Please help with my new calling


KScience
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I am posting here for traffic since the youth forum is not active.

 

I have been called as YW president :animatedlol:

We are a small ward (average about 50 in sacrament) and I only have 4 active YW. There are LOTS more YM.

My biggest concern this year is raising funds to send the youth to FSY or beehive/deacon camp. In the past they have had a dinner/ bake sale event but have had difficulty collecting the money from members who turned up so barely covered costs!!  If we were to go this route I would change how funds were collected but was wondering if anyone had any great alternative ideas?

 

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My daughter is in YW. I noticed in the past at their bake sales that members (usually parents of the YW) will buy a few cookies or cup cakes and write a check for $500 or something like that.

I do the same, just give them some big bills but skip the sugary snacks.

Ideas about how to depart money from other members? not sure.

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wait a sec, I was fishing/hunting with a ward member who is in his 70's, as we had long talks and the subject of tithing came up, he mentioned that in his recent tithing settlement meeting that the newly appointed bishop (of only 5 months) emphasized the ability "to pay tithing as best he could" rather then emphasizing exact 10% on increase. This member, who served in the bishopric in years past, made it sound like the spirit of the law is taking favor over the letter of the law in regard to tithing. This is something I find interesting because members usually get rejected of their temple recommends if they dont pay at least 10% tithing.

Our YW group is planning a trip this summer so I may direct more of my tithing monies to them directly instead of the general tithing fund.The  Lord will understand.

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3 hours ago, priesthoodpower said:

wait a sec, I was fishing/hunting with a ward member who is in his 70's, as we had long talks and the subject of tithing came up, he mentioned that in his recent tithing settlement meeting that the newly appointed bishop (of only 5 months) emphasized the ability "to pay tithing as best he could" rather then emphasizing exact 10% on increase. This member, who served in the bishopric in years past, made it sound like the spirit of the law is taking favor over the letter of the law in regard to tithing. This is something I find interesting because members usually get rejected of their temple recommends if they dont pay at least 10% tithing.

Our YW group is planning a trip this summer so I may direct more of my tithing monies to them directly instead of the general tithing fund.The  Lord will understand.

I've neither seen nor heard direction from Church leaders that this is the case.  While there's plenty of direction that tithing is "‘one-tenth of all their interest annually,’ which is understood to mean income" and not to dictate to members what constitutes income, that's all I've heard in the past decade.

I do know of a couple of families that have been told by priesthood leaders not to worry about paying a full tithe as their finances are such that paying a full tithe would cause them to default on debts. The consequence of that would be fees, and a never ending spiral of not getting out of debt.  And so they've been told not to feel bad about not paying a full tithe while they get their debts taken care of.  But they also aren't given temple recommends.

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6 hours ago, KScience said:

I am posting here for traffic since the youth forum is not active.

 

I have been called as YW president :animatedlol:

We are a small ward (average about 50 in sacrament) and I only have 4 active YW. There are LOTS more YM.

My biggest concern this year is raising funds to send the youth to FSY or beehive/deacon camp. In the past they have had a dinner/ bake sale event but have had difficulty collecting the money from members who turned up so barely covered costs!!  If we were to go this route I would change how funds were collected but was wondering if anyone had any great alternative ideas?

 

My best piece of advice is to expand your idea of a fundraiser.  Read Handbook 2 13.6.8, and take notice of the following phrase: "Stakes and wards that sponsor fund-raising activities should not advertise or solicit beyond their boundaries. Nor should they sell products or services door to door."

My guess is that if you only have 50 members attending sacrament meeting, you have a fairly large geographical boundary.  See if you can come up with a fundraiser that isn't dependent on just the ward membership.  If you pursue such a fundraiser, invest in some matching t-shirts for your group, and teach them to identify themselves to customers and explain the purpose of the fundraiser. "Fundraiser for church" is not going to gain as much positive support as "fundraiser to help our youth group pay for supplies for a week long summer camp" will get a pretty good reception.

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I don’t know if this would work where you live but...shoveling driveways is a popular fund raising idea here as is washing cars. I think @MarginOfError ideas of moving beyond church membership is a good idea but I would email your bishop first to check. Best way to raise money quickly here is to sell hamburgers outside of supermarkets. Here, the big chains loan you all the supplies, barbarcue etc. But they may not allow church groups so check. One massive fund raiser here sold home baked cookies in the Canadian Tire. 😬 I bought tons...to hand out in Relief Society. How many lasted till Sunday? Zero. Shame. Shame. Shame. They were good though! 

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We have a small youth program too but we have more young women than young men.  In any case, we combine YM and YW fundraisers.  Our biggest money raised fundraiser was a Karaoke Night Auction.  The YW took care of dinner and dessert, the YM took care of the karaoke.

So, first, the event is held over spaghetti dinner, so to get dinner it is $5 per person or $20 per family.  The spaghetti stuff is donated.   Then through dinner, we had karaoke contest and the audience put money on the "hat" if they like the karaoke number.  The person/group with the most money raised wins the karaoke contest and gets a prize (donated).  In-between numbers, we auctioned out donated items like cakes and baskets and such.  One of the cakes got sold for $100!  And then if you want dessert, they had dessert stuff for sale too.  I paid $1 for a yummy cupcake.

We didn't have IOUs or promisory notes.  You pay $5 for the dinner at the door.  You drop cash in the hat.  You pay cash for the dessert.  The auction is also cash/check presented after winning the auction.

Also, the event was attended by friends and family including non-members.  We have some Filipino families who came with a bunch of their Catholic family and friends.  We also have a Korean family that came with a bunch of their Korean friends.  Same with the Brazilian family in the ward.  Karaoke is a big hit for Filipinos, Koreans, and Brazilians.

Edited by anatess2
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Thank you all for your suggestions (sorry not to get back to you sooner but work is ridiculously crazy and I barely have time to fit in sleeping so have limited social media time)

I am hoping that as I am a "fresh face" in the ward, members will go with me if I mix things up a bit and add some of your suggestions to what has already been established practice. We will have a new YM president this week, so hopefully it is someone open to new ideas (they will need a substantial amount raised due to having 12 active YM to send).

Members contributions historically would not have met the current demand, and very few of the parents of the youth are not in a financial situation to meet the costs so we will be needing some inspiration. We have time on our side so need to remain positive, engage the youth and put our best foot forward for this cause.

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  • 1 month later...

We were in a small Ward when my wife was in the YW Presidency.

The local Walmart let them have a table around Christmas time on a Friday night and Saturday to wrap gifts and accept donations - the table was outside but this was in Florida so it was not really cold.

They also held a car wash in the Church parking lot. And had an auction for services they could provide - baby sitting, cleaning, yard work, tutoring, etc

The YM did the auction thing also and also held a spaghetti dinner (Someone should have helped them to cook as the food was terrible but they raised money). They also did a 'garage" sale in the Church parking lot with items donated by members (anything left over at the end was donated to Good Will)

 

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