Fundraisers for Church Youth Groups That Are Fun, Simple, and Built to Last
Align fundraisers with purpose: When your fundraiser matches your mission, people give more—and give more joyfully.
Favor creativity over complexity: Simple, fun ideas often outperform elaborate ones that drain time and energy.
Think like a donor, not just a youth leader: People give to causes they believe in—not just to support a teen selling cookies.
Build a bank of go-to, repeatable fundraisers: Having trusted options on deck reduces stress and makes planning way easier each year.
When it comes to fundraising for church youth groups, good intentions don’t raise money. Strategy does. Many youth groups are stuck—same old bake sales, same small crew doing all the work, same last-minute scramble when it’s time to pay for camp or a mission trip.
And here’s what that leads to:
- Events that barely break even
- Students who disengage because nothing feels worth their time
- Leaders exhausted before things even get started
This isn’t about needing more creativity. It’s about needing a plan.
You don’t need clever ideas that look great on paper but fall apart in real life. You need fundraisers that are simple, repeatable, and actually doable with the group you’ve got—not the dream team you wish you had.
I’ve put together 20 that can work right now. They’re practical. They raise real money. And they’ll free you up to focus on what actually matters—discipling your students. Use them—or keep spinning your wheels.
20 Ideas: Fundraisers For Church Youth Groups
Before you start chasing ideas, you need to know what kind of fundraiser fits your group and your goal.
Not every fundraiser works for every event. And just because something “worked for another church” doesn’t mean it fits your mission—or your students.
Here’s what I’ve seen trip up a lot of churches:
They pick what sounds popular, not what lines up with their purpose. Or, they run a decent fundraiser, but can’t track a dollar of it because their church’s accounting system is a mess.
So, two quick wins:
- Choose fundraisers that support your mission.
- Use church accounting software that actually helps you stay organized.
Once you’ve got that in place, now it’s about fit and creativity. Pick a style of fundraiser that lines up with your goals. Then, find a simple way to make it memorable.
To get your wheels turning, here are 20 fundraising ideas that actually work—whether you’re just getting started or looking to breathe new life into a tired youth group.
1. The Dollar Car Wash
Host a car wash at the church or a local business willing to share their space and water hookup. Charge $1 per wash—but here’s the twist: also give each customer a $1 back to “pay it forward.”
KEY: People will almost always give more than a buck. But the real win is this: you’re inviting generosity, not just donations. That story spreads. And so does your impact.
2. Magic Show
Hire a local magician—or let students run the show themselves. Most tricks don’t need special gear, just practice and creativity. It’s fun, family-friendly, and surprisingly easy to pull off in your church gym or fellowship hall.
3. Rent-a-Student
This one’s simple: members donate to the youth group to “hire” students for chores, yard work, moving help, or anything else piling up around the house. Around Christmas, offer gift-wrapping help. It’s the practical help people need—and your students grow by serving.
4. Movie Night
Turn your sanctuary or fellowship hall into a movie theater for the night. Use the church projector and screens, sell concessions, and take online pre-orders for tickets to create that “real” theater feel. Bonus: it’s a great outreach event. People will bring friends.
5. Letter Party
Write letters to each of the members of your church, but have each written by one of the youth. Make it a game: Who can send the most letters in one night? Give a prize or scholarship credit to the winner. Just be sure your online giving link is clear and easy to use.
KEY: Don’t just mail boring support letters. Let students decorate and personalize them—stickers, markers, handwritten notes, the works.
6. Pop3 (Board Game Night)
Charge a small entry fee and let students and families gather for a night of board games. I once saw a church call this event POP³:
- everyone “popped” a dice roller before coming in
- everyone got one free “pop” (soda)
- all the dads (“Pops”) got in free
It was fun, memorable, and easy to run.
Aaron Helman: Charging $10 for a Jr. High Lock-in Created Buy-In (& Netted $1,500 for the Budget)
Aaron Helman is a veteran youth minister and founder of Smarter Youth Ministry, known for providing practical solutions to challenges that many other youth leaders face.
After a particularly frustrating experience, Helman realized traditional youth ministry fundraising methods weren’t worth the effort. Like many youth pastors, he had spent years organizing car washes, selling coupon books, and hustling through catalog fundraisers—only to discover that these time-consuming efforts were generating less than $4 per hour.
After crunching the numbers, he decided to stop those fundraisers altogether. In their place, he launched a direct-donation campaign, simply asking parents to contribute financially if they believed in the mission of the youth ministry. To his surprise, the response was overwhelmingly positive—families appreciated the simplicity and the clarity.
He also applied this thinking to event planning. When he charged $10 for a junior high lock-in—not to cover costs but to create buy-in—attendance was stronger and more committed. Unexpectedly, that small charge generated an additional $1,500 for the ministry.
Helman's story shows how stepping back, analyzing your time investment, and being willing to try a new approach can result in both better engagement and stronger financial support. It's a powerful example of how smarter ministry can make room for greater impact.
7. Uno Championship
Uno works for all ages. It’s mostly luck, which makes it even. Let people sign up early, create fun nicknames (“Sunglasses Sammy” never loses), and fill out brackets to guess the winner. Offer a prize—ask local businesses to sponsor it. It’s lighthearted, competitive, and easy to run.
8. The Pink Toilet
This one’s polarizing—but memorable. Take an old toilet, scrub it clean, paint it bright pink, and let the youth sign it. Then, participants pay to put the Pink Toilet in someone’s yard—or pay to have it removed from their own. If most of your church is in on the joke, this can run for weeks and raise serious money.
9. Pet Parade
People love showing off their pets. Host a pet parade with categories like “Best Dressed” or “Best Trick.” Charge a small entry fee or let attendees vote with their dollars. You just need a few judges, a public space, and someone to emcee. The pet owners will do the rest.
10. Youth Group Games Gala
Host an evening that highlights all the wild games your students play—and parents never hear about. Invite people to dress “fancy,” but warn them it might get messy. Let students perform skits, play ridiculous games, and serve youth group-style snacks. It’s chaotic, fun, and shows off your group’s personality.
11. Dr. Dodgeball Tournament
In this dodgeball variation, each team has a “doctor” who can revive eliminated players. If the doctor gets out, the team’s done. It’s fast, fun, and adds strategy. Parents and students both love it—and people will pay to play or to watch.
12. BINGO Night
No skill needed. Just fun. Bingo works for all ages, and with a good host, it turns into a social event. Charge $1 per game, hand out youth group t-shirts as prizes, and let people stay as long as they want.
13. Dad Joke Games
This one’s gold for online engagement. Host a bracket-style Dad Joke tournament—two people go head-to-head, and the first one to laugh loses. Stream it. Clip it. Share it. It’s hilarious, easy to watch, and gives you great video content for future fundraising.
14. Date Night Dinner
Offer a simple dinner and childcare so parents can enjoy a night out. Students handle the serving and childcare. Charge a fee for dinner and let people “tip” as part of the fundraiser. Easy, useful, and appreciated by every young couple in the church.
15. The Hungry Games
Think 30- or 40-hour famine, but with challenges and spiritual focus. Students fast, pray, and compete in light games while raising money and awareness for missions. When your church sees teens sacrificing time and comfort for something bigger than themselves, they’ll give—and they’ll give more.
16. Get Off My Lawn Concert
Host an “oldies” concert. Let students perform classics, or invite a band to cover songs from past decades. If you’ve got access to silent disco equipment, even better—everyone gets headphones and dances to their own beat. Unique, fun, and surprisingly affordable.
17. Turkey Trot
Classic fun run with a seasonal twist. Plan it around Thanksgiving or align it with a sermon series. Local businesses can sponsor it per mile, or people can give per lap. Make it casual. Families love it, and it’s easy to scale.
18. Holiday Baking Night
Young families want baking memories without the mess. That’s where your students come in. Host a baking night where kids get help making cookies or treats. Provide supplies, offer hands-on help, and charge per batch or per child. Bonus: it’s a great way for families to connect with your students.
Easy recipes:
- Hot chocolate mix
- Sugar cookies
- Cake pops
- Oreo balls
- Brownies
19. Storytellers Exhibition
Let students create art that tells a personal story—paintings, poems, songs, anything. Then, invite the church to see and hear those stories. People can donate to win a piece in a raffle, buy artwork outright, or simply give because they were moved by a student’s story.
20. Desserts With Dads Auction
Each dessert must be made by a student and their dad (or father figure). Most won’t win awards for presentation—but they’ll win hearts. Because it’s not about perfection. It’s about students and their families showing up together. People give more when they see that.
Keep asking: Does this fundraiser reflect our goal and message? If yes, double down and make that connection clear. If not, pivot.
Joshua Gordon
10 Places to Kickstart Your Brainstorming
Most fundraisers fall into one of ten main categories. Doesn’t matter if it’s a walkathon or handwritten support letters—nearly every idea lives in one of these buckets.
The best fundraising for church youth groups happens when the fundraiser clearly reflects why you're raising money in the first place.
If you're raising funds for camp, use something that highlights fun, spiritual growth, and shared experience. A Wiffle Ball tournament might be fun, but it won’t communicate the deeper purpose unless you connect those dots.
1. (Activity)-a-thons
Think fun runs, walkathons, dance-a-thons, sport-a-thons. These are simple, scalable, and easy for students to explain to donors.
2. Competitions
Could be sports, board games, video games—anything. Charge an entry fee or have students raise support to compete. The key: structure it well and invite the community.
3. Showcases
Put something on display. Talent shows, fashion shows, pet shows—these events let students shine while raising money through tickets or donations.
4. Auctions
Classic and effective. You can go with silent, live, or online. Make it fun and personal—youth-created art, service packages, or homemade desserts always get attention.
5. Exhibits
Think visual storytelling. Students share artwork, writing, or music. Attendees can give, bid, or buy raffle tickets for a chance to take something home.
6. Galas
Yes, they take more work—but they combine everything: dinner, music, competitions, and auction. They also give you a chance to tell your story clearly. If you're hosting one, make sure someone owns the logistics.
7. Concerts
Invite a student band, local musicians, or let youth lead it. Most of the crowd will come from student invites—which means fundraising and outreach happen at the same time.
8. Sales
Candy bars, yard sales, handmade goods—it all fits here. These can be fast cash but usually don’t build long-term giving. Keep expectations realistic and the selling season short.
9. Services
This includes car washes, pancake breakfasts, spaghetti dinners—anything where students serve people directly. These also work great when combined with another category, like a contest or auction.
10. Crowdfunding
Letters, donation boards, testimonies during services—this is the personal ask. It works best when students lead the storytelling. People give to people, not just projects.
If you are fundraising for teen camp, then you are going to want to host a fundraiser that focuses on the fun students will have and the ways they will grow spiritually. Putting on a Wiffle Ball Tournament as a competition type of fundraiser doesn’t match with the purpose of the event being fundraised for.
What you have to constantly ask yourself is, “Does this better communicate the purpose behind our fundraising goals?” If it doesn’t, then you may need to pivot to another type of fundraiser. If it does, then make the connection clear and consistent for an excellent fundraising campaign!
- (ACTIVITY)-a-thon Events: events such as fun runs, walkathons, and sport-a-thons.
- Competitions: can be both sports-related and non-sports-related events. Include an entry fee or ask that participants have their own donation page to pay their way into the tournament. Sporting events are an excellent way to bring in a large crowd of participants and interest from your local community.
- Showcases: includes events where you are displaying something for the experience and to inform. Talent shows, fashion shows, and pet shows are great examples of showcase fundraiser ideas.
- Auctions: one of the most popular youth group fundraising ideas. You can go for a silent auction, an online auction, or your classic in-person auction if you can hire or find an actual auctioneer to host.
- Exhibits: typically include things like the arts: writing, painting, sculpting, etc. Pieces can either be purchased as a donation or you can always raffle off certain pieces and allow individuals to purchase raffle tickets to increase their odds of winning certain works that they enjoyed.
- Galas: typically include dinner, shows, auctions, and competitions all in one. This creates plenty of fundraising opportunities if you can get creative and get students involved in making the gala an experience worth showing up for. Managing these events can be difficult, but we have a great church event management guide for you to walk you through how to manage it well!
- Concerts: much of the work in getting people to attend is done via peer fundraising by having students engage in both outreach and fundraising by inviting friends, family, and family friends to participate in the concert.
- Sales: if it involves students selling anything, then it falls under the “sales” type of fundraising. Candy bars, lollipops, and yard sales, are all fun ways to make some easy money, but they aren’t typically consistent. Plus, many youth group members tend to not want to sell cookie dough they know people can make at their house.
- Services: the classic car wash is a great example of the “services” type of fundraisers for church youth groups. This can also include spaghetti dinners, pancake breakfasts, and even cook-offs, especially if you combine it with a “competition” type of fundraiser.
- Crowdfunding: sending letters, creating a donation board, having students speak on stage about what the opportunity means to them during the church service, and having students talk with church members directly are all examples of crowdfunding campaigns.
Now: Go Create Your Own Fundraisers for Church Youth Groups!
Hopefully you feel better prepared on how to select the best fundraisers for church youth groups! You should also have a lot of ideas to get those creative juices flowing to make sure your fundraiser isn’t just effective, but also a ton of fun for all involved
How you talk about giving, from sermon series to short offering messages, everything is part of developing a good culture of giving in your church.
For help managing donations for your church youth groups, try out donation management software or church giving software. Find more church fundraiser ideas here.
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