How to Fund Raise for a Mission Trip

If you are planning a mission trip to another destination, you are off on an exciting and life-changing journey! But after the initial decision to go on a mission trip, you are probably starting to wonder how to pay for it. Fortunately, fundraising for a mission trip is not as challenging as you might think.This article will give you several ideas about how to go about raising money for your mission trip.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A computer
• Friend and family support
• Church support

Fundraising Ideas for Mission Trips

1. Write letters requesting support. Your first step should be to write letters asking for support. You might be surprised to learn how excited people will be to be a small part of supporting your mission support if you just ask. Ask for financial as well as prayer support.

2. Hold a community car wash. Ask church members to pitch in and organize a community car wash. You can either charge a set rate or ask for donations only. You might even find a local business that is willing for lend their parking lot and the water hoses to help support your car wash.

3. Sell raffle tickets. With a portion of the proceeds, you can purchase the prize and the remaining proceeds can go to your mission trip. Don't forget to ask around; you might find a local business or individual that is willing to donate the prize so that a full 100% of the proceeds can go toward funding the mission trip.

4. Have a bake sale. A community bake sale is a great way to raise funds and get others involved at the same time. Ask people for donations of baked goods and sell them at your church or in front of a local business with permission.

5. Hold a spaghetti dinner for the community at your church. You can ask church members to donate the food or pay for the food from dinner proceeds. Spaghetti is an easy meal to make in large quantities and spaghetti dinners are very popular. You can either set a price for the meal or you can simply ask for donations, as suggested in Step 4.

6. Organize a rummage sale. Clean out your old closets and offer to help other church members clean out their's in exchange for the donation of goods to sell. Rummage sales are popular community events and can often raise a large amount of money in a short period of time.

7. Offer up your professional services. If you have a special talent for organization, cleaning, making gift baskets, cooking, sewing, or something else, offer your services to church members in exchange for donations. You will be surprised at how you can help people in your own community in addition to preparing for your mission trip.

8. Set up a website. Set up a website with details about the country or location in which you will be serving. People love to learn about the missions they are going to financially support. You can set up a PayPal link on your website to make it easier for people to donate online. Don't forget to upload pictures of your mission trip on the site when you return!

Tips & Warnings

• If you receive more financial donations than you need for your mission trip, donate the overage to the mission in which you are assisting. For example, if you are going to help build an orphanage, donate remaining funds to the future operation of the orphanage.
• Provide financial accountability to your donors. Let them know how the money they donated was spent and let them know that overage will be donated to the long-term missions in the area.

[LilacGirl]

on 7/20/2008 This is a wonderful article with clear, detailed, and very helpful information on how to raise money for a mission trip.