Asking for money is never easy. It has the potential to hurt pride, bring up uncomfortable feelings and leave some people with a resentful taste in their mouth. However, families fundraising for adoption can certainly choose to let their financial needs be known. Letting friends, family and your community know about your situation is not necessarily “asking” for money, instead a better way to think of it may be “putting yourself out there to receive assistance.”

I know of many adoptive families who have sent letters to those close to them expressing their adoption plans. Some letters included blurbs about the family’s efforts to raise funds for their adoption, thus letting those who want to help know how to do it. Family and friends may be eager to help and afraid of being insulting, so providing them a window of opportunity may result in a donation to your adoption fund.

Product fundraisers are also a great way to reach out to your community and give them the opportunity to help you and your growing family. Some families feel more comfortable doing fundraisers rather than asking for straight out donations; others do both; some do none…whatever you decide is best for you and your family will ultimately be the right decision.

The fundraisers that we did were fairly easy to set up and organize and we had many friends and family members help us with them. We worked with Current Catalogue and Ranch House Candles (I blogged about it here.) They tend to do especially well in office and school settings-leaving a fundraiser catalogue in the break or lunch room will likely result in numerous orders. Doing a fundraiser also inadvertently spreads the word about your adoption plan and you may wind up with straight donations to your fund thanks to your fundraising efforts.


More Reading:
Adoption Fundraising: What Worked For Us
How Can I Afford to Adopt?
Adoption ABC’s – Money

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