While some churches have budget money set aside to finance all or part of their VBS, others depend on other sources of revenue. As the summer approaches, fundraising ideas are moving their way to center stage. We have some strong options at Vacation Bible School Nut to help you raise money. However, If you can avoid fundraisers by encouraging your church leadership to add a line item for VBS to the budget, do it.

To be completely transparent, I'm not a huge fan of fundraisers because it's easy to nickle-and-dime church members and neighbors to death by constantly sponsoring them. My son is in elementary school and scouts and it seems like we have fundraisers every month or so. People just get tired of continually, without mercy, being begged for money. I'm sure you, as leaders of children, know what I'm talking about!

Here are a couple of suggestions to overcome this challenge by providing value, both physically and spiritually, to the giver.

*Invite an adult Sunday school class or small group to adopt a grade-level or individual class in your Vacation Bible School. You're not asking them to buy something they may not use, but giving them the opportunity to personally help change children's lives. They might choose to contribute the funds for decorating, crafts, etc or purchase the supplies themselves and participate in the decorating or setup for VBS.

*The one fundraising item that we purchase every year is the Entertainment coupon book. Every time we go out to eat, we pull out the book and decide where we'll go based on the coupons we have left. The coupon book saves us exponentially more than what we pay for it. It's the most valuable fundraising item I've encountered.

For more ideas, check out our Fundraising resources page . Let me know your ideas. What are some fundraisers you've led or participated in that were successful?