In efforts to reach out to other prospective adoptive families or currently in-process adoptive families and to help them reach their financial goals towards their adoption costs, we'd like to brainstorm with you to share our ideas (or ones we have found) and pass them along!
Raising funds for an adoption or any cause that is dear to your heart takes time, resources, organization, marketing, creativity, and did I mention time? Now, you might not be the most creative, the most organized, or the best at marketing your ideas, but you don't have to be a super star at all these things! Just great at one thing, and that's taking the time. Some of that time includes time on your knees in prayer trusting the Lord to provide and show you ways where He is working! Would you rather Him follow your ways or you follow His? Trust me, follow His plans and you will be blessed every time.
Important: We truly and completely give God all the glory and all the credit for the great things that He has done through our adoption process and by providing the funds for us thus far. By no way is this of our works, but only by the blessings of His hand in this. It is a huge leap of faith for our family and many families to come up with the expensive costs during an adoption process. God has helped us so very much and we used our willing and able bodies to carry through His plans. Fundraising is that simple: Just let go and let God be the guide as you are the bodies willing to work for Him here on earth in the flesh. Read more about that HERE.
So, you can learn how to organize, use an idea from someone else, but if you haven't got the time, well, pray that others will come along side you to help or even plan and kick-off a fundraiser for you! What a blessing that is.
Here is our running list of fundraiser ideas. Some we have tried, some we might still try, and others just aren't up our alley. The goal is to find those fundraisers that suit you, your style, your area, your audience, think it over, pray about it, and then go to it!
Adoption Bug T-shirts- set up an account and a portion of the sales go to your funds: adoptionbug.com
Adoption Pure Charity - adoption.purcharity.com is an organization that will guide you through raising funds that will be directly paid to your agency and tax deductable givings for your friends.
Baked Potato Bar- serving baked potatoes and all the toppings at a fundraiser dinner
Battle of the Bands Know some musically talented friends? Have a fee for entries, and/or ticket fee to enjoy a Battle of the Bands. Ask a local business for a donation gift for the prize and vote for the best band!
Beans and Rice- Ask your friends to skip a night eating out for eating beans and rice instead. The money saved from eating out gets donated to your funds.
Benefit Concert- Musical friends or know of a worship team that will donate their time to a benefit concert? Ask for a ticket fee or just a free-will donation during the concert. Great way to share more about your story and adoption journey too!
Benefit Party/Cook-Out
Bingo
Board Games Marathon
Both Hands Project - From LifeSong for Orphans and James 1:27. Workers register or gather sponsors for them to work on improving a widow's home. All the proceeds go to the orphan (adoptive family).
Coin Jars- Simply ask folks to fill a baby bottle with spare change, ask local businesses to set a bottle out too! Make labels with your cause and your information about the adoption to add to the jars.
Chick-fil-A or other restaurant sponsored spirit night where a portion of the sales from that night go to you.
Chilli Contest- or cake baking contest, hot wings contest, anything like that where the cooks would pay a registration fee to enter, judges would pay to vote and/or participants pay to try the goods! Everyone enjoys the eats!
Craft Sales Have a crafty touch? Make a product and sell it on-line, like esty shop, or join some local craft fairs and become a vendor there!
Cupcake sale
Dance Contest- Couples can register to dance in the contest and have sponsors pay in to support them. The winners of the dance can be judged on 2 criteria: the talent and the amount of funds raised for the cause.
Dress Down Day - Work places pay to wear jeans on a "Dress Down Day" like on a Friday!
E-bay/Yard Sale- Have folks donate to e-bay sales or a Yard Sale
Golf Tournament
Hoagie Sale/ Sub sale
Just Love Coffee Sales- set up an account and a portion of the sales go to your funds
Out of the Box- Sleep outside in a box overnight and raise sponsors to support the cause for homeless awareness
Pancake Breakfast
Photo Shoot- know a photographer? Ask them to do a one day benefit photo shoot!
Pie Sale
Say Yes to the Dress- Formal dresses donated then silent auctioned off.
Spaghetti Dinner
Raffle Baskets With donated items from businesses or from parties like Origami Owl, Thirty-One, etc. and use the hostess points to get items to then raffle off.
Sales Tastefully Simple, Scentsy, Origami Owl, Thirty-One Bag, Mary Kay Sales
Waffle Bar
Walk or 5K Run
So far we have found these tips to be helpful and have just learned as we go:
* Planning: Think of the event as if you were the participant. What would you look for? What would make it a nice fundraiser?
*Timing. Don't launch the fundraiser too far in advance that the initial excitement and buzz dwindles off before the event. Keep the launch close enough for people to be able to make plans and to stay excited about it.
*Hit on commonly celebrated events. For example, we launched the necklace sales a few weeks before Mother's Day to target that commonly celebrated event. We had the cupcake sales deliveries on Valentine's Day for that sweet-tooth holiday, and a Father's Day Raffle Basket for a Father's Day gift!
*Think of your social circles. You can only ask the same people so many times to give and help you before you grate their nerves. Try to offer a variety of goods and/or events that suit different people groups and their interests.
*Be creative and use your unique skills and talents. After all, the more personable the more likely people will have an interest in your cause and want to invest in it.
*Educate others. If people don't know why you are doing what you're doing, you've lost the crowd. Show others your heart for this and also share information that supports your cause.
*Jump in on the bandwagon. If there is a local event in your area that already draws a large crowd, try to tap into that crowd and offer something that would enhance that event. This pulls from a different people group that you may otherwise not be able to reach (aren't in your social circles), and you don't have to market and publicize since the crowd is already there. For example, our local businesses and the nearby university's children's literature department join to host a "Storybook Holiday" event every year at Christmas along Main Street. This past year they had a cookie tasting contest which had a huge paying crowd. Over 60 dozen cookies but guess what? There were cookies, but not a beverage in sight! What a opportunity to offer hot cocoa to cookie filled mouths!
* Location, location...this seems to be our most difficult hurtle as we have ideas of things to do but have no location large enough to host a crowd of people and or adequate parking. One doesn't want to spend all their proceeds paying rent for the space then either. Outside events then could be an alternative like at a local park, community centers, yard party, or even a parking lot area might work. There was a group of ladies who held their yard sale at a doctor's office parking lot during a non-business day (permission was granted of course) and they received a great crowd.
* Marketing and Advertising: Social media has been our primary way of advertising, let me just say it: facebook. Posting on facebook and having friends and family 'share' your posts allows hundreds of people to read about your fundraiser events, your cause, your heart, and the mission that God has placed before you. Asking a few close friends and family to share your posts and click 'like' on your posts helps to keep your posts at the top of the news feed for a longer period of time. More time at the top of the news feed and more people see your posts. We have a One Sought Me page on facebook so people can follow us there and not necessarily on my personal page. I don't have a twitter account, but I'd assume that would be another great means for social media advertising. We have a small list of a group e-mail for our friends who are not on facebook. This way we are sure to keep them 'in the loop' with updates from our adoption and for fundraisers.
*Don't spend a great deal of upfront costs. Try to keep the set-up costs at a minimal. Ask for donations from supporters, businesses, local church groups, local charitable organizations. We'll suggest to be wise and conservative here. Try to pre-register for events so you get an idea of attendance, or check the interest levels from the marketing response of the initial launch of the event before ordering supplies if possible. Any events that require a great deal of upfront costs are a risk that when fundraising, you aren't in the financially stable state to be taking those risks. Keep it safe, keep it nice for the participants, but be careful with going too far with the things that are unnecessary frills.
* Worth Mentioning: Still helpful, is that local business have our 'business' cards out at the counters and/or have helped us with raffles or the Mama's nest necklaces. This is simply a card that we chose from the cheapest Vista Print business cards selections and included our names and "adoption" then the blog name and web address, our e-mail and our phone number. These have come in handy many times when sharing about the adoption and inviting people to learn more about this journey. Share a card and then the blog site is right there for them.
Again, to God be the glory and all praises to Him for His hand in guiding us, providing for us, and even for protecting us from financial holes and mistakes through fundraisers gone wrong. Grateful for His people and their kind hearts for all the donations and participation of the fundraisers that we have had for our adoption journey! DEEPLY THANKFUL for these people who have and are praying for us, who have supported us financially, and for the encouragement and support along the way!
No words can say how blessed we feel to have so many people join our family on this journey and join their hearts to our new children and love them so much! Tarik and Elsa are going to have a great big extended family now! They will no longer be abandoned and alone but they will be welcomed with so much love from so many people who joined to help bring them home!! Thank you! Keep praying :).
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
Raising funds for an adoption or any cause that is dear to your heart takes time, resources, organization, marketing, creativity, and did I mention time? Now, you might not be the most creative, the most organized, or the best at marketing your ideas, but you don't have to be a super star at all these things! Just great at one thing, and that's taking the time. Some of that time includes time on your knees in prayer trusting the Lord to provide and show you ways where He is working! Would you rather Him follow your ways or you follow His? Trust me, follow His plans and you will be blessed every time.
Important: We truly and completely give God all the glory and all the credit for the great things that He has done through our adoption process and by providing the funds for us thus far. By no way is this of our works, but only by the blessings of His hand in this. It is a huge leap of faith for our family and many families to come up with the expensive costs during an adoption process. God has helped us so very much and we used our willing and able bodies to carry through His plans. Fundraising is that simple: Just let go and let God be the guide as you are the bodies willing to work for Him here on earth in the flesh. Read more about that HERE.
So, you can learn how to organize, use an idea from someone else, but if you haven't got the time, well, pray that others will come along side you to help or even plan and kick-off a fundraiser for you! What a blessing that is.
Here is our running list of fundraiser ideas. Some we have tried, some we might still try, and others just aren't up our alley. The goal is to find those fundraisers that suit you, your style, your area, your audience, think it over, pray about it, and then go to it!
Adoption Bug T-shirts- set up an account and a portion of the sales go to your funds: adoptionbug.com
Adoption Pure Charity - adoption.purcharity.com is an organization that will guide you through raising funds that will be directly paid to your agency and tax deductable givings for your friends.
Baked Potato Bar- serving baked potatoes and all the toppings at a fundraiser dinner
Battle of the Bands Know some musically talented friends? Have a fee for entries, and/or ticket fee to enjoy a Battle of the Bands. Ask a local business for a donation gift for the prize and vote for the best band!
Beans and Rice- Ask your friends to skip a night eating out for eating beans and rice instead. The money saved from eating out gets donated to your funds.
Benefit Concert- Musical friends or know of a worship team that will donate their time to a benefit concert? Ask for a ticket fee or just a free-will donation during the concert. Great way to share more about your story and adoption journey too!
Benefit Party/Cook-Out
Bingo
Board Games Marathon
Both Hands Project - From LifeSong for Orphans and James 1:27. Workers register or gather sponsors for them to work on improving a widow's home. All the proceeds go to the orphan (adoptive family).
Coin Jars- Simply ask folks to fill a baby bottle with spare change, ask local businesses to set a bottle out too! Make labels with your cause and your information about the adoption to add to the jars.
Chick-fil-A or other restaurant sponsored spirit night where a portion of the sales from that night go to you.
Chilli Contest- or cake baking contest, hot wings contest, anything like that where the cooks would pay a registration fee to enter, judges would pay to vote and/or participants pay to try the goods! Everyone enjoys the eats!
Craft Sales Have a crafty touch? Make a product and sell it on-line, like esty shop, or join some local craft fairs and become a vendor there!
Cupcake sale
Dance Contest- Couples can register to dance in the contest and have sponsors pay in to support them. The winners of the dance can be judged on 2 criteria: the talent and the amount of funds raised for the cause.
Dress Down Day - Work places pay to wear jeans on a "Dress Down Day" like on a Friday!
E-bay/Yard Sale- Have folks donate to e-bay sales or a Yard Sale
Golf Tournament
Hoagie Sale/ Sub sale
Just Love Coffee Sales- set up an account and a portion of the sales go to your funds
Out of the Box- Sleep outside in a box overnight and raise sponsors to support the cause for homeless awareness
Pancake Breakfast
Photo Shoot- know a photographer? Ask them to do a one day benefit photo shoot!
Pie Sale
Say Yes to the Dress- Formal dresses donated then silent auctioned off.
Spaghetti Dinner
Raffle Baskets With donated items from businesses or from parties like Origami Owl, Thirty-One, etc. and use the hostess points to get items to then raffle off.
Sales Tastefully Simple, Scentsy, Origami Owl, Thirty-One Bag, Mary Kay Sales
Waffle Bar
Walk or 5K Run
So far we have found these tips to be helpful and have just learned as we go:
* Planning: Think of the event as if you were the participant. What would you look for? What would make it a nice fundraiser?
*Timing. Don't launch the fundraiser too far in advance that the initial excitement and buzz dwindles off before the event. Keep the launch close enough for people to be able to make plans and to stay excited about it.
*Hit on commonly celebrated events. For example, we launched the necklace sales a few weeks before Mother's Day to target that commonly celebrated event. We had the cupcake sales deliveries on Valentine's Day for that sweet-tooth holiday, and a Father's Day Raffle Basket for a Father's Day gift!
*Think of your social circles. You can only ask the same people so many times to give and help you before you grate their nerves. Try to offer a variety of goods and/or events that suit different people groups and their interests.
*Be creative and use your unique skills and talents. After all, the more personable the more likely people will have an interest in your cause and want to invest in it.
*Educate others. If people don't know why you are doing what you're doing, you've lost the crowd. Show others your heart for this and also share information that supports your cause.
*Jump in on the bandwagon. If there is a local event in your area that already draws a large crowd, try to tap into that crowd and offer something that would enhance that event. This pulls from a different people group that you may otherwise not be able to reach (aren't in your social circles), and you don't have to market and publicize since the crowd is already there. For example, our local businesses and the nearby university's children's literature department join to host a "Storybook Holiday" event every year at Christmas along Main Street. This past year they had a cookie tasting contest which had a huge paying crowd. Over 60 dozen cookies but guess what? There were cookies, but not a beverage in sight! What a opportunity to offer hot cocoa to cookie filled mouths!
* Location, location...this seems to be our most difficult hurtle as we have ideas of things to do but have no location large enough to host a crowd of people and or adequate parking. One doesn't want to spend all their proceeds paying rent for the space then either. Outside events then could be an alternative like at a local park, community centers, yard party, or even a parking lot area might work. There was a group of ladies who held their yard sale at a doctor's office parking lot during a non-business day (permission was granted of course) and they received a great crowd.
* Marketing and Advertising: Social media has been our primary way of advertising, let me just say it: facebook. Posting on facebook and having friends and family 'share' your posts allows hundreds of people to read about your fundraiser events, your cause, your heart, and the mission that God has placed before you. Asking a few close friends and family to share your posts and click 'like' on your posts helps to keep your posts at the top of the news feed for a longer period of time. More time at the top of the news feed and more people see your posts. We have a One Sought Me page on facebook so people can follow us there and not necessarily on my personal page. I don't have a twitter account, but I'd assume that would be another great means for social media advertising. We have a small list of a group e-mail for our friends who are not on facebook. This way we are sure to keep them 'in the loop' with updates from our adoption and for fundraisers.
*Don't spend a great deal of upfront costs. Try to keep the set-up costs at a minimal. Ask for donations from supporters, businesses, local church groups, local charitable organizations. We'll suggest to be wise and conservative here. Try to pre-register for events so you get an idea of attendance, or check the interest levels from the marketing response of the initial launch of the event before ordering supplies if possible. Any events that require a great deal of upfront costs are a risk that when fundraising, you aren't in the financially stable state to be taking those risks. Keep it safe, keep it nice for the participants, but be careful with going too far with the things that are unnecessary frills.
* Worth Mentioning: Still helpful, is that local business have our 'business' cards out at the counters and/or have helped us with raffles or the Mama's nest necklaces. This is simply a card that we chose from the cheapest Vista Print business cards selections and included our names and "adoption" then the blog name and web address, our e-mail and our phone number. These have come in handy many times when sharing about the adoption and inviting people to learn more about this journey. Share a card and then the blog site is right there for them.
Again, to God be the glory and all praises to Him for His hand in guiding us, providing for us, and even for protecting us from financial holes and mistakes through fundraisers gone wrong. Grateful for His people and their kind hearts for all the donations and participation of the fundraisers that we have had for our adoption journey! DEEPLY THANKFUL for these people who have and are praying for us, who have supported us financially, and for the encouragement and support along the way!
No words can say how blessed we feel to have so many people join our family on this journey and join their hearts to our new children and love them so much! Tarik and Elsa are going to have a great big extended family now! They will no longer be abandoned and alone but they will be welcomed with so much love from so many people who joined to help bring them home!! Thank you! Keep praying :).
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
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