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One of the big questions most families have when it comes to adoption is "how will we pay for it?" We've already blogged about our story about affording the first half of our adoption (read here) but I know every family's story is different! Our church hosted an Orphan Care Meeting in 2010 and the President of the Abba Fund came and spoke about possible ideas to raise/make/save money for an adoption process. And he worded it correctly: there is NO price on saving a child's life and bringing a child into a home where the gospel can be taught. Amen! So start saving your pennies (literally, one family asked their social circles to save their pennies for a few months in jars, and made a good bit of money that way!) and here are some ideas:
1. Host Online Auction. Have people and local businesses donate goods and services and have an online auction through Ebay or on your blog with a deadline. In the blogs people can leave their bids in the comment section and have a limited number of days until the auction closes. (Families who have done this are here and here.) Another friend recently started doing a group auction for her items each month, combining new items into a basket and people could enter the giveaway for $5 per entry (see here). My friend Lauren recommended that after you ask around for donors, you should invest about $200-400 in the auction, including a big ticket item like an Ipad or Kindle or gift cards. The higher the investment, the more traffic you will get in the giveaway and people will be more likely to invest into that giveaway.
2. FFM. If traveling internationally ask people to donate Frequent Flyer Miles. Check with your travel agent before committing to them.
3. Fund raising Events. Host a ticketed event with a theme and a meal (Valentines, Crazy 80s night, Mexican Fiesta, 3 on 3 basketball tournament, poker night, concert, spaghetti dinner, etc.) Consider hosting this at a community center, church or restaurant, etc. You can also give people options for their ticket prices and hold a silent/live auction as part of the evening (get local businesses to donate gift certificates, gift baskets, products or services and local artists to donate photography and artwork).
4. Online Networking. Set up a blog, website, or Facebook Group to journal about your adoption journey and include a DONATE link through paypal for people wanting to give toyour adoption fund.
5. Fundraising Sales. Do a fundraiser similar to what youth groups or schools do to raise funds for a mission trip, band trip, senior trips (ie. car wash, bake sale, etc).
6. Yard sales. Have friends and church family donate items and have a huge yard sale with all the proceeds going to your adoption ( we did 3 and raised over $5K! for tips check here).
7. Donate your old cell phones and print cartridges. Every print cartridge is worth $1 and cell phones can be redeemed for a few dollars all the way up to a couple hundred dollars each.(Check it here or here or just a google search will show you several local options for companies who buy cells and cartridges, and while you're at it read this article).
8. Baby Bottle Campaign. Buy bottles in bulk and design a paper flyer to go in each bottle telling about your adoption. Then distribute them to friends, family, businesses, churches, schools, daycares- whoever is willing to put their spare change in the baby bottle. Give them one month to see if they can fill the bottle and then collect them. One crisis pregnancy center that does this averages $20-25 per bottle so this idea can really add up. It's also a great way to get kids involved.
9. Support Letters. Mail letters to friends and family telling them to about your plans to adopt. Send it out like a birth announcement. Share with them the estimated costs and ask them to consider helping.
10. Get Crafty. Use a skill or hobby and sell items online or through your community network. Examples are paintings, crafts, photography, music, greeting cards, etc. Make crafts specific to the country you are adopting from. Lots of families do ornaments, handmade t-shirts or bags. - (Adoption families that set up craft siteslook hereand here)
11. Independent Consulting/Sales. Sign up with a cosmetics, tupperware, or other company where all sales you make through hosting parties, etc will go toward your adoption. Get the whole family involved! I have seen this a few times with Tastefully Simple, Thirty One, Pampered Chef, Usborne Books, or other consultant type shops. Ask around in your community to see who is a rep that can help you with this. If you don't want to be a consultant, ask a consultant friend to throw you a party and let your "host" perks be donations to your adoption fund.
12. Puzzle piece donations. Buy a puzzle and let people donate a certain amount for each piece and they can write their name on the back of the puzzle. (To see families who have done this click here, here, orhere).
13. Just Love Coffee. This website is AMAZING! Not only was it started by an adoptive family, but it is fair-trade coffee and it is delicious AND! every bag of coffee that is sold $5 goes to the adoptive family. We love this website! It is super easy to set up. Check out our page!
14. Personal Savings. This one may seem obvious, but if you are in the situation where you don't yet qualify for adoption for some reason, start saving NOW! Cut back on spending, go on a cash-only budget, get rid of cable and extra frills, don't eat out, get creative with freedate nights, have fun seeing what you can cut out and remember that every dollar saved is a dollar for a baby to have a home and learn about Jesus. It is worth it!
15. T-shirts. Sometimes you can get these for discounted if you know somebody! Or have a designer friend make up a design! Most adoptive families charge around $20-25 for t-shirts so they can make good profit on tshirt sales. You can see a list of t-shirts here. Becreative and don't copy someone else's design! There are several options for creating t-shirts, from doing it yourself to partnering with an organization such as adoption tees.
16. Partner with Lifesong for Orphans for the Both Hands Project! This is an incredible, unique opportunity where you can work with your church or community to serve a local widow, as you fundraise for your adoption.
17. Interest Free Loans or Grants. Check out companies like Abba Fund, Lifesong for Orphans, Show Hope, Southern Baptist Convention (has grants for SBC pastors).
18. Tukula sales. Tukula is a special organization from Uganda in which artisans sew beautiful items. You can partner with Tukula by purchasing a fundraising kit (price ranges $80 or $150) and sell the items at whatever price you can for your adoption. We did this, several families I know did this and let me tell you, those items sold FAST!
19. Rebekah Blocher Jewelry. This small business partners with adoptive families to sell unique jewelry. Check out their website here for more details. With a very small investment (just a few dollars for shipping), she will send adoptive families jewelry to sell- and you only pay her for what you do sell (half of what you make).
20. Become an Amazon Affiliate. This may be the easiest fundraiser ever! Just put a link on your blog or other social media outlet, and people shop Amazon through it for you to receive 10% of their purchase cost! EASY EASY! Click here to sign up.
21. Partner with Olive Tree Promise. This is an online business started by adoptive families, for adoptive families! If you are an adoptive family OR a vendor looking to support adoptive families, check out the website here.
22. Parner with Chrome Buffalo. This is a 10-day partnership where you choose one of their t-shirt designs to promote, and for every shirt that is bought under your link, you get $11. It seems really easy! Website here.
So don't get discouraged, there are MANY MANY MANY ways to make/save some money and even though you may not start out the process with $30K in the bank, you will be surprised at how faithful God is when he calls you to adopt.
Remember this:
"God will generously provide all you need." 2 Corinthians 9:8
"This same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus." Phillipians 4:19
"He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:32.
And as always, if you have ANY questions or if there is any way we can encourage you, please don't hesitate to email! Yestoadoption (at) gmail (dot) com. We are so blessed to journey beside adoptive families and celebrate God's faithfulness together. I don't have the answer to everything but I can pray for you. :)
Also, check out (and contribute to) the comments section- there may be helpful information there too!
