Fundraising ideas that worked for us!

When you select a charity to raise money for be sure to do your research. Charity Navigator, a group that evaluates different organizations is a good place to start. While all charities have some operating expenses, you want to make sure that a good portion of donated dollars goes to the needy.

If you start raising money for a cause of your own you will have some start up expenses.

The first year of 4:4 No More! the church budget provided for our limited expenses (t-shirts, signs, printing). As the ministry has grown we have begun to seek corporate sponsors to pay for those things so that every dollar we raise at our events goes directly to providing water for the needy.

Once you commit to a cause let your imagination run wild. What comes to mind when you think of your cause?

For water: faucets, wells, buckets, water drops, pumps, waterfalls and on and on. Our color is... blue.

If you are raising money for people in China, think of all things Chinese: Take out boxes, chopsticks, panda bears, chinese lanterns, bamboo... Color? Red

Some topics are easier than others, but if you think of all the images that you can associate with your cause, it makes it easier to select a few to use for the next step - marketing!

You've committed to a cause, have selected a few images - now what? Now is the time for marketing.

Here is what we did for our water ministry. We selected a few images (water drop, bucket, faucets) and along with our catchy name, 4:4 No More! - Water for the Poor (inspired by Lamentations 4:4) we were ready. We had blue shirts printed with our name and logo, had signs made, got a bucket for donations and went to work.

We raise money to provide water for the poor, so we decided to start by selling water during the summer under the hot Georgia sun. We contacted the city where a local farmers market is set up every Saturday morning and asked if we could come sell water for our cause. Initially (because they only have local growers sell fruits and vegetables) they said no. The city also has free summertime concerts at the courthouse so I asked if we could sell water there. He said they don't usually have vendors but he would check. When I contacted him later he said we could sell our water at the concerts and at the farmers market!

Lessons learned:

• Don't give up or get discouraged.


• If you are turned down, enlist their help with where else to turn.


• Once you've had an event mention it when you campaign for your next one. "We sold water last summer at the concerts and farmers markets, would we be able to sell water at your event?"

We had a similar booth at a fall festival. We didn't sell water but had a non-profit booth. We had water drops cut out of paper that people could write their names on. We taped these to the tent at the festival. It was a visual reminder of how every dollar counts. After the event we taped the drops to a larger paper water drop. We had several of these that we hung up at the church until our first goal was reached. At the festival we also had free face painting and water applied tattoos for the kids. For a small church, the festival was a really great way for us to get out into the community. We talked about the needy, our church and Christ, all in a non-threatening atmosphere.

Here are some other things we have done or are planning to do:

Since our project was to drill a well in Haiti our church had a Manje Midi - that's Haitian Creole for "mid-day meal". Several of us prepared Haitian chicken, rice & black beans, fruit and Haitian butter cake. We had water to drink. We asked members to donate whatever they would spend for lunch after church. Naturally people were generous because it was for a fund raiser (and tax deductable!). We had about 50 people and raised over $600.

Valentines Day we planned an event to have wedding vows renewed. We planned it at a local bridal shop and received donations from the merchants near the shop. Some of the donations were jewelry, flowers, massages, candy, decorator consultations, theatre tickets and much more!

As it turned out we raised far more money by telling people about our ministry and selling the gift baskets - the renewal ceremony became secondary. Perhaps it was because it was cold or that Valentines Day was on a weeknight, but people were more than willing to purchase the lovely gifts and several made donations to our ministry.

We also had a church wide yard sale and neighborhood carnival. Members worked tables for the sale and there was a moonwalk, carnival games, clowns and prizes for the kids. We had food and loads of fun. We raised $1,600 - it would have been more if it wasn't threatening rain all day. We had a charity pickup scheduled - they took everything that hadn't sold and it made clean up a breeze!

The main thing is to think big. You don't have to sell candy door to door to raise money. You can get out, meet people and have fun too!