by Brian Birk

Created on: December 21, 2008

I'm a board member for my local Habitat for Humanity affiliate so I've spent some time raising funds. Some fundraisers have worked well and some have not. Let me tell you about two that have worked. I'm not the first one in the history of the world to use either one of them, but I believe they are more fresh than stale.

The first fundraiser involves singing and the second involves building a playhouse. The first one is easy and makes money every time, the second one takes a lot of time and effort, and if you aren't careful can cost more than it earns.

The first is called a Habitation Singspiration. A Habitation Singspiration is a musical fundraiser used to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity.

Singspirations consist of about a dozen music groups singing one song each, plus some audience participation. During the singspiration there is a free will offering, and after the singspiration it is practically mandatory to have coffee and refreshments.

I've organized a few singspirations. The first step is to find a local church to host the singspiration. The church should be one of the larger churches in terms of seating capacity. The more people who attend the larger the free will offering. Set a time and date. I suggest Sunday afternoons close to Christmas or Easter. Many of the elderly folks don't like to attend evening events because they don't like to drive in the dark. Some of those elderly folks make large donations. Church choirs will always have a song or two ready to sing close to Easter or close to Christmas.

The host church invites choirs from the other churches in the area to participate. Each choir sings one song at the event. It does not have to be a choir. It could be a soloist, or any size group between soloist and mega choir. The host church prepares the bulletin and therefore needs to know what each music group is called and the title of each song. The host church should also select three for four songs for congregational singing.

The Habitation Singspiration needs to be advertised. Churches are not always good at advertising. Make things easy for the churches. Type up a bulletin insert, bring a copy to each of the local churches. Ask them to make copies and put it in their bulletin at least two Sundays before the singspiration takes place. Ask them to also announce it to the congregation. Public service radio, television and newspaper announcements are also helpful.

The free will offering should take place about mid way through the program. Someone from

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