40+ Church Fundraising Ideas Your Congregation Will Love

Once upon a time, the Sunday collection basket and the small but heartfelt acts of charity from your congregants might’ve been enough to keep your ministry running smoothly. However, even the smallest churches will quickly find that it takes a bit more legwork and out-of-the-box thinking to effectively support your community and create a real impact in the world. 

From funding far-flung mission trips to maintaining local outreach programs for the homeless, there’s no shortage of work that needs to be done in the world, and there’s only so much money at your disposal to do it.

Fortunately, fundraising is one of the most effective and impactful ways that your church can raise money and support—and there are countless easy, profitable, and downright amazing church fundraising ideas for you to try out! To help you generate revenue for your congregation and become a champion of change in your community, we’ve compiled these top church fundraisers:

Big or small, all churches can find the right fundraising solution to fit their needs among our master-list of the best fundraising ideas for churches!

Our Top Church Fundraising Idea

Matching Gifts Fundraising for Churches

  • What is a matching gifts fundraiser?

    In a matching gifts fundraiser, churches help their congregants get charitable gifts matched by their employers. Many businesses, from large corporations to small companies, have a gift matching program in place in which they commit to match employee contributions. Some have restrictions that bar matching donations to churches, but you can help your congregants see their gifts matched to secular nonprofits that benefit causes you support.

  • Why is matching gifts our favorite?

    What makes matching gifts so great is that it can double the impact of your congregation’s giving power. Who wouldn’t want to see that? Often, individuals don’t know that their employer has a matching gifts program in place, and if your church doesn’t help them through the process, you could be leaving potential gifts on the table and missing out on this important church giving tool.

  • How do you get started?

    Your church can get started with this kind of fundraiser by investing in matching gifts software. With these tools, you can direct congregants to a matching gifts page branded to your church. On this page, individuals can look up whether or not their employer matches gifts and begin the gift matching process.

Learn More About Our Recommendation, Double the Donation

Our Favorite Church Fundraising Ideas

Church eCards

  • What are church eCards?

    Create digital cards for every holiday from Easter to Christmas. You can even design ones for year-round special occasions. Think about options like birthdays, get-well-soon wishes, or sympathy cards.

    Using an eCard service, you can create your designs and then host your eCards on your own website. From here, spread the word to your church members and share the URL where they can browse the collection. Then, your congregation can purchase their favorite eCards to send to their loved ones throughout the year, whether they want to celebrate a birthday or send condolences to a grieving family that lost a loved one.

  • Why do you need church eCards?

    Digital cards are a creative way to engage your congregation. Members will enjoy picking their favorite designs in exchange for a small donation to your church. Not to mention, they’re incredibly cost-effective since they eliminate the need for printing and postage costs.

    The best part about eCards is you’re not just limited to selling them. While a great church fundraising idea, eCards are an even better way to spread the word about your services. Create service invitations your church members can use to invite their friends and family.

  • How do you get started?

    Choose an affordable yet safe eCard service to get started. We recommend working with eCardWidget.

    They provide everything your church needs to design eCards for every occasion. Their easy-to-use design tools make it easy to bring your creative vision to life. They even have templates you can use to kickstart your designs, or you can start from scratch to make each card your own.

    They also have pricing packages to fit any budget, so you can scale your plan to fit your budget and congregation’s size.

Learn More About Our Recommendation, eCardWidget

Create eCards for your next church fundraiser.

Google Ad Grant

  • What is the Google Ad Grant?

    Attract more members of your community to your church with the power of the Google Ad Grant.

    The Google Ad Grant is a grant offered by Google that supplies awarded nonprofits and churches with $10,000 in advertising credits they can use to promote their website on Google Search results. Essentially, when someone types in a keyword relevant to your church, you spend your Google ad credits to make sure your ad is featured at the top of the search results page.

  • Why does your church need the Google Ad Grant?

    The Google Ad Grant helps get content from eligible organizations in front of more people, which means more donations for your church, higher attendance, and more awareness of the services your church provides your community.

    With the Google Ad Grant, you can promote any page on your church’s website. For example, you might want to drive more attention to your canned food drive, or maybe you want to look for volunteers to help with upcoming renovations.

  • How do you get started?

    The first step in applying for the Google Ad Grant is to do your research. Check if your church is eligible and what you need to do to get ready for submitting your ad grant application.

    Of course, managing every aspect of the Google Ad Grant, from your initial research to managing your ad campaigns, can be challenging, especially for busy church leaders with dozens of other responsibilities. That’s why we recommend looking into hiring a Google Ad Grants agency.

    Specifically, we recommend Getting Attention, an agency founded for the purpose of helping nonprofits and churches navigate the Google Ad Grant.

Learn More About Our Recommendation, Getting Attention

Explore Getting Attention's website to get started with the Google Ad Grant.

Church Fundraising Materials

  • What are church fundraising materials?

    Expert graphic design will level up your church fundraising products and marketing materials. You can work with a graphic designer to create a wide range of fundraising materials from t-shirts your congregants can purchase to yard signs you can place outside your church to spread the word about your fundraiser.

    The possibilities are endless for how you can develop an effective church fundraising campaign with the right promotional materials.

  • Why do you need fundraising materials?

    Getting creative with your church fundraising materials will excite your congregation about your fundraiser. Work with a graphic design company like Kwala that will bring your ideas to life.

    For example, you could create flyers that introduce people to your church, explain the initiative you’re fundraising for, and tell people how and where they can contribute.

    Since flyers are easily transportable, you can hand them out after services or send them to congregants in the mail. Additionally, they provide a way to condense information, and you can combine them with images for an ideal way to spread the word about your fundraiser.

    Backed by expert graphic design services, there are plenty of ways you can leverage fundraising materials to take your church fundraiser up a notch!

  • How do you get started?

    To get started with your church fundraising materials, you’ll want to work with a nonprofit graphic design service. We recommend Kwala because their graphic designers have years of experience delivering high-quality designs to mission-driven organizations.

    All you have to do is fill out Kwala’s onboarding form to be paired with a designer and begin requesting fundraising materials for your church’s next campaign.

Learn More About Our Recommendation, Kwala

Kwala will help you develop the ultimate church fundraising materials.

Fundraising Web Store

  • What is a fundraising web store?

    Fundraising web stores are online shops where organizations can conduct e-commerce by selling food, clothes, or a variety of other fundraising products. Thousands of organizations, from businesses to nonprofits to schools, leverage this kind of e-commerce to raise money for their cause, and this flexible fundraising tool can be leveraged just as easily by your church.

  • Why is web store fundraising our favorite?

    Fundraising web stores can be an incredibly easy and lucrative fundraising tool for your church. With the right service for your online shop, you can sell anything from cookie dough tubs to branded t-shirts—anything and everything your own particular congregation may be interested in. Better still, this fundraiser can be held at any time of the year, day and night, 24 hours a day with orders shipping out in a timely manner to your eager congregants and customers.

  • How do you get started?

    The first thing you’ll want to do is partner with the right web store provider or online fundraising product service. This will ensure that you can quickly and easily set up your professional online shop. On top of that, the right product fundraising service will provide the goods you’ll be selling for your church fundraiser—and ship them out, free of charge! Contact ABC Fundraising to request a custom web store for any number of their dozens of product fundraisers, as well as receive a digital info kit to learn how to easily set up your online store.

Learn More About Our Recommendation, ABC Fundraising

Check out the fundraising web store services offered by ABC Fundraising!

Church Fundraising Consulting

Church fundraising consulting can be a powerful church fundraising idea for your ministry!

Consulting is a way for churches and other religious organizations to receive strategic guidance on cultivating faith-filled generosity. The right professional consultant firm can effectively assess your church’s financial situation, design a campaign that will succeed at your church, and help you grow your revenue. 

That way, you can effectively fund new or growing facilities and ministries while also inspiring faithful charity!

Online Giving for Church Fundraising

Explore best practices for turning online giving into your next great church fundraising idea.

Online giving is an affordable and easy way for churches to collect offerings and tithes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. With an online giving page, your church can just as easily accept offerings on a Tuesday night as you could on a Sunday morning.

There are any number of online giving solutions for your church to look into. Some also provide mobile giving options! Just remember to keep your church’s budget in mind and properly promote your online giving page to your congregation!

Crowdfunding

Learn how crowdfunding can become your next big church fundraising idea!

Crowdfunding is a relatively quick and easy church fundraising idea that’s perfect for those who don’t currently have the resources to host an event.

All you need to get up and running is a crowdfunding platform. Once you pay the small processing and usage fee, you’ll make a fundraising page, set your goal, and encourage congregants to donate and share the page with family, friends, and anyone they think will chip in to support your church!

Text-to-Tithe Fundraising

Use a text-to-tithe church fundraiser to engage congregants and raise more.

Text-to-tithe (known as “text-to-give” outside the church fundraising world) is a revolutionary way to collect offerings and tithes during a church service. Instead of passing around a collection plate and accepting cash and check offerings, churches can implement text-to-tithe so that congregants can give right from their phones!

To get started with text-to-tithe, all you’ll need to do is choose a text-to-tithe provider, set things up, and instruct your congregation how to start giving.

Popcorn Sale for Church Fundraising

Explore how a popcorn fundraiser can become your next great church fundraising idea!

A popcorn fundraiser is a tried-and-true favorite fundraising idea for churches. After all, who doesn’t love snacking on this delicious treat? The best part about this fundraiser is that, with the right provider, you can take your fundraiser to the next level by offering unique flavors like dill pickle or strawberry shortcake. Your congregation will love stocking up on their familiar favorites and sampling new and unique flavors! 

The sale can either be completed online with a custom-built web store or in-person with pre-made catalog forms.

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising for Churches

Use a peer-to-peer church fundraiser to engage congregants and raise more.

Peer-to-peer fundraisers involve your church’s supporters setting up their own personal donation pages on your ministry’s behalf. Through social media, email, and a variety of other online channels, supporters share their fundraising pages with friends, family, coworkers, and fellow community members to ask for donations that will go directly to your church’s (online) coffers.

The key is to find the right peer-to-peer platform and keep your supporters informed and excited, since they’ll be the ones carrying the torch for this church fundraiser.

T-Shirts for Church Fundraising

T-shirt fundraisers can be a powerful church fundraising idea for your ministry!

With t-shirt sales, churches can design and produce special t-shirts for their congregation. These can be sold at fundraising events, at your church’s store, or online to eager supporters wanting to contribute to your congregation.

All you need to do is find the right t-shirt sale platform, set up your transaction page, and start promoting your t-shirts to your congregation!

Silent Auctions for Churches

Explore best practices for turning a silent auction into your next great church fundraising idea.

Silent auctions are a fun way for your congregants to get together to bid on unique items and experiences. A silent auction involves your church acquiring items and experiences from local businesses or individuals. At your event, guests can place bids on paper sheets or via mobile phones for a chance to take home an item.

The most important component of silent auction planning is obtaining the right items. Save money and ask local businesses or individuals to contribute items or experiences that your congregants would want to bid on!

Shoe Drive Fundraising for Churches

A shoe drive fundraiser can be a powerful church fundraising idea for your ministry!

A shoe drive is a low-cost, low-effort fundraiser where congregants donate gently-worn shoes to your church. Your church then sends these shoes off to a shoe drive facilitator, after which you receive a check in the mail for your contributions. This is a great fundraising idea for churches since everyone, even those who can’t give very much, typically has some shoes laying around.

Advertise your shoe drive in your church newsletter and remind congregants to donate their shoes every Sunday. Soon enough, you’ll have plenty of shoes to send off!

Use our top fundraising idea to raise money right now.

Easy Church Fundraising Ideas

Pancake Breakfast

Explore best practices for turning a pancake breakfast into your next great church fundraising idea.

A church pancake breakfast is a delicious fundraising idea that any member of your community will love. Simply select a location, such as a dining hall inside of your church, then set up a delectable menu for your attendees and start selling tickets!

You can prepare the food yourself or even partner with a local business to have the event catered.

Cookie Dough Fundraiser

Use a cookie dough church fundraiser to engage congregants and raise more.

Everyone loves cookies! Your church can capitalize on that craving by selling cookie dough to your congregants and members of your community.

You can sell cookie dough directly to your congregants, or they can sell the dough to their friends, family members, and coworkers.

Trivia Night

Explore how a trivia night fundraiser can help your church raise more!

Quiz your supporters on the Bible, history, or any number of topics with an effortless trivia night fundraiser. You can host the event on church property or partner with a local restaurant to host your church fundraiser. 

Attendees will pay a small entry fee to play, with winning teams receiving a special prize and bragging rights for their trivia victory.

Church Speed Dating Fundraiser

Set up speed dating at your next event to fundraise for your church.

Host a Christian speed dating event at your church for congregants looking for love. Your church can set up a simple potluck dinner or an elegant catered mixer for hopeful lovebirds.

Ticket sales to your event can be used to raise money for your congregation.

Easter Egg Hunt

Hold an Easter egg hunt to fundraise for your congregation.

Plan an Easter egg hunt at your church for a fun event that the whole family can enjoy. Hold a contest and award whoever finds the most eggs a special prize.

Your church can sell tickets to this event or seek sponsorship from a local business to raise money.

Engraved Bricks

Engraved bricks are a great way to raise money for your church.

Your church can sell engraved bricks to help fund your next construction project. Your congregants can write personal messages on their bricks, or you can engrave the donors’ names on them.

These bricks can then be used in your project and create lasting memories.

Virtual Church Fundraiser Ideas 

Holiday eCards

The church fundraising cards pictured represent an effective fundraising idea.

Reach out to your congregation every holiday with eCards. Use holiday eCards for Christmas, New Year’s, Easter, and any other holiday your church celebrates. Create template eCard designs for members to customize or let them choose from a select number of designs to buy and send electronically to friends and family.

Learn how to design and set up an eCard platform with eCardWidget.

Custom Church Website

Learn how a custom church website and donation page can help your church raise more!

Creating a sleek, customized church website is not only a great marketing tool and a platform for your congregants to get further involved in your programs, but it can also be an effective way to collect online donations. Be sure to make it as easy as possible to navigate to your online donation page.

You can even use a dedicated CMS, such as Morweb, to create an easily navigable and beautiful church website.

Virtual Concert

Explore how a virtual concert fundraiser can help your church raise more!

Rock out and raise money at the same time with a fun virtual concert! Ask local Christian artists to donate live streams of their performances to share with your fundraiser’s virtual attendees. Once donors pay for their virtual tickets, they will be sent a link to your concert’s stream. 

To make your virtual concert even more engaging, you can take song requests and invite the bands and artists to chat with your supporters.

Online Shopping Fundraiser

Explore how an online shopping fundraiser can help your church raise more!

Online shopping fundraisers are incredibly easy fundraising programs that allow your congregation to contribute to your church as they make their everyday purchases online. When they make a purchase through your online shopping program, a percentage of their sales total will be contributed to your church at no additional cost!

Simply partner with an online shopping program (like ShopRaise!), instruct your congregants to download the shopping app or browser extension, and start fundraising!

Online Bake Sale

Use a bake sale church fundraiser to engage congregants and raise more.

Bakes sales are a timeless fundraiser that can perform just as well (if not better!) when administered through an online format. You no longer need to set up a table and panhandle passersby to buy your sweet treats—just post pictures of your baked goods online, share links to your online store, and encourage your congregants to submit their orders!

You can deliver these orders yourself or partner with a bakery or product fundraising service to make and deliver the orders for you.

Virtual Painting Class

Explore best practices for turning a virtual painting class into your next great church fundraising idea.

Even members of your congregation who aren’t artistically inclined will enjoy the chance to paint, chat, and learn new skills through a convenient virtual format. Hire a local artist, an art teacher, or an artistic member of your church to lead the class. You can also sell small canvases and art supplies that people will use for the class.

Participants should pay a small class fee to attend, after which you will email out the live stream link to the course.

Virtual Book Club

Virtual book clubs can be a powerful church fundraising idea for your ministry!

Your congregation is sure to have its fair share of book worms, and a book club is a great way to engage these individuals while raising money for your church! Hold your book club on a recurring basis, charging its members a small annual fee to join. 

You can leave the book choices up to club members, or suggest novels or nonfiction books that relate to religion, inspirational stories, or other fitting subjects for your congregants.

Youth Group Fundraising Ideas

50/50 Raffles

Learn how a 50/50 raffle can become your next big church fundraising idea!

With a 50/50 raffle, you won’t have to worry about finding a cool item to present. The winner receives half of the funds raised instead of a traditional prize.

You can combine your raffle with another fundraiser to raise even more funds for a youth group field trip or community project.

Holiday Decoration Service

Holiday decoration services can be a powerful church fundraising idea for your ministry!

You can have young congregants create holiday decorations and provide decorating services. You can have volunteers set up and take down decorations for holidays throughout the year.

Congregants can pay a fee per holiday for teens to set up their decorations, and they can sell them new decorations as well!

Discount Card Fundraiser

Discount card fundraisers can be a powerful church fundraising idea for your ministry!

Discount cards are small cards that list valuable coupons, discounts, and deals that your congregants can use to save money at popular retailers, restaurants, and businesses in your area. You can sell these flashy discount cards for anywhere between $10 to $20.

To kick-off your discount card fundraiser, partner with a fundraising service that provides this product, like ABC Fundraising.

Candles Product Fundraiser

Learn how a candle product fundraiser can become your next big church fundraising idea!

Candles are the perfect year-round product for your church to sell. Look for high-quality candles that fall within your church’s price range.

Then, you can sell the candles directly to your congregants or have them sell them to their friends and family members. You can even set up an online storefront to sell the candles online.

Envelope Fundraiser

Learn how an envelope fundraiser can become your next big church fundraising idea!

In an envelope fundraiser, you will share colorful, numbered envelopes with youth group members and they (or their parents) will give whatever number is on the front. You will be surprised at what you can raise from this easy church fundraiser!

With 100 envelopes you can raise $5,050, and that number only goes up when you increase the number of envelopes you use.

Appreciation Grams

Explore best practices for turning appreciation grams into your next great church fundraising idea.

For an appreciation gram fundraiser, you can charge your congregants a fee to send a customized letter acknowledging friends.

You can send your notes with a piece of candy or another small gift for an additional price.

Family-Friendly Church Fundraiser Ideas

Movie Night

A movie night can be a powerful church fundraising idea for your ministry!

There’s nothing quite like curling up with a bowl of popcorn and watching a good movie with friends and family. Pick out a kid-friendly movie that family members of all ages can enjoy, promote your event across your church’s marketing channels, and charge admission fees for attendees to join in on the festivities.

Sell food, drinks, and other concessions to boost your revenue!

Carnival

Learn how a carnival fundraiser can become your next big church fundraising idea!

A community carnival may take a bit of foresight and investment, but when pulled off successfully, this can be an incredibly lucrative and engaging church fundraising event.

Set up booths full of games like ring toss or bobbing-for-apples and be sure to sell plenty of sweet treats, snacks, and drinks at your concession stands.

Family Picture Day

A family picture day can be a powerful church fundraising idea for your ministry!

Your congregation has no doubt been in touch with photographers to promote your ministry and its various events and programs. Enlist their help once again to host a picture day for your congregation’s families!

Participants will be charged a fee to have professional photos taken, which you can sell as high-quality photo prints or sell as designs on mugs, shirts, and other merchandise.

Field Day Fundraiser

Use a field day church fundraiser to engage congregants and raise more.

Encourage fitness and gather your entire community together with a field day fundraiser! Charge an entrance fee or sell tickets to your events and let families run wild as they play everything from potato sack races to tug-of-war.

Recruit as many volunteers as you can to help run your field day’s many activities!

Car Wash Fundraiser

A car wash can be a powerful church fundraising idea for your ministry!

Car wash fundraisers are an easy way to raise money for your church while also engaging your supporters and performing a valuable community service. Collect plenty of soap, sponges, and eager volunteers to wash cars. 

For a modest fee, community members can have their vehicles scrubbed while giving their money to a worthy cause.

Hike Day

Explore best practices for turning a hike day into your next great church fundraising idea.

Is your church within driving (or walking) distance of beautiful forests, rivers, or other natural wonders? If so, consider taking your church community out on a gorgeous hiking fundraiser! For a small fee, participants can be guided through nature and enjoy a day of fresh air.

To cover all of your bases, consider asking hike participants to sign a waiver before setting off on your outdoor adventure.

Water Balloon Fight

Use a water balloon church fundraiser to engage congregants and raise more.

Who doesn’t love a water balloon fight? Families from all over your community will be eager to join in on this fun church fundraiser! Charge a small entry fee, prepare as many water balloons as you can, and set teams against each other in a friendly water balloon war.

Be sure to market your fundraiser on social media with pictures of smiling faces from water balloon fights and water play days of years past!

Game Night

A game night can be a powerful church fundraising idea for your ministry!

Game nights are a flexible church fundraising idea that can be hosted on a small or large scale for churches of any size. For smaller ministries, all you have to do is break out some board games and card decks and invite your congregants to a night of friendly competition. 

You can offer a prize for the winner of each game tournament and sell snacks and merchandise to bring in a bit of extra cash from the fundraiser.

Church Read-a-Thon

Explore best practices for turning a church read-a-thon into your next great church fundraising idea.

Easy and effective, read-a-thons are one of the most popular fundraising ideas for schools—and they can easily be applied to your church to raise big funds!

Participants simply share their donation pages and bring in donations for your mission for every hour they read.

Mission Trip Fundraising Ideas

Swap Shop

A swap shop can be a powerful church fundraising idea for your ministry!

The swap shop fundraiser is similar to a garage sale, but instead of selling items for cash, your congregants can trade items and services.

Your church can charge an admission fee to the sale to raise money.

Walk-a-Thon

Learn how a walk-a-thon can become your next big church fundraising idea!

A walkathon can be a small affair for your church, or a larger-scale event that can take months to prepare. However you structure your event, the right tools will ensure that your church hosts a successful walkathon, engages its supporters, and raises some extra money.

Congregants can set up a P2P page and start fundraising!

Angel Festival

An angel festival can be a powerful church fundraising idea for your ministry!

An Angel Festival is similar to a carnival and usually occurs around Christmas. For the event, your artistic congregants can create angels out of any materials they want.

On the big day, you can showcase all the angels with a bowl beside each one so that congregants can place contributions to vote for their favorites.

Family Fun Day

A family fun day is a great way to get your congregation involved in raising funds for your cause. For your family fun day, you can set up games, food and drinks, and a donation table.

It’s an opportunity for your congregants to bond, welcome new members, and enjoy a few family-friendly games.

Make the Grade Fundraiser

A Make the Grade fundraiser can be a powerful church fundraising idea for your ministry!

If students in your congregation are looking for a way to pay for a mission trip, look no further than a Make the Grade fundraiser.

The students will set goals for the GPA or grades they will maintain throughout the semester, and if they meet their goals, their family or other members of the congregation will chip in for the travel costs.

Themed Youth Group Parties

A themed youth group party can be a powerful church fundraising idea for your ministry!

Holding a themed youth group party is a great way to get young people excited about your church! You can sell tickets to these events as a way to fundraise, or even auction off prizes to attendees.

The proceeds of these parties can go back into your congregation’s youth group program.

Use our top fundraising idea to raise money right now.

Additional Church Fundraising Resources

Church Fundraising Ideas

Learn more church fundraising ideas with Fundly's awesome list.

Looking for even more church fundraising ideas for your congregation’s next big fundraising event? We’ve got you covered.

Visit Fundly to learn more church fundraising ideas that your congregation can try out for your next big fundraiser!

Guide to Fundraising

Learn more about fundraising and requesting donations with this guide.

If you don’t have a background in fundraising, it can be difficult to ask people for money to help your church accomplish its mission.

We’ve got the tips and tricks you need. Check out Double the Donation’s guide to learn more about how you can fundraise effectively!

Church Fundraising Software

Consider these fundraising software options for your church.

You likely need to manage data about your congregants. What better way to stay organized than with membership management software?

We’ve selected our top picks for church membership management software. Take a look at our list!

Do you have incredible nonprofit software or services that deserve to be featured on Double the Donation?

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