Peer-to-peer fundraisers
Most fundraisers require churches to communicate directly with their audience through the church’s communication channels. But what if your church could get your members to promote your campaign to their friends and families? Peer-to-peer fundraising does just that, making it one of the best fundraising ideas on social media to use.
Asking your supporters to share your fundraiser on their social media pages is one of the best church fundraisers because it offers:
- Emotional appeal—Each supporter can explain what your fundraiser means to them.
- Amplified reach—Sharing your charity event on multiple social media channels reaches far more people,
- Increased donations—When a friend or family member promotes a fundraiser, people are more likely to donate to that cause.
Provide your supporters with the following items in order for them to promote your fundraiser: best church fundraisers
- A brief description of your fundraiser with a compelling call-to-action
- Links to your fundraiser webpage
- Shareable images, graphics, and videos
While peer-to-peer fundraising works great for specific campaigns, it’s also a practice that should be used to help promote every church fundraiser. The ability to reach more followers and have them advocate for your cause makes this peer-to-peer approach one of the most popular virtual fundraising ideas!
Live stream fundraisers
If your church is participating in a charitable event on the ground, turn it into a virtual fundraising event by live streaming the occasion! This engages your donors and allows them to see your team at work. By asking your supporters to donate while watching the live stream, you’re offering an opportunity for them to memorably engage with your event and feel part of something bigger.
Your supporters will enjoy asking questions and connecting just as they would if they were present in person. Using a powerful live streaming platform like Subsplash Live allows you to live stream your event simultaneously on your church’s website, mobile app, Facebook, and YouTube channels, reaching the largest audience possible.
Local business partnerships
Partnering with local businesses is another way to fundraise that benefits more than just your own cause. By teaming up with your campaign, your business partner can improve their public image, receive tax deductions, and increase their sales, while your fundraiser gains more exposure, expands its donor base, and receives more donations.
Because businesses hear a lot of company fundraiser ideas, make yours unique and memorable. Start by creating a compelling story about your cause. Explain your church’s history and impact on the community.
Next, decide if you want the business to support your fundraising efforts as a corporate sponsor or through “cause marketing.” Corporate sponsorship is simply receiving money directly from the business: Their donation is tax deductible, and the business primarily benefits from increased exposure and brand awareness.
On the other hand, the business can directly promote and collect funds for your campaign—this is cause marketing. For example, grocery stores engage in cause marketing when they ask customers at checkout if they want to donate a dollar to a charity.
Whether you choose one or both of these church fundraising strategies, partnering with local businesses can be incredibly effective, and it’s a win-win for your church as well as your business partner!
Social media takeover
A social media takeover is simply asking a business, individual sponsor, or social media influencer to donate their social media “airtime” for a few hours, a day, or even up to a whole week. This allows your church to “take over” and post content championing your fundraiser, pointing people to your donation page.
You can also ask the influencer or company to promote your fundraiser on their social media channels for you. Either way, you’ll reach a broader audience than you would just on your own!
Sell merchandise online
People love to buy merchandise that supports a cause they believe in. Why not try raising money for your ministry by selling church-branded merchandise online? If you’re using a top donations solution for churches—like Subsplash Giving—you’ll be able to process payments for merchandise within the very same platform!
Start by getting your church’s logo, slogan, or fundraiser name printed on t-shirts, water bottles, coffee mugs, lanyards, tote bags, and other popular products. As an additional bonus, people who wear or use your church-branded merchandise also help promote your church, increasing name recognition and raising awareness for your fundraisers!
Mission trip fundraising ideas
“Give it up” campaign
Because it is also a very inexpensive fundraising idea, it remains a favorite for churches and nonprofits alike. Here’s how it works: Ask your supporters if they’ll join your cause by giving up a small, recurring expense—like their daily cup of coffee, eating out at restaurants, going out to a movie, or any of their other favorite activities. Instead, they pledge to donate the money usually spent on these things to your fundraiser! Most of these campaigns last anywhere from one week to one month.
When it comes to “Give it up” campaigns, it’s always a good idea to encourage participants to share the results of their efforts on social media! This gives them the opportunity to explain why they’re participating and challenge their friends to do the same. A lot of people making small sacrifices together can create a big impact!
Online donation forms
Many churches love telling stories about their mission trips on their websites, but it’s not always clear how to make a donation to support those trips. Adding a donation form to your missions page is a great way to raise funds for mission trips and special projects.
Be sure to include the dates of upcoming trips, along with photos and videos of past trips. Share stories of the impact your mission teams have made on those communities. Don’t forget to set up a specific fund within your online giving for supporting upcoming missions!
Online garage sales
If you’re looking for a simple way to raise funds for your next mission trip, ask your missions team to collect items from their friends, neighbors, and family members to be donated and sold at a virtual garage sale fundraiser.
They can post the items for sale on their favorite social media sites and collect the money to fund their trip. If someone prefers to make a tax-deductible donation, they can do that on your church’s website. Either way, it’s a fun and easy way to collect funds for your next mission trip!
Virtual dinner parties
Creating an online dinner party as a fundraiser is a great way to enjoy some good food while showcasing your mission trips and asking for donations. Line up your hosts, guest speakers (such as missionaries and previous mission trip participants), keynote speakers, worship teams, and any other entertainment. Be sure to do a practice run of your event, ensuring everyone knows when they’re presenting.
When making your giving appeal, you can also use Subsplash Live to create a custom interaction to prompt the virtual dinner attendees to give right within your app or on your website in real time—all without having to leave your live streaming experience!
Video email fundraiser campaigns
Combining your church’s fundraising emails with videos will increase interaction with your donors. In fact, marketing experts have found that including a video thumbnail in an email can increase click-through rates by up to 40%!
Here are some tips to making a video email campaign for mission trips:
- Get their attention: Use the word “video” in your subject line.
- Be consistent: Plan on sending one email per week for four to seven weeks.
- Personalize the content: Use the donor’s first name in your email greeting.
- Keep it short and sweet: The longer a video is, the less people will watch it. So, try to keep your videos to under a couple of minutes.
- Be professional: Be sure that your email video looks and sounds good.
- Share stories: People are more engaged when they relate to your mission on a personal or emotional level.
- Embed your video: Most popular email services allow you to embed videos right within your emails. This is a great way to engage your readers!
- Be clear: Let your readers know exactly what you expect them to do and how they can donate to support your cause.