How to Create an 11 X 14 Church Calendar
If bake sales are constant reminders that members of the congregation could stand to loose a few pounds, and the last rummage sale didn't make enough cash to justify holding another one, turn to the fundraiser churches across the land repeat annually: creating your own church calendar. Personalize and embellish your project so it is unique, making it so attractive that sales go through the roof and head---well, heavenward.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Gather a group of volunteers to serve on the church calendar committee no later than September 1 so the church can market it as a Christmas gift. Include congregants with skills in the graphic arts, photography, marketing, fundraising and folks willing to do the grunt work required to shepherd the project from idea to print. Set a reasonable number of goals and objectives for calendar sales.
-
2
Determine calendar content by thinking out of the box. Ask congregants to submit photos of their kids, raise funds by having families bid for the cover photo, sell birthday and anniversary squares for a nominal amount of money and request a year's worth of activities for the coming year. This way purchasers will have a comprehensive listing of events the church has scheduled for the year ahead.
-
-
3
Synthesize all of the data obtained, and have your designer mock up an 11-by-14-inch calendar so the committee can evaluate the extent to which the pages have been filled with images, notices, birth dates and other church and congregant information. Run the mock-up by church officials---pastor, board or other entities making decisions about fundraising projects. Begin taking calendar orders from congregants.
-
4
Turn the approved calendar project over to the graphic artist to begin the layout phase of the project using his or her design software program of choice (see links for templates and directions below). Give the designer incremental deadlines so the committee can keep tabs on the progress of the cover and monthly pages for your 11-by-14-inch calendar.
-
5
Hold a proofing meeting once the layout is complete. Verify all dates, names, events, photo captions and other data. Double-check spelling and sleuth out errors that may have slipped through the cracks.
-
6
Estimate the number of calendars you'll order by counting preorders and adding at least one copy per church family to the total. Begin getting bids from printers to output, bind and shrink-wrap the calendar run. Expect the per-calendar price to go down as the number of calendars in your order goes up.
-
7
Ask the designer to be on hand when the 11-by-14-inch church calendar goes to press to make certain colors and registration look perfect as initial pages come off the press. Notify the entire church family about the availability of the calendars by email or phone, and start selling them the following Sunday when your pastor will likely find a full house when he or she begins that week's sermon.
-
1
