournament to explain everything. We had an event coordinator (for setting the rules and regulations), a registration coordinator, a promotion coordinator, and a concession stand. Promotion was done with a flyer in our bulletin and newsletter, local sports stores, the high school, local newspaper and a lot of verbal communication. It turned out great and was a lot of fun! Any questions? Feel free to e-mail - srcog_jks@email.com
Tina Spragg of the First Church of God in Sacramento, California:
Fall and Spring Banquet: We used to sell things. We would barely cover the price of buying the things we sold. Then we decided to do a Spring Banquet. We do it right after Morning Worship on Sunday so we can get the best turn out. We serve a delicious but inexpensive meal. Our kids and youth put on a show with singing, skits, etc. and along the side of the room we have a silent auction. We sell tickets to the show and people place bids on merchandise in the silent auction. We get the stuff for the silent auction from businesses or people in our congregation. Everyone has a great time and we earn enough money to send all our kids and youth to summer camps. The first Spring Banquet went so well that we now have two a year. We have a Spring Banquet and a Fall Banquet and we don't wear out our congregation by constantly selling things. if you would like more details you may email Tina at firstchurchofgod@sbcglobal.net
Clay Norman of the Highway Chapel Church of God in Quitman, Louisiana:
Ice cream social: Plan it for June or July. Ask several elders (who do not work and have time to do so) to fix a certain flavor of Ice Cream. Then, after you have enough people making ice cream, post a notice to the church saying the time, day, and what kind of event. The most important part of this fund raiser, is that you do not charge a certain price. IT IS FREEWILL DONATIONS! Our church usually makes around $300-$400 off of just ice cream. And if you throw in a good apple pie, it will encourage the people to pay more! if you would like more details you may email Clay at christ_rock09@hotmail.com
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