Posted by Aaron Jeschke on December 4, 2009
Are you a Christian Sports team or organization looking for a product that will help you raise money quickly and easily? Many sports teams have a difficult time raising the money they need because it is usually pretty difficult to communicate the mission and purpose of a sports team to those who are not directly involved. It’s imperative for Christian sports teams to have quality church fundraising products that donors actually want to buy otherwise you might have a pretty difficult time raising money.
The Game Saver Card is the perfect product for Christian Sports fundraising. The Game Saver Card works like the Samaritan Card, but offers sports-themed discounts to golf, automobile, dining, and recreational venues. Save up to 50% at more than 1,700 golf courses nationwide, plus savings on golf instruction, gear, apparel and more. Also save at restaurants, on automobile expenses like oil changes, plus recreation including theme parks and tickets to professional sporting events! The best part is that the Game Saver Card is designed specifically for Christian Sports groups and is amazingly simple to sell! Have any friends that play golf? Who wouldn’t want up to 50% at over 1,700 golf courses nationwide?
It you are having trouble raising money for your Christian sports group than I would highly recommend the Game Saver Card. Its the card that sports fans want to buy! Raising money for your Christian Sports team has never been easier!
Posted by Aaron Jeschke on September 24, 2009
I have been involved in a variety of different ministries over the years and have seen significant differences in the amounts of success that Christian Fundraising groups experience. I have seen groups put together some wildly successful Christian Fundraisers and some not so successful ones. I believe that it all boils down to a few simple principals.
The first is that you need to provide value to the donor. Even if the donor has a heart for giving a poor product that provides little value can diminish a donors willingness to give. What is needed here is a product that gives back to the donor. Something they can use that is practical and immediately applicable. A product that doesn’t allow them to walk away feeling as if they have wasted money. Even if the believe in the vision that you are fundraising for often their gift can be “tainted” by a poor product. Ultimately the product is what they keep with them.
Secondly you need to put together a Christian Fundraiser that is fast and easy. Most ministries don’t have the personnel or the time to put together overly complicated Christian Fundraising events. Ministries need a product that allows them to raise money at a high level of profitability, and that is simple enough for everyone to be involved quickly. Simplicity and profitability are the keys.
Lastly, you need everyone involved in your Christian Fundraising campaign to fully invested in the vision behind the fundraiser. You can have the greatest Christian Fundraising product in the world and still find yourself coming up on the short end because you have not adequately communicated the vision. Ultimately Christian Fundraising is about the heart behind money you are raising, not raising the money for the sake of itself. As a leader of a Christian Fundraising campaign you need to be 10 times more excited about the vision than you want others to be. I have seen this principal work in ministry over and over again.
The Samaritan Card is a fantastic Christian Fundraising product because it provides significant value to the donor (up to 50% off at over 100,000 merchants nationwide). It is extremely simple, (no orders, forms, or return visits) and profitable (up to 70% profit per card). Though a product like the Samaritan Card is designed specifically to meet your Christian Fundraising needs it still needs a vision behind it. Church Fundraising is a combination of quality product and quality vision. Having one without the other makes it tough to raise money. Having both makes Christian Fundraising easy!
Posted by Aaron Jeschke on September 23, 2009
I was involved in youth ministry for a number of years and during that time one of the youth group fundraisers we used most often were car washes. We would go out early on a Saturday morning, (getting kids motivated to get up early on their only day off is tough) set up shop at a local gas station and commence the beckoning to passing cars. After a long, wet afternoon we would gather the days earnings. We had earned less than $400. Ten kids washing cars for four hours meant approximately ten dollars per hour per child. Not the best youth group fundraiser when you need $300 dollars per person to send them to youth camp later that summer. This is what I call tough Christian Fundraising.
In today’s world of youth group fundraisers we really need something faster, easier, and that would genuinely benefit our donors, which is why I love the Samaritan Card. It can be sold in minutes rather than facing the $10 per hour grind of the car wash. It helps to raise money quickly and easily while providing donors with the savings they need in tough economic times. I don’t believe there to be an easier Christian fundraiser than selling the Samaritan Card. For me, car washes are a thing of the past. Church fundraising has never been easier!
Posted by Aaron Jeschke on August 10, 2009
During my time in youth ministry we would often host workdays with our youth in order to raise funds for upcoming youth trips. These workdays would involve contacting a current church member and having them provide us with a large scale task, usually landscaping, for a sum that would go towards financing the participating youths trips. Overall I think that this method of has some good points. It allows to serve a church member in a very tangible way. It also allows the students to develop skills and build character learning that all work yields a profit. Though there are certainly obvious benefits is this really the best way to engage in youth group fundraising? There are certainly a number of cons involved in putting together a youth workday.
The obvious is that any job that the youth would do would not be very professional. If the church member is expecting to have lawn redesigned in a professional manner that certainly won’t happen. A second problem is that it is often very expensive for a church member to pay a full days worth of labor to a group of 10 or more students. This would lmit the number of church members who could be involved in organizing workdays. Lastly, it is a very hard days work for a youth pastor or youth leader who already has a tough enough job as it is. Most of the organizing and managing falls into the hands of the youth leader who might not even really know what he or she is doing.I know of one church that workdays are really the only fundraising tactic they really use. Is there a better way?
I think by selling a product such as the Samaritan Card you really can have a much faster, easier time of raising your money. All the youth pastor has to do is order the cards one time and distribute them to the students. The Samaritan Card eliminates the long, difficult workday and allows church members of all income levels to engage in youth group fundraising while saving those precious few dollars that they need. If a workday is too much for you than I definitely recommend you utilize the Samaritan Card.
