As many of you know, I'm pretty involved in my church. And like all things in our personal lives, prices have gone up for things at church too. The power bill has increased. Insurance increased for the few employees, the cost of materials like paper has gone up.
A couple of weeks ago we passed a deficit budget. And that is scary since it is often a crapshoot on giving to begin with.
I'm friends with the treasurer and he and I have been brainstorming ideas on ways to "fundraise" to make extra money to throw at the church mortgage to get it paid off sooner. If the mortgage was paid off, it would free up money for the regular budget.
I like doing research so I worked on that. Sadly Amazon is discontinuing its Smile program so that was out. But Kroger grocery stores does have a community outreach program where they donate a small amount back. So, we are working on getting people to sign up for that if they haven't already allocated these funds elsewhere.
A local meat shop is going to designate a week this month and whatever we buy and say we are from Mt. Calvary Lutheran, he will donate 10% back to us.
I know Rural King also has a Church Week program once a year so hopefully we can get some money back from that.
I have been playing around with sourdough, and I think I might have tweaked a recipe that is pretty good. I gave a loaf to a friend to try and asked if she thought it would sell. She said yes. I gave a loaf to my treasurer friend and he's going to try it and give me feedback on it as well.
And this weekend I also talked to a couple of ladies who liked my crocheted dish cloths and I asked if I brought some to them, if they might be interesed in purchasing them.
I do these receipt apps and two of them does PayPal, so I am going to donate my money for the mortgage. It's what I consider found money. It's not a huge amount, but more than what we had to begin with.
I know not one of these items is going to pay off the mortage, but I think it is like our personal lives where we chip away at stuff a litle bit at a time. Plus, having the Kroger store and the local meat shop giving back, we are helping our community by shopping, especially the local meat shop.
So, off to look for more fundraising ideas...
February 5th, 2023 at 07:37 pm 1675625878
February 5th, 2023 at 09:01 pm 1675630915
Depending on the amount and the interest rate, refinancing for a longer term might also make sense to lower current expenses.
In our ‘human’ lives, we pay off mortgages to have one less expense in retirement. But since the goal of the church is to live in perpetuity, then the length of the mortgage in itself is not an issue.
Because of inflation, debt paid in ‘future’ dollars is actually less pensive. This is counterintuitive, but if you think about rising wages and a steady debt amount, I think it makes sense. It’s why buying and staying in a house is so much better than renting (if you keep up with repairs).
I also think letting the congregation know of the goal to pay off the mortgage might bring in some larger donations. People who plan to leave money after their death might think about advancing some or all of it now to back a concrete goal. And rallying to work on a shared goal might add to the spirit of community.
Our church used to host ham and bean suppers - open to the community - where the cooks of the church made baked beans, bread/rolls, and desserts. The church had a kitchen and a large communal area with tables and chairs. Another church in an Italian area hosted spaghetti and meatball suppers - you could bring your own container for take out. And some churches on Cape Cod host both Saturday morning pancake breakfasts and Friday noontime lobster roll lunches. Because it is both a tourist are and has a lot of retired people, these are extremely popular.
Good luck with your endeavors!
February 6th, 2023 at 03:33 pm 1675697584
February 7th, 2023 at 06:28 am 1675751286
What about having people donate stuff and running a garage sale full of donated stuff and letting the church people tag and help run it as volunteers?
Or getting items and doing an auction works as well. If there are people with maybe a vacation home they could donate a week and you can auction it off.
February 7th, 2023 at 11:02 am 1675767750