Just because a church a few blocks away has a big rummage sale doesn't mean that you can't have one too. There are always people that love shopping looking for that special bargain.

How about offering to help a senior for a few hours in exchange for a donation. That way both benefit. I have a few jobs that I find hard to do and would gladly pay someone to do them for me. Simple things like changing burned out light bulbs in ceilings to shopping for heavy items would really be appreciated.

Collecting and taking back beer and liquor bottles and cans is another fundraiser.

Collecting and rolling pennies. When I ran a youth group we asked for penny donations and made a good bit of money there.

As long as your rummage sale is at a different time of year..or at least a couple months apart from the other church it could work well.

Also, silent auctions can bring in a lot of money.

Our garden club has a yearly sale we sell home baked goods, and plants that we all donate from our gardens. We start early separating plants into pots from our existing plants or start new from cuttings. We also buy the cheapest clay pots and we have get togethers where we paint the pots decoratively. We also have everyone clean out what ever they were going to put in a garage sale and instead donate to the cause so we can have a nice garage sale selection too. If anyone has any special talents and will donate we take it. I have made a lot of my jewelry to sell for the garden club sales. I have also made a few of my garden totems which sold out quickly. One of our members made the most beautiful and amazing silk scarves, she bought silk fabric cut to size for scarves edge hemmed, stretched them out and painted on them with water colors, some just abstract colors some were objects but all very fluid looking. We were amazed. We sold all of them. Of course most of us bought one! This is one super easy and extremely rewarding. Google watercolor painted silk scarves for many tutorials I will link to one.
We make several thousand dollars for our club, and then a large portion of the money we in turn donate to various organizations.

An auction is a good idea too. Ask for valuable donation items from the church membership which you can then auction for funds for the trip.

Try Google for fundraising ideas

Here is a link that might be useful: Painted scarves

An elementary school I worked at did weekly nacho sales Friday after school which were extremely popular. The nacho cheese sauce is sold in giant cans, you get jalapeños in big jars, and then tortilla chips and disposable bowls. All you need are some large crock pots to warm the cheese sauce.
People liked them because they could tote the nachos with them as they visited with other parents or rounded up their kids to go home.
You could probably sell lemonade too depending on how hot the jalapeños were you might do well.
I think if you did weekly nachos and one large rummage sale y'all would be fixed up for your trip to Costa Rica.

How about having a pancake breakfast or supper? I love those. I was just reading in the paper this morning about a Canadian club in the little town of Ft. McCoy that had one. They charged $5 a plate and had about 100 diners. I'm not sure how much profit they made, though. They served eggs, Canadian bacon, sausage, fried potatoes, fruit and pancakes or toast. That sounds a little expensive and pancakes and sausage or ham would be so much easier. Chili suppers are good, too. I wouldn't have it on Sunday after church unless you have a large membership because you would mainly just get the people from your congregation. Saturday morning a lot of people are out running errands and would probably enjoy seeing friends. It's been a long winter!

Along with that, you could have a bake sale/craft sale.

Good luck--I hope you raise all the money you need for your trip.

Ideas from my Girl Scout Leader Days:
Can you have a Bingo night with the proceeds going to the Costa Rica Trip?
Pot luck dinner? People who sign up need to bring a dish.You also sell raffles and have baskets for prizes, which is where you make the money.
Does your church have lots of young kids? Have a rainbow bracelet night for parents and kids. Or, just kids and parents can go out for a quick dinner. (Parent's night out)

Our high school band has earned money for band students to pay their band fees by donating their time at a local college home games. The college gives the group a set amount of dollars and they split it between the students for working at the concession stands. The money goes directly into their accounts. The kids enjoy the camaraderie with other students and guests. Parents also can work with students too.
Mary

One of the most successful fundraisers at our church was the annual hot cross bun sale. Order forms were distributed, and the product made available the week of Good Friday.

I also recall speciality item sales (like yeast rolls or cinnamon rolls or brownies or pies (for example) sold at the church after services. Perfect for people to take home for dinner.

Our local volunteer fire fighters hosted a fried catfish supper, with slaw, hushpuppies, etc. Also grilled chicken halves. Just the smell of the chicken brought people in by droves.

my dgds school does a huge plant sale, as does the church...I don't have a clue where the plants are ordered from...good weather day, our swim girls made about $600 for car wash...dil is selling bracelets from charms (she orders) like the pricier ones on tv...she says she's made enough ($1500 per person) for 3 people for her church...

I hesitate to mention bake or candy sales...although little ceasars does a fund raiser...and everyone loves pizza...

A local high school raises money by selling smoked turkey or turkey breasts around the holidays. Smoked pork BBQ might work. Don't know how popular that is in Iowa but it's sure big down here. I think they have someone local smoke the meat for them. Just another thought from someone who is now craving smoked turkey!

Thank you for the wonderful suggestions. I got better ideas from you here than I did by Googling fundraisers.

One thought I had that expands of some of the ideas above was a chili cook-off. You convince several people to make large pots of chili. You then charge admission for people to sample the different chilies and vote for the winner. If you have the entrants buy all their own ingredients for their chili, and award only a nominal prize to the winner (like a fancy ribbon or a cheesy trophy) the financial outlay on your groups part would be minimal, perhaps you'd provide the bowls, utensils, and maybe cups and beverages.

flower sale: My niece and nephew are part of missions team that just sold flowers for valentines day. They made almost $10,000 in one day! (500 dozen sold)
Mothers Day and Easter are approaching....
Does your church have a cafe?
can you set up an area Sunday mornings for coffee and pastries for a donation?
Chicken BBQ's always do very well around here. They are cooked by professionals....volunteers can pre-sell the chicken only or sometimes include a coleslaw, bun and drink. Most often make a few hundred extra to sell on smell alone! Set up cooking on a prominent road and you can smell coming and going!!
Also very popular are ham and cheese or sub sales.
Does your church have a kitchen? All you can eat spaghetti is easy to make on demand and always a hit.
Same with pancake breakfasts

Here is a link that might be useful: check out this chicken BBQ!! 25,000

Salgal, the church offers free coffee and pastries after the Sunday services so we couldn't sell them then. We were very lucky this past year to have Dunkin' Donuts come to town and the church parking lot is between Dunkin and the church. Dunkin asked if they could use the parking lot in exchange for $180 a week of pastries. Yum. We do have a new large kitchen in the church basement and could do a spaghetti feed. Thanks for the ideas.
The church is right across the street from Iowa State University which has 32,000 students. One Friday night each month we offer a free Friday night midnight breakfast to the students. It is very popular. During finals our campus pastor does free breakfasts all week for the students.He does made to order omlets one day, waffles,etc.Starts at 6 a.m.

Pizza and movie night, with sign-up ahead in order to know how many pizzas to order?

Our church has done this for some time, mainly for increased sociability, and to entice local residents not connected thus far.

Have a choice of 3 movies' DVD at the ticket table, people get a ballot to choose which they prefer.

Our charge has been five bucks per.

Son, who says that God is a figment of the imagination, and his partner have attended ... more than once.

ole joyfuelled ... with a bit o' help from the occasional pizza

Bump-er car.

o j

Actually my church has huge garage sale for the mission trip. The church is right beside a city park and another local charity (I can't remember which one) also has a garage sale at the same time. It works great for both of us and both groups make money. To people that love a good sale, they will go to both and they will buy at both, provided they find what they are searching for.

Couple other suggestions - the restaurants/bars I live in is known for Friday night fish fry. They sell coupon books for local businesses for their Friday night fish fry. Usually a BOGO, or so much off a meal. The book itself sells for something like $20 and the coupons are good for a year. I know people that try out different fish frys every week and so this is a great thing for them. A local hockey team had actual cards that looked like a credit card with some type of discount for different local busineses. The good thing about the cards or coupon books is that it is basically pure profit for the charity. The businesses like it because it is advertising for them and it may lead to a regular customer.