Missions 101 – Fundraising
Help! 7 Steps to Effective Fundraising
By Jason Pfingsten
So you’ve taken the bold step of signing up your group for a foreign mission trip. Congratulations! People’s perspectives on their lives will be changed forever and God will be glorified. It’s going to be exciting!
Now for the hard part, coming up with a plan to make the trip affordable for everyone without devoting the next year to becoming a fundraising expert. We’re going to break this down into seven steps that will help you be more efficient in your fundraising effort and allow you to keep your sanity at the same time.
- Recruit a Team
Don’t do this alone. Find a few key leaders with boundless energy and ideas who would be willing to help you develop a fundraising plan and lead a few big fundraisers. Maybe they each lead one. Maybe they work in pairs on a couple fundraisers. Give them incentive to go on the trip for half price or to let their son/daughter go at a discount as a reward for all their hard work.
Come up with a list of four or five potential people for your team. Invite them each individually to a meeting you’ll either host at your home or just have after church. Cast a vision for why the trip is important and get their commitment and ideas. Line up a second meeting in a couple weeks after those interested have all researched ideas. Lead this group of great people and their ideas to your collective fundraising goal.
- Set Goals
Take some time to put pencil to paper and set some financial goals for the trip. How much is the cost of the trip? How much is the airfare? What are the additional ministry and in-country costs? Are there additional travel costs? An extra charge for recreation?
Come up with a grand total per person. Estimate the number of people attending (be liberal with this—we want lots of people to attend) and add in a few trips that are complimentary for chaperones or leaders. Multiply by the per-trip cost and you’ll have an estimated grand total of the overall price of the trip.
Next take a look at the dates in which payment is due to the airlines and missions organization. Then set up a monthly plan of how much money will be needed. Plan the appropriate fundraisers to match the timing of when payments are due and give yourself a buffer in case the fundraisers fall a little short of your goals.
- Fundraising Target
Consider different target markets for your fundraisers: think outside the church or school. One fundraiser could target family members, another church members, another strangers or people from your neighborhood, and so on.
- Group Bonding
Require each participant to be a part of a certain number of fundraisers. No matter each person’s financial situation (most teams have some who could just go ahead and write a check for their contribution), it’s important to have everyone contributing and bonding over the fundraising for the trip. It evens the financial playing field. Friendships can be made and relationships developed during fundraising which will be of great benefit on the trip itself.
- Big Idea
It makes sense, but so many smart, caring people don’t do it. What is it? Going big! No small fundraisers. Let’s make the most of everyone’s time and energy. Good-hearted people will suggest that bake sales and car washes are the way to go. No! Think bigger … much bigger. If you limit your fundraisers to three to four and raise a substantial amount of money with each one you’ll save so much time and it won’t seem so overwhelming to do the following year when you decide to go on another trip. Here’s a few ideas of big fundraisers to get your creative juices flowing.
Prayer and Support Letters: Have each person come up with a list of 50 people from outside the church who they will write a letter to asking for prayer and financial support. Provide pre-stamped envelopes and have everyone bring their addresses to a meeting. Have a pizza party and address writing night. This fundraiser alone could have a goal of 50-75% of the total needed. (Some groups do this electronically with www.gofundme.com or other web-based alternatives.)
Big Donors: Almost every church or school has a few people who are well-off but aren’t able to travel as part of a mission team. Many of these people would be more than happy to contribute if asked … so ask them. Invite them out for coffee and cast a vision for how the trip will impact lives both at home and abroad. Ask them to be a part of the trip financially. Be bold, ask for a sizable contribution from them. You might use a part of their contributions to subsidize the trip of less-well-off families or those going with more than one person per household.
Church-wide Auction: Host a giant church-wide auction with hundreds of donated items. Have each participant contribute five to ten items including unique and high-valued donations like hotel stays, sports tickets, collectibles, baskets of themed items, restaurant gift cards, and hundreds of other creative ideas.
Coupon Cards: Design a card the size of a credit card and go to 12-15 local stores or companies and get them to give a discount on their products or services in exchange for your group adding their information and offer on the card. Have the card professionally designed, laminated, and printed. Charge $20 per card and give each participant 10-15 to sell. It’ll be $200-$300 of pure profit from neighbors and coworkers. It’s a chance to tell them about the trip and invite them to the celebration meal after the trip as well as selling them a coupon card from which they will benefit.
There are so many great fundraising ideas available—check out the links below for a few more solid resources. Remember though, choose a few big ones and stick to them alone. You can find hundreds of other good ideas online, so make sure to spend some time googling to find big ideas which fit your group.
http://groupmissiontrips.com/media/23782/gmt_fundraising_ebook.pdf
https://www.gofundme.com/Missions-Faith-Church/
- Celebration Meal
Before you leave on your mission trip, set up a date and time for a celebration meal after your trip. Include a menu of food you experienced on the trip, a trip video, testimonies, and have the mission trip participants serve the guests. Keep it relatively short and moving along. Do it well and make it fun. Invite everyone who prayed for the trip, participant’s family members, and everyone who donated to the trip.
As you celebrate a successful trip for all involved, sow the seeds for next year’s trip. Maybe some who attend the celebration will be moved to go next year.
- Pray
Every dollar for the trip, every ounce of energy, and every creative idea for fundraising comes from God. So before beginning the fundraising journey and every step along the way, ask God for his grace and hand upon your plans. May He guide the process and may His provisions meet your needs and goals.
Jason Pfingsten is the founder and CEO of Thirst Missions. During his decades in ministry he has led many groups oversees and as a result has led many fundraising campaigns. He’s somehow survived to tell the stories and give advice from his experiences.
