Putting the “Fun” Back in Fundraising



Putting the “Fun” Back in Fundraising

(mainly adapted from “Ready-to-Go Fundraisers)

FOOD & FUN

• Great Cake Tasting Party

You will need several great cakes (prepared by church members and friends – maybe even members of the youth group), several copies of each cake recipe, plates, utensils, coffee/tea, iced water, cups for hot and cold beverages, cash box and float money.

You can decide how you wish to charge for the evening – either a set cost or by donation.

You can advertise the event as “Having Your Cake and Eating It Too!”.

When the cakes are delivered have them placed on long tables with copies of the recipe beside each cake. If you have a website you may also want to post the recipes on-line.

Station 1 or 2 people behind each cake to cut it into small pieces and serve.

Each person gets to taste as many cakes as she or he wishes.

If you wish perhaps have entertainment (musicians, instrumental group, choir, etc.)

• International Night

Host your very own mini-Folklorama!

You will need guest presenters from various nationalities, food and beverages related to those nationalities, games, music, decorations, plates, utensils, cash box and float money.

There are a couple of ways you might wish to charge for the event: an admission fee that covers all food and drink, or admission by donation and a set cost for different menu items.

Invite people who either grew up and or lived in other cultures to talk about what life is like there. Ask them to provide a dish that is unique to that area. They may wish to share the recipe as well. Display pictures and other items from the area.

Presenters may also wish to share special music, a dance, games, etc. from their country.

SPECIAL HOLIDAYS

• All-Natural Easter-Egg Hunt- Easter

You will need eggs, plants and vegetables for dyeing eggs, several pots, strainer, egg cartons, cash box and float money.

Make your egg hunt all natural. Use plants and vegetable for the egg dyes, and consider purchasing free-range eggs.

In separate posts of water, boil the following to create different dyes:

Red and yellow dyes – red or yellow onion skins

Blue dye – blackberries – can use frozen ones

Green dye – spinach

Pink dye – cranberries or cranberry juice

When the water has reached the desired colour, let it cool and then pour the contents of the pot through a strainer. Add eggs an bring the water back to a boil. Once eggs have reached hard-boiled remove them from water and allow them to cool. Make sure that you have enough eggs so that every participant in the hunt has the opportunity to find at least 5.

You can choose to sell tickets in advance, charge a small entry fee at the event, or simply accept donations.

You may also choose to start the egg hunt with a brief devotion, explaining why the egg (a symbol for new life) is significant for Easter.

• Holiday Wrapping Service

Gather your youth group together after worship services for the 4 Sundays in Advent. Let folks in your church know ahead of time that a wrapping station will be set up. For a set fee (you may want to consider separate fees for small, medium, large, and oversized packages) offer to wrap gifts that are brought to you by congregation members. You may want to consider having a practice session with youth group members beforehand so that everyone is comfortable with wrapping skills. Have some empty sample boxes wrapped to give customers a idea of what the final product will look like.

You will need supplies like wrapping paper, bows, ribbons, gift tags, scissors, tape, cash box and float money.

You may also want to consider offering baked goods for sale and coffee/tea/hot chocolate for those waiting.

SWITCHING IT UP

• Senior Prom

Have the youth chaperone the seniors in your congregation for one night of dancing to the oldies.

You will need a fellowship hall or other space big enough to host dancing. You will also need music (DJ or band), decorations, refreshments, napkins, cups, etc.

Beforehand sell individual tickets to the seniors in your congregation (that way if they are single they don’t feel they need to find someone to invite along). Invite everyone to an evening of dancing where the older adults are the honoured guests and the youth are the chaperones (and the set-up crew, and the servers, and clean-up following).

Keeping in mind who your target audience is play music that would be familiar from their youth.

You may also want to consider providing “prom” pictures to the guests.

As a twist on the evening have the seniors bring a grandchild, niece/nephew, or other young person to the prom with them.

• An “Un-Event”

Sometimes folks are so burnt out from one more fundraiser that they would just like to stay home. So offer that to them. Have an ‘un-event’ fundraiser where people buy a ticket to support the cause but are “gifted” with an evening off, just to stay home. If people ask what they are doing that evening they can honestly reply “attending a fundraiser”. It might seem like you aren’t offering people anything – just taking donations and there’s nothing wrong with that either. But if you are feeling like you need to offer something put together a “care” package that people can take home with them like a bag of microwave popcorn, some hot-chocolate mixes or wrapped tea bags, a candle to light, a candy bar or other individual treat.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download