Fundraising for Children’s Ministry

Fundraising for children’s ministry is a daunting task and one most children’s pastors dread. But it is a fact of life in most churches. Here’s some ideas for fundraising.

Car Wash: Car Wash fundraisers have been around since the car was invented. Before that, they probably had buggy washes. Here’s a few ideas to make your car wash successful.

Print out pre-wash certificates and sell them. These certificates guarantee the owner a car wash on the day of the event. Have everyone in your congregation buy and sell them. You might even want to discount the price for buying these before the event. You could charge $10 for a car wash and $5 for a pre-wash certificate. The beauty of this is people will go ahead and buy the certificates even if they have no intention of using them.

Find a busy place. Ask the local fast-food place at the mall or plaza if you can use their facilities for the event.

Have a couple of teens hold signs with balloons by the roadside. The more boisterous the teens are, the better.

Combine your carwash with a bake sale or a lemonade stand.

Have a rain date for the car wash.

Bake Sales: Bake sales have always worked well in a church setting. Here’s some ideas to make them better.

Don’t charge. Sell the items for donation only. If you have generous people in your congregation, you might end up selling a cupcake for $10 or a cookie for $5.

Auction pies and cakes. Instead of having a typical bake sale, have everyone bake pies and cakes and auction them off.

Art Sales: Have the children make art items such as pictures, crafts, or bookmarks and auction them off. You’d be surprised what a grandmother would pay for a picture her granddaughter drew.

Children’s Ministry Sponsors: Have adults in your congregation commit to giving a certain amount each month to the children’s ministry. Start the year off with a banquet honoring the givers. You could also combine this with prayer sponsors. Read more about prayer sponsors here.

Candy Bars: Sell candy bars at the grocery store or a local meeting place. Some restaurants will even permit you to put a candy bar fundraising display at their check out counter.

Be creative. You may come up with something that will be a goldmine for your church. What fundraisers have worked for you? Leave a comment.

Prayer Sponsors For Children

School has started, and children are entering a spiritual war zone. They need prayer. That’s why having a prayer sponsor for each child in your ministry is essential. Here’s a few ideas on how to have prayer sponsors.

Advertise in the congregation. Let the members of the congregation know that they are committing not only to praying for a child every day, but to connecting with that child at least once a month. They should also send the child a birthday card and thinking of you postcards occasionally. Let the sponsors know they are committing to this for one year.

Launch the Program with a Special Day. You could have a special banquet where the prayer sponsors will sit with the children they’re praying for. Or you could have a special children’s anointing service and have each prayer sponsor pray for his or her child. Free plans for a children’s anointing service can be downloaded at this link.

Give Information. Prayer sponsors should be given information about the child they are praying for including age, grade, school, parent’s names, address, email, and phone number.

Have a list of suggestions on what to pray for. You could put these suggestions on a bookmark they can place in their Bibles. Make the bookmarks out of card stock paper. Here’s a list you could use.

  • School
  • Family
  • Health
  • Activities
  • Relationship with God

An Opportunity to Give. You can also use this as a way to raise funds for children’s ministry. Give the sponsors enough offering envelopes for the year and suggest they give a certain amount of money to the children’s ministry once a month in the name of the child they are sponsoring. If there are any trips or special events that cost money, the money they give will go toward the child they’re sponsoring.

Invite prayer sponsors to children’s ministry events, and let them know what’s going on in children’s ministry in your church.

The prayer sponsor program can be one of the most effective programs in your children’s ministry. Prayer changes things.