Let's Get Creative: Raising Funds for your HYC

"Being accepted to serve on the Bangkok HOPE Youth Corps as a family was a dream come true for so many reasons! Then the reality set in; we would have to come up with around $10,000 CAD (US $7,500) to cover our flights and the cost of the participation fee..." Krista Wiebe shares her creative, and successful, fundraising ideas.

"God has been blessing us in so many ways in our efforts to raise the funds and I want to share some of the fundraising ideas that we have tried (or thought of trying!). We started by creating a website explaining who we are and where we are going, including a link to the place where we are serving for HYC, and also advertised our events on our website. We also set up Gofundme pages. This was a great tool to get the word out as we could post a link to our friends on Facebook. We had a couple of bigger events that were a lot of fun and we were able to engage our friends, family and coworkers. Getting to share with them about what we are doing was a big part of our success. Some people didn’t go to the events but bought tickets or gave us money to support our trip.

A coffee house fundraiser is a great idea, especially if you have talented friends! We rented a venue and sold tickets (we needed to make sure we at least broke even on the cost of the venue). We purchased coffee supplies and asked friends to donate baked goods. We decided not to set a fixed price for these items, instead telling people to contribute what they wanted! We also recruited friends to perform, including singers, musicians and poets. We were able to borrow the sound equipment from our church and utilize some tech-savvy volunteers to make sure everything ran smoothly. Even with our costs (venue rental, a license for music, coffee supplies and printing tickets) we were able to make a profit of close to $1,000!

Bake sales (or other types of food) are also a fun fundraising idea! You can set up a table at your school or workplace and sell baked goods and other treats using donated baked goods or things you have purchased (samosas, spring rolls, chocolate bars, and candy – cheaply purchased around Halloween season! – are popular ideas) and sell these for a profit. You can get people to pre-order, or just take a chance and try to sell what you purchase. Be sure to put up posters everywhere so people are aware you are selling! One of our friends sold treats at her workplace for a different fundraiser and made $150 over the course of one lunch hour! Additionally, we brewed up coffee on Sundays and had it out before and after Sunday service. We purchased cups, coffee supplies and some people brought in baked goods. So far, after four Sundays, we have made around $400!"