Free Fundraiser Ideas for Your Church

Looking for fundraiser ideas for your church? There’s lots of places online that claim to help churches with fundraising but when you check them out, you’ll find that you have to make major purchases to begin, or that their products are simply priced too high for you to make a good profit. A better way of raising funds for church is to sell your own stuff or buy merchandise to sell.

Have a yard sale, with members pitching in their unwanted items, and you’ll be surprised at how much you can earn. Members can donate clothing, baby items, kitchen gadgets or old pieces of furniture. Advertise it in your local paper and choose a very visible spot for the sale.

Another way to earn money for your church is to purchase items on sale, such as colas, then attend events where you can sell the drinks. Parades, flea markets, sporting events and holiday happenings are great times to sell not only sodas, but candy bars, small bags of chips, homemade cookies or even small novelties like glow sticks or noise makers.

Have members volunteer to make baked goods, whip up potato salad, or make banana pudding and such, to sell as fundraisers. Put the goods in single serving containers, as well as larger containers, then sell at the local flea market. Or, gather these goodies and set up a sale on a busy street.

Have a carwash to earn money for your church. Advertise the wash by having members take turns holding signs up at intersections or corners near the carwash. Offer detailing services and you’ll make a killing. Members can chip in and vacuum, wax and perform other tasks. It’s a great assignment for the youth group.

Make Christmas ornaments to sell around Thanksgiving time. There are lots of ornaments that are easy to make – search Google for free ornament-making pages that show you step-by-step instructions for making simple ornaments.

Make candles to sell as fundraisers. Candles are very popular and you can save a ton of money on wax if you purchase paraffin in blocks, meant for canning, rather than purchasing it at craft stores. The craft stores do have wonderful scents, though, and a small bottle makes several candles. Use cardboard boxes and milk cartons as your form to make the candles, rather than purchasing expensive candle molding forms.

Have a rubber stamp made, with your church name or a spiritual phrase, then stamp inexpensive white shirts to sell to church members. White shirts, and some colored ones, can be purchased in multi-packs to save money.

Call local photographers to see what kind of deal they will give you on having pictures done. A business just starting out will often offer discount pictures, if you can get enough people to attend the sittings, and your church can earn money this way by marking up the cost slightly.

Churches need money to operate, and if your church is hurting for money, a fundraiser is just what you need. Consider having members craft items to sell, pitch in towards purchases of items to resell, or volunteer their services for carwashes or barbecue dinners. People will flock to you for things like this, and they’ll bring their money with ’em.