Need fundraising ideas for your next mission trip?

By Shannon Baker, BCM/D National Correspondent 

So... you are planning your next mission trip, but you’re finding your wallet a little empty? Consider these ideas for raising funds for your gospel adventure:

Matthew Gregory, director of children and youth at First Church, Knoxville, Md., holds a yearly spaghetti dinner and silent auction to fund their World Changers mission trips. The mission group contacts local businesses and retailers for donations for their auction and the congregation donates all the food for the dinner.

“Our youth all dress in black pants and white shirts and serve everyone and cater to their needs,” explained Gregory, who dresses in a tuxedo and greets all the guests. “Our attendance usually averages from 200-260 people. We usually raise between $4,000- $5,000.” 

Grace Schofield, of First Church, Frederick, Md., said her church holds a carnival, complete with a rock-climbing wall, snow cones, dunking tank, and inflatable games, such as a bungee run and gladiator joust, to raise support. 

The church also participates in community festivals in Frederick, where they recently set up a dunking tank in which mayoral candidates were targeted. They also made necklaces and handed out flyers that requested donations for their trip to Romania.

Joanne Gardner, regional direc-tor and mission coordinator for Hope of Life, a partner organization to NorthStar Community Church in Monrovia, Md., believes that sponsor letters are still a very important and key element to fundraising.

“We encourage our church team to get these out as soon as possible,” she said.  “However, we do require that people send their sponsor letters to people outside the church ... so that the church doesn't get overwhelmed with individuals sending them multiple letters and also so that we can then approach the church directly if we need funds for the special project we have chosen (like building a church or rooms for orphans, etc.).” 

Gardner says that the sponsor letters give the team members an opportunity to share with others in their circle of influence – potentially those who are not churched – what God is doing in their lives and why they feel called to participate on this mission trip.

“We look for fundraising events that can get us out in the community and have participation by others,” she said, explaining that they have recycled electronic equipment (cell phones, PDAs, DVDs, video games, etc.), held community yard sales, and participated with local restaurants.

“We held yard sales for several years and became known as ‘the church that raises money for Guatemala,’” Gardner said. “The event was so successful from the community's viewpoint, that people would call us to see when we were scheduled to do another one.”

Leftover items are then donated to other mission organizations in West Virginia and Appalachia. 

One BBQ fundraiser had to be booked almost a year in advance. Since the food was all donated, they were able to have all the proceeds go to the team. The event was held at their church, where team members served as the waiters/waitresses. 

“This one event brought in enough money to cover the cost of their entire mission trip!” Gardner shared.

“Our church has done jewelry sales (with donated jewelry) prior to Mother's Day, graduation and Christmas,” she said. “It could be a mother's night out with a popcorn and movie night for the children or lawn raking and cleanup in the fall.” 

For more fundraising ideas, visit online at www.fundraising-ideas.org.