5 Ways to Raise Money for a Church Retreat

Posted on November 14, 2018 by America's Keswick in Retreat Planning

Church retreats don’t pay for themselves – it’s typically up to the organizers to come up with ways to fund the entire operation. Planning is hard work, and so is determining how to finance a church retreat and everything it includes, such as:

• Food and beverages
• Lodging
• Materials
• Transportation
• Marketing
• Miscellaneous costs

So how do you raise money or finance a church retreat? These five tips will get you started.

5 Ways to Raise Money for a Church Retreat

Before you begin planning how to get the money you need to host your best church retreat yet, you need to figure out how much you need. Once you have a solid figure, you can begin strategizing. Here are five great ideas to help finance your church retreat:

1. Host a ticketed dinner
2. Hold a Work-a-Thon
3. Have a silent auction with donated goods and services
4. Run a church-wide yard sale
5. Hold craft nights or offer classes

You can also ask for donations and sell tickets to the event to help raise funds, or you can brainstorm other creative ideas. The bottom line is that you’ll want to depend on donated time and items to bring in the cash for your big event.

Host a Ticketed Dinner

Themed dinner events are a great way to raise money for a church retreat. Spaghetti dinners, fish fries, and potlucks are some of the most common types, but you can put your own twist on them, too – like date night with childcare in the Bible study room, dinner theatre, or holiday-themed evenings.

Hold a Work-a-Thon

Work-a-Thons are a fun way to do good in the community and raise funds for your retreat. Participants can collect pledges in return for donating time helping people in the community, such as cutting the grass or painting for elderly church members, doing housework for disabled people or performing repairs in the church building.

Have a Silent Auction

Asking church members and community members who own businesses to donate time or services for a silent auction can bring in a significant amount of money to use toward your church retreat. You can even combine a hosted dinner with a silent auction to raise more.

Run a Church-Wide Yard Sale

You can ask your entire congregation to donate items for a church-wide yard sale and use the proceeds to fund your retreat. The added bonus: You can use the yard sale to meet new people and introduce them to your organization.

Hold Craft Nights or Offer Classes

Throwing a craft night or offering art classes can be a great fundraiser. If you have talented members in your congregation, you can ask them to volunteer their time – but you can also hire locals to teach, often at a flat rate, and envelop that cost into ticket costs for the event. Painting classes, knitting nights and specialty crafts are spectacular ways to bring in money to help pay for your church retreat.

Are You Planning a Church Retreat?

If you’re still in the planning stages for a church retreat and looking for a great place to host it, America’s Keswick may be the perfect place for your members to come together. For more than 80 years, America’s Keswick has provided beautiful retreat spaces for church groups from all over the country. We’d love to answer your questions and give you a tour of our family-friendly facility, so please contact us today to learn more.