Ok, so in January I'm going to Senegal (Africa) on a medical mission trip.  The total costs for going are expected to be around $3000, which is a lot of money for me to come up with!  I've got $300 paid so far, but I'm gonna need some major help coming up with the rest... Anyone have any ideas for ways I could raise money?  I already got a scholarship from the program that's running the trip.... I think I'll probably only be able to come up with MAYBE another $1000 on my own before then...

Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated! 

p.p.s.  or gift certificates

i think that's all for now :P

Hm...if you live in an apartment or in the city, this idea might not work very well, so sorry if it doesn't help you much! But over the summer my neighborhood usually chooses a specific weekend to hold a collective neighborhood-wide yard sale (garage sale/rummage sale, whatever, lol). Maybe you could organize a similar event. You would get the profits from selling your own stuff and perhaps your neighbors would be willing to donate a few dollars as well.

Hopefully you find a way to raise the  money! It's fantastic that you're taking the trip. :)  

when i was fundraising for my barbados trip, we did car washes, we joined in with the santa dash (obviously thats not possible now ;p) and we did bag packing sessions in the local supermarket

every little helps :)

Congrats on getting those tickets Moela. 

All the ideas I had have already been mentioned. I'll try and think of some more.

Good luck with the fundraising. 

Have you checked with the state or maybe even county that you live in for grants?  Depending on what you are going there for they just might help out. 

 Otherwise everyone else ideas are great

I haven't read the whole thread, but here are my suggestions:

Write letters to friends, family, and local businesses asking for them to 'sponsor' you

Find something inexpensive to make (Duck Tape flowers, rag flip flops, flower pens, jewelry, there are a million things you could use) and sell them outside the local Wal-Mart or similar area with a sign explainging what you're raising the money for. 

- Write letters to family/friends
- Try to get your company to help sponser your trip
-

When I went to Nepal, I wanted to collect some money for the orphanage I helped and found a website where you could order 'scratch & help' fundraising cards.
People can scratch one or more circles on the card, pay the amount of money underneath them (max. 3 dollars/circle) and receive a small gift in return.
I've noticed that people really liked this system!!
The website where I got my cards from was European, but I think I've found a similar US website:
http://www.fasttrackfundraising.com/scratch_card_fundraiser.php

Good luck!

If you have old clothes or anything you could have a garage sale...and at the garage sale you could sell bottles of water and chips and stuff....

fundraiser/yard sales like if you dont want ur stuff anymore/bowling/family supporter/sell candies,sodas,snacks...those will able to work but just explain them what you are doing before doing it..wouldnt want them to think ur false about it :) have fun to do it and enjoy ur trip to africia :)