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Classes are in session for many schools around the nation! This means that many educational trips and opportunities to study abroad over the course of this school year will start becoming available for student’s consideration (if they haven’t already). 

Students who have studied abroad or gone on an educational trip describe it as a unique, unforgettable experience everyone should get to do at some point in their lives. However, many students forgo these opportunities altogether simply due to the cost. Flights alone can cost a few hundred to a few thousand dollars depending on where you’re going, not to mention the cost of hotels, ground transportation, food, and other activities. 

So, in the following 10 fundraising ideas, we will hopefully provide some tips to help you raise the money you need to take the trip of a lifetime! 

1. Create a GiveSendGo Campaign

GiveSendGo has a lot of individuals and groups using our platform to raise money for their educational needs. If you click on our education campaign category, you’ll notice that we have  a lot of educational campaigns and each campaign listed is unique, ranging anywhere from raising funds for the classroom, for an educational organization, for homeschooling, tuition, and more. If you or anyone you know is looking to raise funds for education, especially to study abroad to go on an educational trip we encourage you to use our platform as a resource to help you raise that money more effectively!

Just like with any other campaign, it’s important to tell your story. Be sure to share your heart and why you (and/or) your group is studying abroad or taking that educational trip. Share what you’ll be learning or studying while you’re there. Be as detailed as you can, so people can understand what you’ll be needing the money for. If the money is going to be used to cover flights, housing, food, or any other expenses be sure to explain that in your campaign. You can also include specific amounts they can give, so they don’t have to guess what you need, such as $50, $100, $150 - you get the picture. 

Once you’ve shared your story, share your campaign as much as you can with your family, friends, social media community, church family, co-workers, and your local community. Share it on your social media sites, send the campaign url through email to relatives and co-workers, and text the campaign url to your closest friends and family. The best way to raise funds for your trip is to spread awareness and get as many people involved as you can, so don’t be shy with that share button. You can’t share it too much and you might even be surprised by the amount of people who want to help support you and your group on this journey! 
You can also implement several of the following ideas into your GiveSendGo campaign or vice versa! 

2. Letters To…

Sending letters is one of the easiest fundraising methods you can do. Just as we mentioned before with the GiveSendGo campaign, be detailed in your letter as to what you’ll be doing on your trip, what the money people will be sending will cover, and how their donation will be making a difference in your trip. Be sure to also include the various methods they can use to give. The best part about this method is that you can provide the url to your GiveSendGo campaign in the letter, so people have another option to give aside from sending cash or a check through the mail. If you feel stuck and aren’t quite sure what to say in your letter, you’re not alone! There are hundreds of templates online geared specifically towards how to write a fundraising letter about studying abroad or an educational trip to help get you started in writing your letter. 

Once you’ve completed your letter, all you need to do is print it off, seal it in an envelope, and mail it off to you family, friends, church family, co-workers, community, professors, etc. For an extra personal touch, you can personally sign each letter before sealing it. Another tip is to include a stamped or plain envelope inside your letter. This makes it easier for the giver since they only have to send their money in your already stamped envelope, meaning you’re likely to receive more donations. 

3. Sell Items Online or at a Garage/Yard Sale

If the weather outside is nice you can hold a garage sale or yard sale to help fundraise for your trip. Weeks before you plan to do the sale, ask your family, friends, church family, and community to donate items they no longer want to you for your sale. Whatever money you raise can then be put towards your trip. You can apply the same steps to an online sale if you choose that method instead. However, you should keep in mind if you sell items online you will be responsible for also mailing all of those items out as well and if you have larger items that might end up being more of a hassle on your part.

4. Do a Presentation for Your Church About Your Trip in Exchange for a Scholarship 

This is a pretty common method also used for educational trips, studying abroad, and even mission trips if you’re a member of a church. Ask your church if they have any scholarships available or if they would be willing to either take up a love offering or donate money to your trip. If they say yes, you can offer to do a presentation on your experience for the church when you come back. This method not only gets you money for your trip, it also gives everyone the chance to hear about the trip they supported which is another way of thanking, or giving back, to those who donated and prayed for you! 

5. Ask People to Donate their Frequent Flyer Miles

This method is starting to become more and more popular. Whether you’re studying abroad or taking an education trip, most likely you’ll need to pay for your own flights, which aren’t cheap. If you know friends or family members who travel a lot, or if people aren’t able to give you monetary donations, you can ask them to donate their frequent flyer miles. Sometimes these points even cover hotel stays. 

6. $10 Destination Photos

People really enjoy having pieces of art to hang on their walls. This is especially true for photos and artwork that has special meaning to them. This fundraising method allows you to ask friends, family, co-workers, church family, etc. to prepay $10 for a photo, or per photo, from your trip. You could also charge extra if you plan on printing and framing those pieces when you return, but that’s up to you! Likewise you can charge $5 (prepaid before your trip) for a postmarked postcard sent from your destination. Just be sure to be intentional about taking decent photos while you’re gone and don’t forget! Now, everytime that person sees your picture on the wall, they’ll be reminded of how they helped support you! 

7. Clean Houses or Do Yard Work Around Your Neighborhood

This is a great way to reach out to your community for donations in exchange for practical help inside or outside of their homes. There are a lot of people who need help with various projects around the house, whether it’s a job they need extra hands for, or they’re an elderly person who can’t do extensive labor. Use these opportunities to reach out to those in need around your community to clean homes, do yard work, build something, or just help out with whatever they need for a few hours in exchange for a donation for your trip. You’d be surprised how many people will take you up on your offer! This also gives you the opportunity to get to know people around your community or church too! 

We’d suggest you dedicate a few hours each week to doing these jobs so you don’t take on more than you can handle. This method will earn you a few hundred dollars plus tips if you do a good job! Depending on how frequently you take up jobs like this, you could raise most of the money you need in just a few weeks! 

8. Offer Private Lessons

If you have some extra time in your schedule and either a skill or knowledge you can share, offer lessons or even tutoring to raise some extra money for your trip. What’s great about this method is that you can take on students in your community and even online! You could teach violin, dance, or simply help out a student with their math or science. Either way, people will pay a pretty penny for someone they trust to teach them, or their child, something they’re interested in, especially if they know their money will also be supporting you too!

9. Custom Calendar

This is very similar to the destination photos method. However, this custom calendar idea might just be even simpler and more creative! Before leaving on your trip, explain to those interested in supporting you that while you’re away you’ll be taking pictures of your experience, which you will then be transforming into a custom calendar when you come home. Let them know that by donating to your GiveSendGo campaign or directly paying you, they’ll be preordering/prepaying for this unique calendar they’ll receive when you come home. 

For this method, all you need is 12 good photos (or more) from your trip and you can start creating your custom calendar when you return from your trip. There are tons of websites out there that will allow you to create your own custom calendar with whatever photos you choose. Design your custom calendar, include your personal touches, and maybe even sneak in a “thank you!” to your supporters. Then, you can just send your calendars off to everyone who donated to you and your trip. Make sure to include another thank you note for their support along with your calendar! 

10. Become an Uber or Lyft Driver 

Although this method isn’t donation based, it’s a great way to earn some money towards your trip and also meet some new people! For this method to pan out, you’ll need a qualifying vehicle, sign-up for either Uber or Lyft, and make sure you’re verified to drive on their behalf. Once that’s settled, you can start earning money for your study abroad trip or educational trip. 

Shine Brightly!

Going on a mission trip, whether it’s across the world or even just a few states away is a wonderful opportunity to help fill people’s practical needs, to share the hope of the gospel, and to make new friends and connections. However, sometimes the staggering amount of money it takes to go on a mission trip stops people from going altogether. GiveSendGo wants to offer anyone considering or dedicated to going on a mission trip some tips and suggestions for how to raise money for missions so you can shine brightly and really make a difference in this world!

Many of these tips and suggestions provide opportunities to get your church family and community involved in your fundraising endeavors as well! 

1. Create a GiveSendGo Campaign

We have a lot of families, groups, and individuals raising funds for their mission trips on GiveSendGo. In fact, it’s one of our most used categories! We encourage anyone looking to raise funds for their mission trip to use GiveSendGo as a tool to make your journey easier. 

Just like with any other campaign, it’s important to tell your story. Be sure to share your heart and why you (and/or) your group feels it’s important to go on this trip. People want to hear what kind of work you will be doing during your trip whether that’s building a house, serving in inner city missions, helping with disaster relief, etc. Missions could be a variety of things, so it’s important to communicate those details about what you will be doing, other ways aside from donating that people could be helping, what they could also be praying for, and why it’s important for you to go and help serve and/or evangelize in that area. 

Once you’ve shared your story, share your campaign as much as you can with your family, friends, social media community, church family, co-workers, and your local community. Share it on your social media sites, send the campaign url through email to relatives and co-workers, and text the campaign url to your closest friends and family. The best way to raise funds for your mission trip is to spread awareness and get as many people involved as you can, so don’t be shy with that share button. You can’t share it too much and you might even be surprised by the amount of people who want to help support you and your group in this calling.
 
2. “Pick a Number” Board or Envelope Fundraising

These two fundraising methods are roughly the same thing or are at least very similar. It can also be called a “Wall of Money”. Either way, the concept is that you make a board with various amounts or numbers ranging from 1-50, 1-100, 1-150, or whatever amount you feel is appropriate. Typically those amounts are written on envelopes or slips of paper and attached to panels on a cardboard display board.

Then, people can choose a number or amount and donate that amount. Once an amount has been given, you can cross that number out on the slip of paper or envelope but leave the number on the board, so you can keep track of what amounts are left. It will also lead more people to want to donate those other available amounts to complete your goal. This method also ensures everyone gets an opportunity to donate no matter what their budget is. The benefit of using envelopes is that people can place their cash or check straight into the envelope labeled with the amount they’re donating. 

The best part about this method is that you can use it more than just once and it can be incorporated into any event. If you’re already hosting a fundraising event (maybe using one of ideas listed below) use this money board as a fun way to have people donate to your trip. You could also set it up and leave it every Sunday at your church, so people can decide when it’s best for them to donate. 
  
3. Trivia Night 

Trivia nights are a huge hit and garner a lot of attendees! It’s also an event that people of every age can participate in. You can charge a set price per group or table, charge per person and put people together at random, or use both methods! The benefit of charging per table or group is that if people want to play with their friends or family they can all chip in the donation price. 

The best part about trivia nights is that you have free reign with the topics you’ll quiz people over! You can have a trivia night with various categories such as movies, nature or landmarks, the town you’re hosting in, history, etc. Or you can get more specific and make your trivia night all about one topic such as Star Wars and each trivia category has something to do with Star Wars. Another option is to theme the trivia night based on the location of your mission trip. Decorate the room like that country or place and then use one of the categories to quiz them over that location. The sky’s the limit, so just have fun and be really creative! 

Because trivia nights can be tailored to your needs, you can implement other fundraising methods or activities into the night. For instance, during intermission you can host a silent auction or play some mini games where people can donate a set amount to play. You can also set up the envelope money board mentioned earlier for people to place donations in as they’re walking around. 

4. Sell T-Shirts, Bracelets, and/or Stickers

Who doesn’t love a good t-shirt? They’re fun to collect and serve as a great reminder of fond memories.

Making and selling a creative t-shirt design is a great way to raise money for your mission trip. Not only do you get to create something unique and personal to you and your trip, but people will wear them more than once, which will only increase the awareness of your trip. A way to take advantage of this is to encourage your supporters to post a picture of themselves on social media with your t-shirt! If you have a hashtag you’re using to share about your trip, you can even use that on the t-shirt and encourage others to share that same hashtag when they post with your shirt.

The same goes for rubber bracelets! They’re also cheaper, so if someone can’t afford a t-shirt or knows they won’t wear it, they can just buy a bracelet. Also, designing a fun sticker for computers, cars, or even water bottles are becoming more and more popular. They’re really easy to create and buy in bulk! Even though they're just stickers, you can charge higher prices like $15 per sticker (or for a pack of stickers). People are really willing to donate if they know it’s going to support something or someone they care about.  

5. Offer a Service

Offering a service, whether it’s just you as an individual or as a whole group going on missions, is extremely effective. Almost everyone has some sort of project around their house or yard they need accomplished and many of those projects are ones that require helping hands. You can reach out as a group or individual to your community, or even to your church family, to see if there’s anyone who needs help with an inside or outside project they would be willing to pay you for to support your mission trip. You’re likely to rack up a lot of projects! 

A few projects you may be able to help out with could be babysitting, lawn mowing, raking leaves, cleaning houses, organizing, building, planting flowers, removing tree roots, cleaning gutters, painting, and many more. Whatever the project is, it’s a great way to not only serve your community, but it’s also giving others the opportunity to serve you through your service by donating for your work. 

6. LemonAid Stand

A lemonade stand (or a LemonAid stand if you want to be punny) is another fun way for a group or a few people to work together to raise money for a mission trip. Making homemade lemonade is easy and fairly affordable. It’s also something simple you can incorporate with other fundraising activities over the summer like a garage sale or auction. 

7. Parents Night Out

Host a parents night out at your church or among your friend group! For one night you can offer to watch kids for a set price, or whatever parents would normally pay a babysitter, while the parents go out and enjoy a kid-free night.

8. Ice Cream Social

Ice cream socials are a fun summer activity to raise money for your mission trip. You can typically buy several large buckets or tubs of various flavors of ice cream for a relatively cheap price. We also recommend you provide different toppings and maybe even some drizzles or sauces for people to choose from. Then, you can charge $5, or whatever you see fit, per cone or bowl and you’d be surprised how many people from the community you’ll attract (especially from families on a really hot day)!

We suggest you also talk to local stores or organizations to see if they would be willing to donate the ice cream to you in support of your trip. The worst they can say is no, so it doesn’t hurt to ask! 

9. Garage Sale 
 
This idea works the best in spring or summer. Invite your family, friends, church family, and community to donate items from their house they want to get rid of to your garage sale. Then, based on your schedule and deadline, you can sell items in your garage sale every weekend or even everyday for a week. Then, all the money raised from the garage sale can go directly towards your mission trip.

 Once you’ve created your GiveSendGo campaign, now it’s time to share it with your family, friends, coworkers, church family, and community! You can do this through sending your campaign url through text or email, contacting your local news station, and sharing it on social media. 

But knowing what to post on social media to raise awareness about your campaign can be difficult. So, we have a few ideas to step up your social media game, no matter what platform you’re using, to help you reach that campaign goal! 

1. Founder Story

Getting to know the founder behind a campaign and more of their story allows potential backers to connect with you on a more personal level. After all, if they’re interested in your campaign they’ll most likely want to know more about what they’re potentially going to invest in. If they aren’t sure what they’re donating to or who they’ll be backing they may not feel secure enough to give. So share a little bit about yourself and how you were inspired to start your awesome campaign! This is the time to share the details of your story!

2. Video

Videos have a lot more impact than you may realize. Even a poorly produced or edited video does something more for your audience than plain text or even sometimes an image. We’re in a day and age where people process and understand information primarily through visuals. Watching videos requires no effort on the backer’s part. It keeps them engaged longer, since video is an entertainment tool and just by watching your video they’re learning more than they even realize themselves. Videos are also sticky, as in people are sticking around and being exposed to your message for longer periods of time. 

You can also do just about anything through video. You can record yourself talking about your campaign (this might be a creative way to share your founder’s story). Or, if you’re camera shy or simply don’t want to show yourself on camera you can still get your campaign’s message across to your audience with video without ever making an appearance on camera. You can make a video slideshow of pictures, show some behind the scenes of your campaign, do a voiceover and cover it with some video or pictures instead, feature someone else related to your campaign and have them tell a story, or (if it’s relevant) feature a place or product. No matter what you decide to do, it doesn't have to be long or professionally made to get the job done. Just be clear and creative and you’ll see just how far your video will take your campaign! 

Once you’ve created a video, you can easily share it on social media with a few clicks. With just a few shares people will hear more about your campaign on a deeper level without having to take the time to read a ton of text. Make sure to include the link of your GiveSendGo campaign when you share your video, so if people are led to donate they have somewhere to do so!

3. Lives

Live videos, like other forms of video content, reach a larger audience than pictures or text as well. The beauty of lives is that they aren’t edited. Likewise, they don’t need to be professionally done or super long to engage with your audience. You’re also not required to always show your face in live videos. You can show a video of an event you’re at, your family, your office space, or even something featuring the behind the scenes of your campaign. Anything that would add to your campaign’s message or goal would be good to show in a live. You can use lives to also share a quick update regarding your campaign, or simply to thank your supporters for donating and praying. 

While you can share live videos to your social media page for people to watch later, people love tuning in to watch a live video because it’s deeply personal and unique. They’re able to see you speaking with them and are even able to have a conversation with you in real time no matter where you, or they, are in the world. Live videos feature a live comment section, so as supporters are asking questions you’re able to respond to them as if they were right in front of you. This also gives you an opportunity to do a Q&A whether that’s to answer questions about your campaign, your story, or even just to get to know more about the people who are donating. It’s a really neat feature that connects you with your audience on a deeper level and lets them know you’re invested in them as well. 

4. Images

Sharing a picture of you, your family, friends, or anything/anyone related to your campaign on social media adds another personal touch to your outreach. It also helps people put a face to the name, or in this case a face to the campaign. Let’s say your family is raising money for medical expenses. Sharing a picture of your family along with some text detailing the story behind your campaign will capture your potential audience’s attention better than plan ole’ text. They want to see the people they’re investing in. Showing a face is a whole other level of communication and often people are led to give simply because they’ve found ways to connect to you. An image is a quick and simple way to make that connection. 

But it’s also important not to just share pictures for the sake of sharing them and don’t post a picture if it’s really bad quality. People are being engaged on social media thousands of times a day. What you post is just something else in a sea of posts, so make it intentional and something that will make them pause to read your caption and engage with your campaign. Be creative, personal, and make sure your photo is of decent enough quality that people actually want to look at it a second time, because it’s what they’ll see when thinking about your campaign later down the road. Remember, people are mostly visual learners. 

5. Blogs

While videos are known to be the best way to get the most exposure for campaigns, blogs are also a great tool. Blogs allow you to share the details of your campaign that you maybe wouldn’t share in your campaign’s summary or in a video. 

In a blog you can get more in depth with your story. You yourself can write a blog or have someone else write something on your behalf to promote your campaign. You can also get more technical with your blogs and share in depth details of how people can help you in your campaign, what they can be praying for, or how to give. Some use blogs as open letters to their supporters to thank them for all their help. You can also embed images and/or videos in your blogs to add a personal touch and to break up the text. 

No matter how you choose to use your blog, it’s something that can also easily be shared on social media. Appealing to all of your audience’s senses is the best way to get the most engagement. 

6. Thank Yous

People want to know that their support is making a difference. If they don’t see their impact, they’re likely to stop caring about your campaign, so be sure to genuinely thank your supporters and do it often. Because it’s true, you really couldn’t do it without them. 

On social media, a thank you can be done creatively like through a video of you and your friends or family all yelling thank you or through something as simple as typing up a thank you post and attaching a photo to share on your page. People will notice your gratitude, but they will also notice the absence of it, so be sure to recognize them for what they’ve done for you and your campaign. 

7. Countdown 

You may not have a strict deadline for when you need your campaign to end. GiveSendGo allows you to raise money even past your campaign’s deadline. However, some people need to have their money raised by a certain date. For instance, people going on a mission trip need the money before they’re able to go. Likewise, a family building a house might need that money by a certain date.  

Use that deadline to your advantage. People may not realize how short or long of time you may have to raise that money, so they might simply be thinking they have plenty of time to give. You don’t have to panic and constantly remind people that you’re one day closer to not making your fundraising goal, but there are ways to encourage people to give before it’s too late. One way to do this is through a countdown. 

People love a good countdown. Don’t believe me? Everyone around the world goes crazy on New Year’s Eve. You don’t have to do an actual ticking countdown to promote your campaign, but for instance, say you’re going on that mission trip mentioned earlier. A post saying “Only 30 More Days Until I Leave for Ghana! There’s still time to help me reach my goal! Just click on this link to support my mission,” sounds a whole lot better than “I only have 30 more days until I leave for Ghana and I haven’t even raised half of the money I need. Please help.” 

Have fun with every part of your campaign even when things don’t always look promising. You might be surprised by somebody’s donation! Some people just need a little time and some reminding before they’re able to give and that’s okay. 

8. Hashtag

This isn’t so much a post idea, but rather something to go along with your posts. Brainstorm a hashtag that really captures the heart of your campaign and use it in your campaign posts. Come up with something creative, simple, not too long, and make it memorable. 

Encourage your audience to use the hashtag when sharing your posts or use it to celebrate on social media when they donate to your campaign. Hashtags stick in people’s memory if used often enough. It’s also easily shareable and spreadable to people who have never heard of your campaign before. Another bonus is it helps you keep track of how your campaign is spreading across social media. 

9. Rewards

You’re not required to give your backers any rewards. However, it would be wise to do so. After all, they’ve invested in you and your idea, the least you can do is return the favor. 

One way you can reward people on social media for their giving and support is by doing a giveaway! You can make a post saying that when someone donates to your GiveSendGo campaign, their name will be put into a drawing and on a certain date you’ll pick a name (or a couple) and send a gift or note to that person(s). Bonus: Record a live video of when you draw those names so you can thank them and even those whose names didn’t get drawn for supporting you. This will draw people to your social media page in anticipation for the drawing and give your campaign even more exposure. 

Good gifts as rewards might be a t-shirt with your campaign name on it, a rubber bracelet with your campaign’s hashtag, or a sticker with an image that represents your campaign. A note or handwritten letter thanking them for their support would also be great to send out as a gift or even to all of your backers. 
If you can’t afford to give rewards like this or you don’t have the time, you can simply reward your backers by continuing to update them on social media and thanking them for their support. Another free way to reward your backers is by featuring their names (if they didn’t donate anonymously) on your social media pages. On GiveSendGo you’re able to access all of these names if you do decide to thank them by social media or handwritten letter. 

10. Campaign Updates

If people are invested in your campaign, it’s likely they want to see it flourish so you can reach your goal. Providing updates from time to time is a form of engagement with your backers and audience. One way to do this is by posting how much you’ve raised. You could post an update celebrating that you’ve reached the halfway goal or that you’ve raised 75% of the money you need. Updates like these make people want to give more so you can reach the end of your goal! 

Your updates should also be to keep people informed about the status of your situation. For instance, if you’re raising money to cover medical bills for a loved one, you should periodically release updates telling people how they’re doing. People give because they care, so one way you can give back to them is by sharing the details of your campaign and story as it’s unfolding. 

Shine Brightly!