And please, no Ponzi schemes! :)
This summer, our church will be sending a team of mostly college-aged people to Japan to partner with the ministry of a local church there. The prospect of raising $3000 each has been daunting for our team members.
As pastors, my wife and I have done our best to assure them that, in our experience, money is never the thing that prevents us from participating in God’s work around the world — but, at the same time, they must be willing to work really hard to raise the necessary support.
If you have any ideas that a small group of five or ten people can use for effective fundraising, please let me know. And, if you’d like to contribute, drop me a line!
headsparks* 
Hi =)
Your trip sounds really exciting! And you’re right..money shouldn’t have to be an issue. Do you already have contacts in Japan? If so, I would suggest looking for sponsorship in local businesses. Even ones your wouldn’t think would be willing to sponsor a church sometimes are the most agreeable.
You could also spot them the money for a one-way trip and have them try to work at some of the local businesses.
My last suggestion would be to consider, if you’re in the US, state grants for your religious sect…there’s always lots of money available for trips like yours if you don’t mind filling out a bunch of paperwork.
It sounds like what you need are some “coffee thoughts.” Here’s a website which sort of explains what I mean:
http://onecoffeethought.wordpress.com
Good Luck!!
P.S. this is the site where that link comes from:
http://www.onecoffeethought.com
swimattoct2389 (that’s a mouthful!) — Thanks for stopping by and for your suggestions. Normally, I’m not a big fan of paperwork, but if it helps to make this trip a reality for our students then I don’t mind :)
Greeting from a fellow Michigander who now lives in MN. I started a program at our church http://www.sotv.org for missions trips in 2005 and recently launched a national fundraising discount card program to help raise funds for missions trips, etc. This takes someone who loves to contact local businesses but I found it rewarding and we have multiple churches and non profits selling the community Save & Support Discount Cards.If you want to learn more about our program and our Community Giving Back program, go to my website http://saveandsupportdiscountcard.com Blessing! JCVolunteer
JCVolunteer — Thanks for stopping by and sharing the information about your program. I might be in contact further soon :)