9 Kid-Friendly Fundraisers For Churches Helping Nonprofits
To enhance its community outreach and make a greater impact, your church may support local nonprofit organizations. Together, your faith-based and charitable missions can help change lives in the community.
As a children’s ministry leader, you know the importance of engaging families, including your youngest churchgoers, in the church’s mission to reach the community. Kid-friendly fundraisers not only teach valuable lessons to children in your church, but they can also boost your efforts to support a nonprofit by getting entire families involved.
The right fundraising idea can raise much-needed support and put the “fun” back in “fundraising,” which is why we created this list! Here are 10 kid-friendly fundraising ideas that will help children understand their role in God’s kingdom as they empower nonprofits to help others.
1. Quiz show
According to Wonder Ink, increased biblical literacy can help kids recognize the Bible as the source of truth, whether they’re reading yet or not. Support children’s understanding of Scripture by testing their knowledge through a fun competition!
Host a “quiz show” where you challenge kids’ knowledge of the Bible. Have them compete to:
- Locate a Bible verse first
- Answer a question about a Bible passage
- Recite a Bible verse
To reinforce biblical lessons, use Scripture from your children’s ministry program as the material for the quiz show. When you charge a small entry fee and sell tickets to those attending, you’ll further kids’ learning and raise money for nonprofit causes.
If you want to involve even more participants, turn your quiz show into a trivia game to test kids on their knowledge of your children’s ministry curriculum content. Create teams and prepare a list of trivia questions from your curriculum’s lessons and key takeaways.
Kids will study the curriculum and memorize Scripture to prepare for the competition. To incentivize participation, offer a prize to the winning team. For example, your church might match the amount raised for the nonprofit in honor of the winning team.
2. Talent show
The children in your church have active imaginations and big dreams. Give them a chance to be in the spotlight with a talent show!
To raise funds for this event, charge a small entry fee for participants and sell tickets for those attending. Prepare a short introduction to the show to explain the purpose of the fundraiser and how kids are helping those in need by performing.
3. Product fundraiser
Kids will get especially excited about fundraising when they see tangible results in return for their contribution. Raise donations by selling:
- Food items: Tasty snacks like cookie dough and popcorn are enticing treats that kids can’t refuse! Keep them in the building or room where your children’s program meets so that they’re always available for purchase.
- Branded merchandise: Items branded to your children’s ministry will likely be top sellers because kids and their parents will be eager to represent their involvement in your children’s program by sporting your merch.
- Discount cards: Host a discount card fundraiser by selling coupons for goods or services from preferred merchants. These can help parents get discounts on family meals, school supplies, or other items or services.
In addition to selling products to people in your church, you can also encourage older kids to do the selling. Giving this responsibility helps kids become more directly involved in your church’s impact on nonprofit causes.
4. Bake sale
Invite kids and their families to bake tasty treats and sell them at a church-wide bake sale! This fun activity can encourage relationship-building between families as they spend time together baking and selling their baked goods. You’ll also engage the community if you choose to sell outside of your congregation, providing opportunities to minister to others and invite newcomers to your church.
Plus, this fundraiser maximizes the amount your church raises for nonprofits since parents and kids will donate their baked goods to your sale. That way, every dollar raised goes directly to nonprofits and their beneficiaries!
5. A-thon fundraiser
A-thon fundraisers collect donations for an activity completed by participants. When kids sign up for this challenge, their loved ones will donate based on the quantity of the activity completed. For example, a-thon activities often include:
- Walking
- Dancing
- Reading
- Baking
Set an appropriate goal for each activity to make it achievable for kids. For example, collect donations for each page read in a read-a-thon to make the goal more achievable for early readers.
6. Campaign website
As children’s use of digital devices and social media increases, taking your fundraising efforts online is an engaging way for your church to raise nonprofit support. Older kids will enjoy helping you create a campaign page, through which your church can collect donations on behalf of the nonprofit.
Collect ideas from kids in your children’s program for the page’s design, layout, and interactive elements. While considering their input, remember to include the essential elements of a campaign website:
- Social media sharing icons
- Volunteer sign-up form
- Your church’s branding
- Explanation of mission and campaign
- Donation form
- Fundraising thermometer
After publishing the page, share the link with parents and other adult church members so they can donate and share the page with their friends. Provide fundraising updates with the kids in your children’s program and be sure to explain that their page design is helping to support an important cause.
7. Scavenger hunt
Create a scavenger hunt for your church’s kids with an enticing prize at the end. You can raise donations through a small entry fee for participating and by selling refreshments to parents as they wait.
You can make each clue a Bible verse reference that leads kids to the next one. For example, the first clue might be Matthew 6:19. When kids find the verse in their Bibles and read, “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven,” they’ll be prompted to look for the next clue on the keys of the worship team’s piano.
8. Book club
While book clubs are often free, your church can turn this into a kid-friendly fundraiser by selling children’s books to participants. You can also sell candy and snacks during the book club’s meeting times or t-shirts displaying the book club’s name.
As the children’s ministry leader, you may choose to lead the club yourself or recruit ministry volunteers to lead it for you. Either way, have members of the club explore books that study Scripture or even correlate with lessons from your children’s curriculum.
For example, if kids are currently learning about how to Holy Spirit leads them, you could have the book club read The Go-and-Tell Storybook, which explores 30 biblical stories of the Holy Spirit coming. This will help your group remain focused on biblical topics while still raising support for nonprofit causes!
9. Parents’ night out
Give parents a break by allowing them to take a night for themselves. Recruit children’s ministry volunteers to host games and fun at the church, then charge a small fee for parents who drop their kids off.
Volunteers may spend the evening doing a service project for your nonprofit partner with the kids who are dropped off. Discuss how nonprofit support ties into your church’s mission and the calling as Christians to “love your neighbor.”
More fundraising ideas can be found on resources like BestFundraisingIdeas, which offers a comprehensive list of unique activities and events. No matter which fundraiser you choose to host, remember to emphasize the importance of kids’ involvement. Show your appreciation and explain how they’re helping others by participating.
Also, consider working with nonprofits that serve children. That way, the kids in your children’s program will feel more connected to the beneficiaries of their donations and resonate more with the cause.
