CLM Hen House

Tess · Joined: 09 Apr 2026 Posts: 31

Hi, ladies - I was just wondering if any of you had creative ideas for fundraisers for your women's ministries at your church? We don't have too much money budgeted for our team, but hae a lot of new things that we'd like to do, and some will cost a little money that cannot be made by charging money. Thanks - Tess

mylordandmyking · Joined: 14 Mar 2026 Posts: 111

A cake and pie auction helped us raise money for Christmas presents for familes one year . ~ Nikki
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Psalms 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God:

outnumbered · Joined: 16 Mar 2026 Posts: 56

I am not sure if you mean a fundraiser for a particular cause, or raising money so your ladies ministry has cash for activities (for supplies, prizes etc.) Either way, we do what we call "Baptist Buffet". This is held on a Sunday night after church. A few ladies prepare a meal. One time we did Chili and corn bread, another time we did Ziti and salad. Anything cheap will do. Each person pays $2.00 at the door and we usually raise about $100 after the ladies are reimbursed for the food. Our church loves this. Mom's don't have to cook that night, everyone loves the price and we have a ton of fun!

chosen41 · Joined: 13 Jun 2025 Posts: 5 Location: Independence, KY

A church I attended a few years back was big in bake sales...They would set up at the local Walmart & Walmart would match whatever they made up to a certain dollar amount. We also did the dinner idea, but we were divided into groups & the group for that night donated the food. We didn't charge at the door, we had a basket at the end of the line asking for donation...We found out that we made a lot more asking for donations than charging up front. Some of the people in our church couldn't afford the charge, but were greatful for a hot meal. And 1 other idea...we had yard sale...we 'rented' the parking spaces in the parking lot for $10 or 2 for $15 & asked that the member donate a portion of their sales to the ladies minitry. It worked great!

Bethany · Joined: 12 Mar 2026 Posts: 110

In many towns, the local grocery store gives churches a certain percentage for all grocery receipts turned in. I know that Meijer has a card you can sign up for that gives churches/schools money back. People in the church/school have to sign up for the card and then scan it when they make a purchase.
I'm not sure if you can still use this for churches or only for schools - it used to be both - but BoxTops for Education and Campbell's labels give money back for all labels or boxtops sent in.
Sometimes, anything that can be used for fundraising for a school can be used for any nonprofit group. For instance, sending in old cell phones or ink/toner cartridges from printers/copiers.
The nice thing about these options are they are unlikely to offend people who are opposed to the church doing fundraising.
Hope some of those will be able to help you! Very Happy

CApastorswife · Joined: 15 Apr 2026 Posts: 30 Location: Southern California

Our ministry collected recipes from its members and made a cookbook once, and they sold quite a few. You can also do cake/cookie walks or have a rummage sale for the church...most people are glad to get rid of things without throwing them away!

MertVnWV · Joined: 21 Mar 2026 Posts: 201 Location: Southern WV

A few ideas ~
**We set up bake sales/hotdog sales at Walmart.**
**Sometimes we do hotdog sales from the church but for these we try to get lots of orders from businesses in advance but we also put a sign by the road for passersby. A good time to do this is at your local primary election times.**
**We sell Rada knives once in awhile.**
**We made our own cookbooks and they sold well.**
**I do Mother's Day and Father's Day bulletin boards. For $1.00 you can get a themed greeting and/or picture of mom/dad decorated and placed on the board. (This one has tetered out after a couple of years.....letting it rest for a couple years and will do it again later.)**
**We bought "rose" molds and made chocolate/white chocolate suckers and decorated them and they sale for $1.00 at Mother's Day.....another old one!**
**We have ordered the yearly planners toward the end of the year and those sell well around Christmas.**
**We sold Pizza Hut cards this year and that was a BIG hit. They sold for $10.00 each and we got a good profit from that. The cards had 10 stickers on them that allow you to buy one pizza and get the second of equal value free.**
**We have taken orders for specialty cakes/pies/desserts from within the church and our ladies who are good at baking a particular specialty fills the request.**
**Our bigggest sale is our annual pumpkin roll cake sale. We sold over 3,000.00 worth of these last fall before Thanksgiving and they were sold right up to Christmas. I really can't remember the profit total but I am sure that it was good. I make these myself and sell them when I visit my mom and dad in NC and they are a big seller/hit. They are sold for $10.00 each with or without nuts...same price. I know first hand that the supplies aren't too much especially if you buy them near the holiday season and watch for the sales for the ingredients used to make them...for instance, the cream cheese.
I didn't make it down to NC last fall to make and sell them so the friends of mom and dad requested that I make them when I came down a couple of weeks ago.....to me, these are a seasonal delicacy but that is how well they like them regardless. I cleared over $110.00 for 16 of them.**
** Another good one is to host wedding receptions in your church. You could even advertise for this.** We don't advertise. We have only done one and that was for a daughter of one of our church members. We have been requested to do another one in a couple of months****
This may work for you and it may not. Question

Only you could decide on this one.

Mert
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~The difference between stepping stones and stumbling blocks....... is how you use them ~

sharon davis · Joined: 14 Mar 2026 Posts: 72 Location: Portsmouth, Ohio

Mert...
In case you didn't know, pumpkin rolls freeze very well...so you can make them way ahead of the holidays and freeze them.
Peace-
Sharon
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If one falls down, his friend can help him up...Ecclesiastes 4:10

Tess · Joined: 09 Apr 2026 Posts: 31

Wow, there are some neat ideas here. Feel free to keep them coming! I certainly appreciate them! Tess

MertVnWV · Joined: 21 Mar 2026 Posts: 201 Location: Southern WV

Sharon I do freeze all my pumpkin rolls. Freezing them sets the filling quicker. I usually sell the one I make within a day or two so I do this to set the filling. To be honest I think they taste better after they have been frozen. I plan to go back to NC in October to my mom and dad's to fill the orders that I will be getting there in the fall. I plan to make them in October and leave them for dad to deliver to everyone around Thanksgiving. I always wrap mine in both saran wrap and foil before freezing.
Mert
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~The difference between stepping stones and stumbling blocks....... is how you use them ~

amyjoyousone · Joined: 29 May 2025 Posts: 52

A 'Bakeless Bake Sale" is a good idea.
We use a cute poem to announce that instead of baking a cake you can just donate the cost of a cake to the "Bake Sale".
It's an amusing, but effective way to do a quick simple fundraiser.
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Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice! Philippians 4:4

KellyR · Joined: 15 May 2025 Posts: 10

www.antiquities-studios.com

Go to this website and consider doing Antiquities Photos for a fundraiser. It is a little different from bakesales and everytime we participated we made $1000.00.

They are Sepia toned portraits that all those at your church or friends and neighbors of church members can purchase a coupon for $10. This coupon is good for the clothes, sitting, and one free 10 x 13 portrait group shot of your kids. If you have a group of 25 women and they each sell 3 coupons you will make over $1000.00 the $10 actually goes to you and if a minimum of moms(65-70) shows up that day at your church for the sittings scheduled you get a bonus $300. Those bonus's go up if you sell more.

Many MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) groups all over the US have successfully used them and made 1000's of dollars to support that ministry.

We often like to do it so pictures are back for Mothers day or some other special holiday but Christmas is too busy of a season.

If you would like a sample I may be able to send a picture of one of mine via e-mail.

As with many things some have had a bad experience due to a grumpy photographer but the money promised by them is legit. We have done this 3 times. One year they got behind and grumpy. The other 2 times we had an awesome guy.
Kelly