Church fundraising ideas

Charity supper club

You’ve got the venue and a kitchen at your disposal, so organising a charity supper club should be a breeze. You’ll just need to find your congregation’s top chefs and ask them to cook up a feast for food-loving members of the community who’ll be paying for a one-off dining experience.

Church sleepover

This is a church fundraising idea that the kids will love. Find some willing grown-ups in your congregation to run the event and invite children from the church youth groups to bring their sleeping bags, torches and midnight snacks for an overnight ‘lock-in’. Organise games and lay on refreshments in return for a ticket fee to enjoy the unique night-time adventure.

Coffee morning

Ask for an entry donation and invite your congregation and the wider community along for a church coffee morning. Find some volunteers to bake cakes to sell to guests on the day to boost your fundraising efforts. This is a great and fast way of raising money for charity at your church.

Charity dog show

Get tails wagging to support teenagers facing cancer with a charity dog show on the church green or in the community hall. Come up with novelty categories for talents like biscuit catching and the best tricks, and invite dog lovers to enter their hounds into their chosen rounds in return for a donation. Pick up a box of treats and some rosettes to award to the coolest canines of the day.

Church film night

Dim the lights and fire up the projector for a night of movie fun in a beautiful setting. Churches lend themselves brilliantly to film nights, which can be a one-off or regular charity fundraiser. Sell tickets in advance and give fundraising a further boost by laying on paid-for refreshments – including popcorn, of course. Tell guests to bring cushions and blankets for extra cosiness and hunker down for a night of silver screen escapism.

Choir concerts

Tap into your church’s singing talents to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust. Christmas carol concerts always go down a treat and bring the community together. But you don’t have to wait for the bigger occasions to invite people along for an evening of entertainment. Sell tickets and lay on paid-for extras like drinks and snacks on the night in what will always be a brilliant and fun church fundraiser for charity.

Craft sale

There must be an array of creative and crafting talent to be unlocked within your church community. From homemade Christmas decorations to macrame masterpieces, ask willing volunteers to make unique goods to sell at your charity craft sale. Be sure to advertise the event locally for a good turnout.

Bring-and-buy sale

They say that one person’s trash is another’s treasure, and that’s certainly the spirit of a bring-and-buy sale. Ask your church community to donate unwanted goods and encourage them to buy anything that catches their eye. Open the event up to the wider community and advertise to boost turnout. If you’ve got the outdoor space, you could even make it a car boot sale instead and charge any vendors a fee for selling goods.

Paid for classes

Churches have events space at hand, so why not invite local talent along to run workshops or evening classes? From learning pottery skills to a new language, ask for a fee to attend the course and donate any proceeds to charity.

Give it up for Lent

If you’re a Christian church, many of your congregation may be considering giving something up for Lent – so, why not make this an excuse to raise money for charity, too? Imagine if someone gave up their daily coffee for a month and donated the money to Teenage Cancer Trust instead. If the whole congregation does something similar, the pounds will be rolling in for young people in need. 

Church cookbook

This is a wonderful way to bring the church community together over a love of cooking. Ask all fellow worshippers to contribute a recipe and a photo to form a unique church cookbook. Submissions can easily be curated online and made into a book which can be printed in bulk and sold to the congregation and wider community.