General
Catholic Social Ministry Gathering Young Leaders Initiative Fundraising Ideas
CSMG Young Leaders Initiative Fundraising Ideas
Planning to attend CSMG with your college or university but need to raise funds to get there? Check out these fundraising ideas based on what has worked for other YLI participants.
- Partner Partner Partner! See if campus offices or departments associated with Catholic identity or faith in public life can pool funds for the trip.
- Ask Student Government. See if funds are available from the Student Government, Student Senate, or Office of Student Activities.
- Partner with a Parish. Is there a parish on or nearby campus? Put out a call for parishioners to sponsor all or part of students’ participation.
- Crowdfund. Use a site like GoFundMe or Indiegogo to get small donations from lots of people.
- Use Social Media. Post your pitch for donations on your Facebook page.
- Phone Bank. Have your group get together one evening and spend two hours making personal phone calls, texts, emails, and Facebook messages to individual contacts you each have who you’d like to ask to donate to your trip.
- Eat for a cause. Ask a favorite student establishment to donate 10% of its profit on a given evening towards your group’s trip—then get all your friends to go there on the day.
- Play ball. Professional sports stadiums will sometimes allow community groups to work one of the concessions stands during a game, in exchange for a percentage of the profits.
- Re-sell it. Donut shops, bakeries, or other businesses sometimes allow community groups to purchase items at 50% cost and then sell them at full cost.
- Brainstorm! Think about what fundraiser might give you the biggest bang for your buck (or your time) on your campus or in your area. Car wash? Used book sale? Spaghetti dinner? Consider what works for other campus groups.