As the summer Young Women Camp season approaches, I am thrown back into my days as the ward/stake/universe camp director. (Better than scouting. But not by much.)
While I served in Young Women the church policy changed to allow only one fundraiser per year for the youth. (And, yes, the “scout” fundraisers didn't count in the tally. And, yes, that bugged me. But that's another post.) The counsel has also been to first look to the ward budget and, second, to the girls raising their own money. Then you can look to approved fundraising. In some units, funding won't pay for a camp and having the girls try to raise it is really unfeasible.
So, I thought I'd gather up a great list of fundraising ideas for the archives. I'll list those I've seen and please add your own in the archives!
Garden Annual Sales
Arrange with a local nursery or plant wholesaler to provide you with a discounted bulk plant buy. Take orders and payment in advance for annuals (we did both flowers and veggies). Deliver to families upon arrival.
Service Auction
Girls volunteer services. Ware members bid on the services offered. Our girls offered things such as: babysitting; ironing; cleaning; summer sports camp; gymnastics lessons; art lessons; tutoring; etc. (Make sure they follow through and provide the services or the ward won't be so keen to bid next year!)
Catered Dinner
Find a restaurant or caterer who will donate or discount a meal. Then have a big dinner night in the cultural hall where everyone pays a set fee. Allow extra donations, too. Provide great service and entertainment while everyone eats. Our dinner fundraisers ranged from homemade spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread, all the way up to serious gourmet fare from a country club
Cake Sales
For a couple of years we made special Father's Day cakes (that looked like a shirt with a tie). We charged $10 per cake and the girls made them. They were quite a hit.
Prepared Foods
Many companies offer prepared food product for sale. One year the scouts in my ward sold popcorn. I've also seen cookie dough fundraising and candy bar fundraisers. There are lots to chose from.
Product Sales
There are all sorts of companies with fundraising ideas and offerings. I've seen or been involved in sales of candles, magazines, wrapping paper, greeting cards, etc. I currently have some discount cards for local establishments that I bought from a neighbor. The actually provided a good deal to us, so I was happy to purchase from her.
Years ago in an email list, someone suggested that the U.S. Department of Education might give learning grants for summer camps. That's probably not going to fly for Young Women camp, but lets hear your most creative and tested Young Women Camp fundraiser ideas!
Got a couple of emails about this. Here is what they said:
Teri wrote:
Emma wrote:
Denise wrote:
Jennifer Ford wrote:
We were just talking about this last night at mutual. Apparently our ward did the spaghetti dinner/auction thing a few years ago (before I lived in the ward) and made $8000!! It was combined scouts/YW fundraiser with a spaghetti dinner and auction. I don’t think it was just desserts – but included other donated items and service auction as well. Apparently it was enough money that our ward has covered all the camps for both scouts and YW for the last 3 years and is just now starting to run low and we are starting to think of doing another fundraiser this winter.
$8,000? That is a successful fundraiser!
For years our ward has been making boutonniers and corsages for Mother’s/Father’s Day ( I believe we sell them for around 10-12 $). It’s like getting two fundraisers in one. We send a sign up around for both and collect the money. We buy the supplies where we can get a discounted price ( Sam’s or Costco ect). The Saturday before we make, package and deliver them. We also make a couple extra for the singles, divorced or widowed in the ward. We have always had some people not want a flower but donated money or a flower to someone else.
We have also had a service/homemade treats or gifts/talents to share or teach, auction and dinner. It was a GREAT success! We made well above our goal for all the youth committees for the year.
sorry, but a lot of these ideas go against the handbook policies of fundraising
Jill, this post was written over six years ago. The post specifies what the policy was at the time with regard to fundraising.
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I came here to get some ideas, but I must say you need to review the handbook of instructions. Sales or auctions of goods are taxable making them counter to the handbook of instructions as well as breaking the law if you don’t pay the tax.
I must say you need to review the date of the post. 😂 It was written nearly eight years ago when the official instruction was far different than today.
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Actually, these are great ideas, and most can be modified to fit within the Handbook Fundraising rules, including the auction. If you are fundraising, the Church is a non-profit organization, therefore there is no tax collected under that law. (Unless the law is different in your state, but in Wyoming, there is no tax on a non-profit such as a church or school (a 501c exempt status, I would have to see if the tax form is different for a church but I don’t think so). Either way, even in 2021, I am grateful for the ideas! Esp having missed out on a camp in 2020, we want to make this one a little more special.
I’m so glad to hear these were still useful to you, Dani. Thanks for letting me know!
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