Fundraising ideas

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jazzy0710

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Hello everyone,

I apologize if I’m posting this in the wrong spot. Feel free to move it if need be.

My parish is in real financial hardship. There are many repairs that need to be done around the church; the most pricey being the roof. It leaks and there are shingles falling off.

We have resorted to fundraising as much as we can but need see ideas. What has worked for your parishes?
 
jazzy0710 said:
Hello everyone,

I apologize if I’m posting this in the wrong spot. Feel free to move it if need be.

My parish is in real financial hardship. There are many repairs that need to be done around the church; the most pricey being the roof. It leaks and there are shingles falling off.

We have resorted to fundraising as much as we can but need see ideas. What has worked for your parishes?
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Our biggest money makers are the Lenten Fish fry and the Summer Fest.
 
Our parish often does a nice brunch after morning Masses: pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, coffee, fruit juice. I don’t know how well it’s doing financially, but they keep doing them and we keep going.
 
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people, typically via the internet.
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Since we are looking into this ourselves, I can’t say this has worked for my parish. More or less, you explain why you need funds using one of the various websites dedicated to this concept. People then contribute to your cause. Just google “crowdfunding”.

Every October for Respect Life, we put a field of 3300 crosses with signs (talking about God’s mercy, 3300 abortions daily in the US, phone number for help, etc.) out in front of our parish on the side of a main road .

Last year, we were vandalized for the first time. The vandals drove over the crosses, damaged 75% of them, They have to be replaced.

So we decided, we will go bigger with the signs and crosses for this October. Our parish doesn’t have the funds, so we are looking into this idea ourselves.

Good luck to you, and God bless.
 
One big thing our parish does is apple pie sales at Thanksgiving and Easter. In our case they benefit the school, but they sell a LOT of pies. All the supplies are donated, all the work is volunteer, so the only cost is the use of ovens or the freezer (you can buy them baked or frozen to be baked later).

They also do a flower sale in May that does very well (that’s our planting time). If you buy enough plants volunteers will deliver them, too. I think offering small perks like that are incentives for people to spend a bit more than they would, otherwise.

We also do a Fish Fry that does very well, and a parish festival in the Fall that includes a silent auction. I think that also raises quite a bit.

We are a big parish with traditional buildings that require a lot of upkeep. We recently set up…something…I forget what it’s called - a capital improvements account? that should exist to cover the cost of maintenance and repairs for the long haul. We did a pledge drive to set that up, and the donations will be collected over the next five years.
 
jazzy0710 said:
Hello everyone,

I apologize if I’m posting this in the wrong spot. Feel free to move it if need be.

My parish is in real financial hardship. There are many repairs that need to be done around the church; the most pricey being the roof. It leaks and there are shingles falling off.

We have resorted to fundraising as much as we can but need see ideas. What has worked for your parishes?
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No insurance?
 
jazzy0710 said:
It wasn’t mentioned in the meeting. I’m totally going to ask about that at the next one. Thanks!
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Well, remember with fundraisers that the items should be either really practical or really desirable. Like Christmas trees or food, LOL.

But the Pastor himself should call a “State of the Parish meeting” and insist that everyone attend, at least person per household. Then, he should just lay it out. Hard numbers, estimates, amount in the bank, any insurance coverage and limits, and expectation of any from Diocese to loan or assist in the upkeep of the property.
I fund that when presented with cold hard facts, and an impassioned plea fro people to step up, they respond. Would folks rather lose their parish? Because that’s the alternative if it gets beyond the point of repair. Nostalgia works. People will likely pony up because they know it’s a permanent fix fro a temporary problem. Wait to fix it, and the place will collapse. No one wants that.
It is also helpful to get the folks who are really good presenters and salesmen in their field to talk to parishioners in small groups. People that others look up to as successful business men and women that can speak straight with facts in hand.
Good luck. Be assured of our prayers!
 
Is bingo legal in Canada? We have bingo every wee to support the school and occasionally a raffle for a big ticket item (donated by a local business) like a trip somewhere or a car.
 
Catholic1954 said:
Is bingo legal in Canada? We have bingo every wee to support the school and occasionally a raffle for a big ticket item (donated by a local business) like a trip somewhere or a car.
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LOL yes Bingo is legal in Canada. I think we would have to obtain a licence though in order to do so and our parish priest isn’t a big fan of bīngo. I did give him a list of things I came up with so far to think about between now and the next meeting. He was really keen on a pub and concert night.

I’m also trying to talk him into setting up an account on gofundme.com
 
pianistclare said:
Well, remember with fundraisers that the items should be either really practical or really desirable. Like Christmas trees or food, LOL.

But the Pastor himself should call a “State of the Parish meeting” and insist that everyone attend, at least person per household. Then, he should just lay it out. Hard numbers, estimates, amount in the bank, any insurance coverage and limits, and expectation of any from Diocese to loan or assist in the upkeep of the property.
I fund that when presented with cold hard facts, and an impassioned plea fro people to step up, they respond. Would folks rather lose their parish? Because that’s the alternative if it gets beyond the point of repair. Nostalgia works. People will likely pony up because they know it’s a permanent fix fro a temporary problem. Wait to fix it, and the place will collapse. No one wants that.
It is also helpful to get the folks who are really good presenters and salesmen in their field to talk to parishioners in small groups. People that others look up to as successful business men and women that can speak straight with facts in hand.
Good luck. Be assured of our prayers!
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I think this is very true. But there is still merit in fundraising via other means. If the people in the parish provide a service or item for sale that people both in and out of the parish would buy someplace…then the profit goes to the parish, and the people get the needed service or item.

Teens could offer lawn mowing, leaf raking with the proceeds going to the church. The pie sale idea had my mouth watering. Also, the Church can make an arrangement with Amazon.com that if people start at the Church’s website, and access Amazon via that website, a small amount of the proceed goes to the church. Many non profit organization have this option available.

One thing that I’ve seen MANY people do to raise money, even if only for themselves, is to buy cases of candy from fundraising companies. Then the sell it for a dollar or two each…at work, meetings, wherever (watch out about the work thing because it’s banned at many places) people are happy to get a snack for a dollar and the money made must be worth it because I’ve seen lots of people do it. No door to door, just be the candy guy/lady. Donut sales are popular around here, and the donut place has a program in place for just this reason.
 
OP, how much money are we talking?
Fund raising is good of all you need is 10 grand.
Beyond that, you’re going to have to do a capital campaign.
How much you need?
 
It’s not for certain yet as our priest is still waiting to get estimates on the roof but he was thinking between 50 and 80 grand.
 
I think you have to tap into what makes your parish unique.

Our parish is predominately Polish and the little old church ladies make and sell homemade pierogis as a fundraiser quite regularly. Our other big fundraiser is the annual parish festival in the summer (which has food, booze, 50/50 raffles, basket raffles, etc.)

They also do a lot of parish dinners throughout the year.

Have you thought about asking for volunteers to fix the roof? Sometimes you’ll luck out and there’ll be an electrician or a carpenter or whoever (with the necessary skills/licenses, etc. obviously) in the parish who can do the work for free or at a discount. Or maybe you could ask around and find a Catholic roofer from another parish who would give you a break because you’re a church …
 
pianistclare said:
OP, how much money are we talking?
Fund raising is good of all you need is 10 grand.
Beyond that, you’re going to have to do a capital campaign.
How much you need?
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OK, so capital campaign, and a full roof, not just repairs.
Hmmmm. I’ll ask the bigger parishes what they do…
 
QuasiCatholic said:
I think you have to tap into what makes your parish unique.

Our parish is predominately Polish and the little old church ladies make and sell homemade pierogis as a fundraiser quite regularly. Our other big fundraiser is the annual parish festival in the summer (which has food, booze, 50/50 raffles, basket raffles, etc.)

They also do a lot of parish dinners throughout the year.

Have you thought about asking for volunteers to fix the roof? Sometimes you’ll luck out and there’ll be an electrician or a carpenter or whoever (with the necessary skills/licenses, etc. obviously) in the parish who can do the work for free or at a discount. Or maybe you could ask around and find a Catholic roofer from another parish who would give you a break because you’re a church …
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Those are great suggestions. I will definitely bring those up at the next meeting. Thank you.
 
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