Next to negotiating an airport with a bunch of excited teenagers, fundraising is the most challenging part of prepping for a mission trip. You’re always looking for fun, simple ways to raise the most money.
Here are 10 quick ideas for raising funds for your mission trip:
1. Facebook auctions
There are a lot of third-party apps like Auction Anything that allow you to host an auction on your Facebook page. Pull together some used items from people in your church and community and, instead of selling them at a garage sale for a fixed price, auction them off to the highest bidder on your church’s Facebook page.
2. Daycare date night
If your church has room, pick a couple Friday nights where you run a little daycare so parents can get out and enjoy a date night. The kids will love being entertained by the youth, the parents will love to spend an undisturbed evening together, and you can raise funds for your trip.
3. Photo shoots
Have anyone in your church that’s handy with a camera? Ask them to donate a couple of hours to do photo shoots for families, couples, and singles. You can set up a studio in the church that allows you to get people in and out quickly. Many families would donate quite a bit for a quality portrait.
4. Silent auction
When it comes to one-shot fundraising ideas, silent auctions perform well. Most of the work comes from securing donations from local businesses. These companies are usually happy to donate to a good cause in exchange for some advertising. Once you have a lot of great items, it’s just a matter of displaying them in a way that people can bid on them. This can be something you do at a Sunday-night church pizza party.
5. GoFundMe
Crowdfunding platforms can be an easy way to subsidize some of your other fundraising ideas. Simply put a GoFundMe campaign together and get your church to share it on their social media platforms.
6. Part-time jobs
Here’s an idea that gets left out of a lot of fundraising lists, but why not encourage brief part-time employment for teens in your group? It could be anything from working weekends at a fast-food joint to mowing lawns on Saturday afternoons. There are a lot of opportunities for your team to raise money separately.
7. Donut fundraisers
Companies like Krispy Kreme do a lot of fundraising. And no one probably needs to tell you that donuts and church just go together. You can do a donut fundraiser on a Sunday morning, and if there are people in the church that own or work at a large business, you might be able to bring the fundraiser to them, too.
8. Dining for donations
Find about a dozen local restaurants who are willing to donate a portion of their proceeds during a specific date range. Then spend a couple of weeks hyping it up in church and on social media. Encourage as many people as possible to eat at one of those restaurants on that evening. You can even combine this fundraiser with the daycare date night!
9. Oil change day
If you have a lot of mechanically inclined people in your church or community, ask if they’d be willing to donate a Saturday to do oil changes. If you can’t use the church parking lot, find another large location or large garage. People will gladly donate to your trip to have their fluids changed.
10. Rent-a-student auction
One Sunday after church, invite everyone to hang out and auction off students to do three hours of work for the highest bidders. These are typically fun events and can raise a lot of mission-trip cash.
Funding your mission trip
Mission trips aren’t cheap but can be incredibly rewarding. You’re usually under a strict deadline to get as much money raised as possible. These ideas will help equip you with the finances you need to get your mission trip funded.
Summer is right around the corner and so are many Jesus Film Mission Trips™. Visit the site to learn about the dozens of trips offered, and the type of evangelism you could be doing to multiply disciples!