Are you trying to raise money to fund your mission trip? It’s exciting to be traveling somewhere new, or perhaps return somewhere you’ve once been. One important step… raising money! We’ve come up with a few mission trip fundraising ideas that will actually work and help you succeed.
Put on your baking mitts, grab a sponge, or prepare to launch a website because these ideas will have you ready to start raising money today!
Estimated reading time: 13 minutes
Table of contents
- What is Mission Trip Fundraising?
- 14 Mission Trip Fundraising Ideas
- 1. Use a Fundraising Website
- 2. Support Letters
- 3. Create a Custom T-Shirt Shop
- 4. Online Garage Sale
- 5. Washing Cars
- 6. Fun Run / Walkathon
- 7. Set Up a Seasonal Business
- 8. Start a Blog
- 9. Make a Video
- 10. Bake Sales
- 11. Organize a tea and painting party
- 12. Use Your Connections!
- 13. Set up a Booth at Your Church
- 14. Create a Themed Cookbook
- Raise Money Now!
- More Inspiration for Fundraising Ideas
What is Mission Trip Fundraising?
For many years, mission trips have played a crucial role in the lives of countless people. In years past, someone would often move to a different place for months or years at a time and serve out their mission. While this is still happening, short-term mission trips are more common now.
This can look like a single-person going on a mission trip for a week or even a larger group from a church or school going together. The typical length of a mission trip is anywhere from 5-10 days, with exceptions. Mission trips are a great personal journey for those undertaking them and an important contribution to the less privileged communities.
Mission trips are designed with a specific project in mind, such as rebuilding a home or a medical clinic. They help break cultural barriers, allow missionaries to make a difference in other people’s lives, and empower and bring new perspectives.
However, although mission trips are always exciting, the enthusiasm can sometimes fade as the reality of fundraising kicks in. To help you accomplish your mission trip fundraising goals, we’ve put together a few creative ideas to get you started. From creating your own T-shirts, to hosting bake sales or starting an online website, we hope you meet your goal!
Challenges You May Face
With every fundraising goal, there will certainly be challenges. This can range from where to even start to how to reach a large audience with your goal. It’s important to be aware of these challenges so that you’re not surprised when they do eventually arise during your fundraising.
Different Challenges:
- reaching a large enough donor base
- managing individual fundraising efforts
- balancing the cost of the trip with the financial limitations of members
- overcoming donor fatigue
- effectively communicating the mission’s impact
- navigating potential concerns about the trip’s purpose or destination
14 Mission Trip Fundraising Ideas
More than likely, while trying to meet your mission trip fundraising goal, you will feel out of your comfort zone. I’ve never known anyone who actually enjoys asking people for help or especially their money. As long as you keep your end goal in site, you’ll do great! The overall mission is something that will fuel you as you charge ahead.
1. Use a Fundraising Website
Online donations are easy to keep track of. For the most part, online fundraising pages have become essential to fundraising efforts. And an online fundraising page is not complete without a fundraising thermometer. Ultimately, you want to make donating to your trip as easy as possible. However, setting up crowdfunding is just the beginning. No one is going to donate if they don’t hear about your mission. Promote your donation page actively and regularly.
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding has become one of the most popular ways to raise money for a personal cause or an organization. Mission trips are no exception. A personal fundraising page can make donating to your trip much easier for your supporters and donors.
GiveSendGo
GiveSendGo is a Christian organization that helps people organize their donations. It has a simple setup process with a 0% platform fee. You can not only post your donation page there, but it will also appear easy in their search system for more to find!
Donorbox
You can also use another popular fundraising site like Donorbox. Donorboxis a powerful fundraising software that is super simple to set up and attracts more recurring donors.
GoFundMe
GoFundMeis the #1 funding platform. There is no fee to start and you can easily share your GoFundMe link across other social platforms.
2. Support Letters
If you haven’t written a support letter yet, then do this first! Support letters are one the easiest and most effective ways to fundraise for a mission trip. It’s also easy to do at home right now! If you’ve never written a support letter, the structure is simple: 1) update people on your life, 2) let people know about the trip and what you hope to gain from the experience, 3) share how people can support you (financially and emotionally/spiritually).
3. Create a Custom T-Shirt Shop
While you can certainly ask people to “fund my mission trip”, it’s more effective if they too feel like they are getting something back. That’s why selling things is one of the best fundraising ideas for trips. Rally support for your cause by selling t-shirts or other apparel with a fun design that reflects your cause.
- Create a design on your own, or enlist a friend with design experience to help.
- Purchase apparel in bulk and find a local screen printing studio—making the shirts yourself allows you to raise far more money per shirt than if you used a print-on-demand service.
- Ask people to donate to your fundraiser in exchange for a shirt.
Websites to Create Your Shirt:
4. Online Garage Sale
Challenge your mission trip team to collect items donated by neighbors, family members or local businesses and hold an online group garage sale using any social media site. Tip: Use SignUpGenius to collect mission trip donations.
5. Washing Cars
There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned car wash. Host it at your church and set up signs that bring people in. Charge $5 or $10 a car and get to scrubbing! Make your community’s day with a squeaky clean car as you open up the door for them to support you on your upcoming trip.
6. Fun Run / Walkathon
Charity runs raise a lot of money since anyone can participate, and participants are excited to join the cause. Participants pay a fee to join, and they find their sponsors for additional funding. By sharing the event with their friends and family in person or on social media, you’ll gain free publicity for the walkathon and your mission trip.
7. Set Up a Seasonal Business
Working extra hours or jobs seems like an obvious enough way to make more money to fund your mission trip. Consider setting up a babysitting or pet-care business to help you raise this money.
Consider your timeline and your resources. If you have a car, maybe you can do chores or deliveries. If you possess academic skills, you could set up a tutoring business. Brainstorm all of your skills and resources and work your way from there. What’s in demand? What’s easy to set up? What will bring the most money?
Make sure you are responsible and work hard for the money you earn! Your work will help people see that investing in you as an individual is a good investment in the mission trip you are raising money for.
8. Start a Blog
Creating a blog is one of the best ways to promote your cause. Starting a blog means you can share your mission trip experience right from the start. Write stories about how and when you decided to go on your trip, your thoughts and feelings, your fears, and the people you’re going to help. Stories are a powerful tool for building communities, galvanizing support, and building rapport.
Stories draw on our emotions and forge connections, and when you use them to fundraise for your mission trips, it also allows your donors to see the difference they made.
Create a fundraising campaign attached to your blog and encourage others on your mission trip to create a personal fundraising page to raise money for the mission trip and share their experiences too.
9. Make a Video
If you haven’t yet recorded a short video of yourself talking about your upcoming trip, now’s a great time! It’s a fact that people are more likely to give when they hear you talking about why the trip is important to you. Take a some time to record yourself talking about your upcoming trip—what excites you about it, what you hope to gain from the experience, and why you need the support of others.
Share your video on social media with a link to your sponsorship profile. You’ll be amazed at how excited people are just to see your face in this time apart!
10. Bake Sales
Host a pizza lunch at your school, business, or church. Or, ask the community to contribute baked goods for a bake sale. Bake sales are simple, effective, and easy to organize, making them a popular choice for young men and women embarking on mission trips around the world.
11. Organize a tea and painting party
Painting parties are a super unique fundraising idea for mission trips that donors will love. Unleash your community’s artistic side with a tea party accompanied by a step-by-step painting lesson. Teach the class yourself, or ask a local artist to help.
Participants get to socialize with friends and leave with a masterpiece. To cover the cost of materials and raise funds for your cause, charge a flat fee to join the party. Make sure to advertise the event both locally and on social media. Highlight the cause it benefits—people are often inclined to donate more knowing you’ll be helping others in turn.
12. Use Your Connections!
Family Connections
Call close friends and family to talk in person about your mission. Tell them about the opportunities you will have through this ministry, why you decided to take this leap into ministry; be honest and clear about how much financial support you have remaining to raise.
Social Media Connections
Create a group or an event about your mission so friends can follow along with your adventures, or write a detailed post. Divide all your friends on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter etc. by the amount you need to raise, explaining that if everyone gives a little it adds up to a lot.
For example, for a year long position you might need $1,200 per month / 500 Facebook friends = $2.40 per person/month. Keep your friends updated about what you are up to on your group page. Be clear and detailed so people understand what you are doing and why. Post trip pictures and stories after your trips to show them how their support was utilized.
13. Set up a Booth at Your Church
Request permission to set up an informational booth in your church lobby. Include pictures and information about the country in which you’ll be serving, and why you feel called to be involved in missions.
Be sure to include a box with prayer cards for supporters to grab, instructions on giving donations, and a place for people to leave checks and cash! This booth can serve as a hub for you within the church. Stand next to your booth as church ends to answer any and all questions your fellow church members and visitors might have for you.
14. Create a Themed Cookbook
For this missionary fundraising idea, you first need to do some research on the country you will be doing your mission trip and create a book of recipes featuring dishes from that cuisine. This will give your community a taste of your destination, will get you excited about your missionary trip, and will get you and others more familiar with another culture.
You can print the cookbooks yourself or find a sponsor that does it all for you but keep in mind most have a higher order minimum. Organize a fun day cooking and shooting photos for all the recipes.
The style of the book should be carefully and timely chosen. Recipes can be featured alphabetically or split into chapters based on particular ingredients, regions, or types of dishes. Recipes should be rewritten to fit that common design and layout. Do include a clear index and page guide for the cookbook.
Finally, have friends, family, and community members purchase your cookbook as a donation to your cause.
Raise Money Now!
It might sound like a lot of work, and it should be! Raising money for an important cause is not something that should be done lightly. People are giving their own money to support you, so make it count.
Make sure that you write letters of thanks to everyone you know who personally gave to you. It’s always a good reminder to be grateful for everyone’s support. We hope that you feel inspired by any of these mission trip fundraising ideas. Tell us down below which one you might start!
More Inspiration for Fundraising Ideas
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