Two years ago we started our adoption journey and it was fast and furious. We moved forward to adopt a teen aged girl that would be aging out of the system in China in July of that same year so we didn't have much time to come up with the $40000 it ended up costing.
Most international adoptions, unless the child is aging out or has a medical expedite, take somewhere in the range of two years from start to finish. Fundraising and grant writing over a two year period is way less overwhelming so imagine taking that and jamming it all into seven months. I'll wait while your head finishes spinning...
Ready??
I want to share what we did to raise that money. We did some type of fundraiser every month and I'm sure we drove some people crazy but what can you do?
Below are the top 5 fundraisers we did along with the pros and cons.
1. T Shirt Sales: This was our second highest earning fundraiser. We went through Fund the Nations because we earned more of the money from the sales and we had access to the money immediately. Since we collected the money, we put it all into an account and then paid Fund the Nations their part of the
money and kept the rest. The only down side was that we had to keep track of the orders, put them in the website, organize, and distribute the shirts when they came in. This proved to be a bigger task than I realized. There are other websites that do the same thing such as Bonfire and T-spring that take orders online and then give you the money earned.
2. Garage Sale: This was a big earner for us. We had a TON of donations and ended up needing to donate them to other fundraiser yard sales when we were done. I highly recommend this if it is an option. It was a lot of work but it definitely paid off.
3. Occasion Specific Fundraisers: If there are special occasions coming up you can maximize on those. We did a chocolate covered strawberries fundraiser for Valentine's Day that went really well and was popular. But you can do something for Easter (egg my yard, Easter Baskets, pre-filled eggs), Mother's day(cards, flowers, gift baskets), etc.
4. Grants: Once you have a home study done, you can apply for grants. Each grant has a cycle, some are rolling and accept applications all of the time, but most have deadlines. This takes up a ton of time and requires references, pastor letters, your home study, financial information, and the like. However, I wouldn't recommend trying to do an international adoption without applying for grants. We got a few grants, one was a matching grant that when fully funded turned $4000 into $8000! That was a huge blessing. A few notable grants are: Lifesong, Both Hands, A child waits, and Show Hope. There are many more!
5. Ask For Donations: We had a gofundme page that was beneficial. Some people don't want anything you are selling but they are happy to donate. This option takes setting any pride you may have a side and asking for financial help to complete the adoption. God provides and moves his people to help.
It was faith building to watch all of this come together!
Most international adoptions, unless the child is aging out or has a medical expedite, take somewhere in the range of two years from start to finish. Fundraising and grant writing over a two year period is way less overwhelming so imagine taking that and jamming it all into seven months. I'll wait while your head finishes spinning...
Ready??
I want to share what we did to raise that money. We did some type of fundraiser every month and I'm sure we drove some people crazy but what can you do?
Below are the top 5 fundraisers we did along with the pros and cons.
1. T Shirt Sales: This was our second highest earning fundraiser. We went through Fund the Nations because we earned more of the money from the sales and we had access to the money immediately. Since we collected the money, we put it all into an account and then paid Fund the Nations their part of the
2. Garage Sale: This was a big earner for us. We had a TON of donations and ended up needing to donate them to other fundraiser yard sales when we were done. I highly recommend this if it is an option. It was a lot of work but it definitely paid off.
3. Occasion Specific Fundraisers: If there are special occasions coming up you can maximize on those. We did a chocolate covered strawberries fundraiser for Valentine's Day that went really well and was popular. But you can do something for Easter (egg my yard, Easter Baskets, pre-filled eggs), Mother's day(cards, flowers, gift baskets), etc.4. Grants: Once you have a home study done, you can apply for grants. Each grant has a cycle, some are rolling and accept applications all of the time, but most have deadlines. This takes up a ton of time and requires references, pastor letters, your home study, financial information, and the like. However, I wouldn't recommend trying to do an international adoption without applying for grants. We got a few grants, one was a matching grant that when fully funded turned $4000 into $8000! That was a huge blessing. A few notable grants are: Lifesong, Both Hands, A child waits, and Show Hope. There are many more!
5. Ask For Donations: We had a gofundme page that was beneficial. Some people don't want anything you are selling but they are happy to donate. This option takes setting any pride you may have a side and asking for financial help to complete the adoption. God provides and moves his people to help.
It was faith building to watch all of this come together!
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