Adoption Fundraiser Ideas

Adoption and Finances

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April 15, 2013 By sharla 1 Comment

Ok…I will be the first to admit that this week’s Adoption Blog Hop topic is not the least bit pleasant or romantic or fun. I know that even mentioning words like “money”, “debt”, “budget”, “finance” make people squirm in their seats!

Unfortunately, finances are something that are necessary to discuss when it comes to adoption. Some types of adoption don’t cost anything, but most adoptions cost a considerable amount of money. Let’s just be honest and say that they cost more than the average person has in savings.

Although we planned and saved ahead of time and we penny pinched and we fundraised, we still ended up going into debt for our Ethiopian adoptions. Our previous adoptions had been through foster care and had not cost anything (except of course for the obvious costs associated with the lifetime care and raising of the kids!).

Going into debt for our adoption is a regret that I have. The year after we brought our two new children home was stressful enough without adding in the stress and pressure of mounting debt and the extra work hours needed to combat that. It’s three years later and we are still working at paying it off.

Having said that, I do not regret our adoption! I just would like to encourage other families who are in earlier stages of their adoption process to carefully consider how they want to prepare financially for their adoption and for the ongoing costs of raising children.

I know that I’ve said it before, but I’m a big fan of Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover. It’s not tricks or gimmicks. It’s hard work and sacrifice, but if you follow the plan, it works. We are using this plan to pay off our debt and it is working. I only wish we had started before our adoption and saved ourselves a lot of stress (and of course a lot of money in interest payments too!).

So of course, I always recommend to others that they try to adopt without going into debt to do so. Here are some articles that may provide some information and help concerning adoption finances:

10 Tips to Help Finance an International Adoption

How to Organize a Garage Sale Fundraiser

How to Adopt Without Debt (Dave Ramsey)

How we are Adopting Two Children Without Debt

Affording Adoption, Without Debt

Feel free to join in the Adoption Blog Hop with any adoption related post, not just those concerning adoption and finance.

Filed Under: Adoption, Adoption Fundraiser Ideas

Spirit of Adoption Alberta

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January 28, 2013 By sharla 2 Comments

For some families, finances can stand in the way of them pursuing adoption. Though those families can pursue free or less expensive forms of adoption, they may feel led to an international adoption which is expensive and can be cost-prohibitive. Fundraising and adoption grants may be the only way such families can adopt.

One of the newest adoption grant programs is Spirit of Adoption Alberta. Applicants must be couples adopting through an Alberta adoption agency. For more information about the grant program, to apply or to donate towards the program, please visit Spirit of Adoption Alberta.

Spirit of Adoption Alberta was started by Paige Riegel and Susan St. Martin. They are both adoptive moms who felt a call to set up an adoption grant for people who felt called to adopt but couldn’t afford the cost of adoption.

On starting up this program, Paige shares this: “I met with Susan and we were shocked how our visions aligned, as well as our personal lives. We have many things in common. We are both married to surgeons. We both have biological children. We both have adopted children. We are both Christians. We both have a passion for orphans. We both love adoption. And we both just want to do more…”

And so Spirit of Adoption Alberta was born. It has already had the opportunity to help several recipient families. Children finding families and families finding children…it’s a beautiful thing.

SPIRIT OF ADOPTION from Paige Riegel on Vimeo.

Filed Under: Adoption, Adoption Fundraiser Ideas

10 Tips to Help Finance an International Adoption

(This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosure policy.)

August 22, 2012 By sharla 1 Comment

Adoption, and in particular, international adoption, can be an expensive endeavor. Here are just some of the ways to lessen the financial burden of an adoption.

Research employee adoption programs

Some employers offer an adoption program. Inquire about your company’s adoption program. Every year, the Dave Thomas Foundation releases a list of the Best Adoption-Friendly Workplaces.

Stretch out payments

The total amount of an adoption can be overwhelming. Breaking it into smaller chunks and paying over time lessens the sting and is more achievable for most families. As international adoption can be a slow process, often taking a year or several years to complete, paying in increments can be helpful.

Dip into your savings

Consider if there are savings in the form of cash, bonds, or other investments that could be applied towards the cost of the adoption.

Manage a budget and cut expenses

Create a budget by first determining how much you are currently spending and then committing to areas in which you can save money such as brewing your coffee at home, taking lunches to work, carpooling, or even downsizing. This may free up a considerable amount of money over time that can be put into your adoption fund.

Purge your home

Going through your home, office, and garage to find items to sell not only helps to earn extra money, but also begins the nesting process of preparing your home for its new family member. It is amazing how quickly the dollars start to add up when selling items you no longer want or need. You can sell things online on sites such as eBay, Craigslist, and Kijiji, bring clothing items in to consignment stores, or hold a giant garage or yard sale.

Investigate loan options

Some banks and financial institutions offer low interest adoption loans. If you are a homeowner, a home equity loan or line of credit can often offer the lowest interest rates. Loans for an adoption should be considered a last resort as additional financial pressure when adding to your family will only contribute to stress.

Find secondary income

If you are crafty, create something and sell it on a site such as Etsy, at a local market or through word of mouth. Using a site such as Cafe Press, designing t-shirts or other merchandise specifically for your adoption is easy to do. Perhaps you could bake cupcakes, design jewelry, or sew clothing. For those not as creatively inclined, there may be a service you can sell such as tutoring, web design, landscaping, party planning, or music instruction. If there is an area that you consider yourself an expert in, you can create and sell an eBook. The only trick to making this step successful is to put all of the profits aside toward the cost of the adoption.

Ask for donations

Fundraising is a great way to cover some or all of your adoption expenses. Asking for item donations for a garage sale or silent auction is a wonderful way to involve friends, family, and local businesses without asking them for monetary donations. Raffling tickets for something such as a beautiful handmade quilt or an item of value such as an iPad can be an effective way to raise money. Other fundraising ideas include hosting a parent’s night out, having a bottle drive, creating a benefit dinner, holding online auctions, bake sales, getting sponsors for a race, having a car wash, and photography sessions. There are also sites such as YouCaring which are designed to assist in online fundraising. You can also achieve this by setting up a Paypal donate button on your family’s blog if you have one.

Take advantage of military subsidies

Active-duty military personnel are eligible for reimbursement of certain expenses through the Military Family Association.

Apply for adoption grants

There are many organizations that provide adoption grants. Organizations such as Show Hope and Lifesong for Orphans have grant programs for families pursuing adoption. Reece’s Rainbow is a unique organization which offers grants specific to a particular waiting child with special needs. For Canadians, Orphan’s Hope and Abba Canada are places to check out for adoption grants. For Albertans, Spirit of Adoption Alberta is another organization that may be able to help you.

Filed Under: Adoption Fundraiser Ideas Tagged With: adoption fundraising, adoption grants, adoption loans, canadian adoption grants

The Sparrow Fund

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May 11, 2012 By sharla Leave a Comment

author: Kelly

About 18 months ago, 6 months after our daughter Lydia became our daughter, my husband told me he had an idea. He proceeded to tell me he felt called to do something big, way big, like start-a-nonprofit-from-nothing big, an organization to serve adoptive families. He told me how he believed adoptive families needed more support, that he wanted to make sure as many families as possible got the help they needed both before and after they adopted. I smiled, thought it sounded awesome, and thought there was no way we could do it. Seriously, can we do this?

About 6 months after that, The Sparrow Fund officially launched.

Silly me. So maybe we could do it.

Since April of 2011, it’s been quite a challenge figuring this non-profit thing out.

But, all the late nights, computer time, and paperwork get chalked up to “oh, it’s not that big of deal,” when we see pictures like this.

That’s Mazie. And, we got to play a small part of her coming on home to her family.

She’s one of 11 children whose families we helped through a grant in 2011.

11 children who were alone who are now sons and daughters.

Now, that’s something to celebrate right there.

Her mom emailed me a few weeks ago with this–

We wouldn’t have adopted this sweet amazing beloved child without the medical review that Sparrow’s Fund assisted with. There were just too many unknowns in her medical reports for us to feel comfortable proceeding with her adoption without a professional interpreting them for us. The medical evaluation that Sparrow’s Fund paid for couldn’t answer all our questions, but it did help us understand the reports that we were given, consider things that we hadn’t even thought about before, and helped give us peace about proceeding with her adoption and the unknowns that remained. Thank you so very much Sparrow’s Fund for being the Lord’s hands here on Earth! Thank you for lifting the financial burden of the medical review and helping make the adoption of our Mazie Jade possible!

And, you know how we were able to be a part of this miracle? In large part because 33 businesses last May partnered with us, giving us 10% of their total sales in May to get our nonprofit started.

It’s now May, 5 months into 2012, and we’ve awarded 10 grants already, 10 grants for 10 families bringing home 15 children.

As applications have come in, I confess that I got a bit concerned—Can we get all 33 businesses on board again this year? Will that 10% be enough? We’re going to need more. Seriously, can we do this?

Silly me. There aren’t 33 businesses to Build the Nest this May. There are only 59.

And, each one has said, “We want to do what we can to support adoptive families.” And, they have chosen to do that in a significant way this month, giving 10% (or in some cases more) of their total sales to The Sparrow Fund so that we can give grants to adoptive families so that they can get the help and support they need and provide quality training to help families in every season of their adoption journey.

Check these places out—find some new fave shops. Schedule a portrait session. Buy your mom a gift. Or, buy yourself a gift, why don’t you. Share your favorite items on your online spaces, and get the word out that these places support adoption. And, thank them for stepping out to do that in such a significant way. It’s a pretty big deal. I’m a bit wowed by it all—and can’t wait to see how God multiplies that 10%, ‘cause I know He will.

Forever changed by their experience of adoption, Kelly is a stay-at-home mom/manager to 4 children as well as a professional juggler, juggling her calling as wife and mother with editing professionally, administrating a website for encouraging adoptive families, and serving adoptive families through a nonprofit The Sparrow Fund. You can learn more about their adoption story, how they’ve been changed, and what life looks like at My Overthinking.

Filed Under: Adoption, Adoption Fundraiser Ideas, Orphan Care

A Sister’s Story

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April 23, 2012 By sharla 5 Comments

author: Breah

It was the summer of 2004; I was your typical five year old girl with a love for chicken nuggets and gymnastics. I had two younger brothers, Jay who was four and Aiden who was one. I can vividly remember that things were starting to be different around the house, like something was about to happen. My parents were spending countless hours on the computer, filling out paper work, and leaving us with our grandparents to attend weekly “meetings” as my brothers and I were told.

Then one day, our parents took us on a weekend trip to Chicago, Illinois. It was on this trip that my parents told us that we would be adding to our family through adoption. At the time I really didn’t understand it; I was confused but always felt safe with my parents’ decisions and because of my trust in them, I knew everything would work out. My mom then showed us a small photo album containing pictures of a very small baby who had been through open heart surgery with pictures that were labeled “Child 103- 71″. My brothers were so young they didn’t seem to understand, but I on the other hand was fascinated from the start. As a five year old I remember asking question after question such as ” Why does he look different?”, ” When will he be at our house?”, “Where is he at?”, “What is his name?” and so on. The weekend trip came to an end and before I knew it we were back home in Celina, Ohio.

I started kindergarten and also started to learn things that most five year olds don’t know…. like what a social worker is, where South Korea is, and that some women have babies and can’t take care of them. I was forced to grow up very fast; by my sixth birthday, I already had two younger brothers and one that I was about to fly half way across the world to meet in three months; his name was Seung Joon Ha.

I came home from kindergarten on a snowy March day and my Mom was home packing. She then said that our agency had called her and it was the moment we had been waiting for 9 months ago. Seung Joon Ha’s name was changed to Alex Joseph Anderson. We left the next day for a 13 hour flight which seemed like a week! Little did I know this trip would change me forever. I know some people say, ” You were only six years old, how could it change you?” My response is, ” Trust me… it’s possible. A trip to South Korea is a trip you will never forget.”

During this trip I learned more about life, family, and the importance of God than I ever would have learned had I been in room K-1 that week. I may have been missing snack time, recess, and reading but my parents and I made the most out of our journey in Korea. We spent hours in the orphanage Eastern Social Welfare Society holding and feeding babies. Some healthy and others extremely sick; there was so many babies and not enough nannies to take care of them. I remember asking why some of the babies had tape on their pacifiers. My Mom’s answer made me sad. When the babies would cry, there was not always someone to take care of them. The older babies had learned not to cry. It was disturbing and I remember asking my Dad why they didn’t have parents and he replied, “Breah they will always have God as their father.” I now understand what my Dad meant but that day as a six year old, I didn’t understand. There were several families there just like us. Some from the United States and others from Australia.

My new brother wasn’t there… he was at a foster home. His foster parents were nice but he was living without running water and their house was so small and unsafe. He however didn’t seem to mind that was his home and he seemed happy. By the time I met him he’d grown so much, he wasn’t the little baby labeled “103-71″. He was an ornery little boy with a lot of hair and a whole lot of attitude! The night before we left, Alex’s foster parents came to say goodbye. The emotion shared in that room was intense, something I have replayed in my mind over and over. I will never forget his Foster Mother dropping to her knees as the elevator doors closed and thanking my Parents for loving him, knowing she may never see him again. Once again, something most six year olds have never witnessed. But I learned in that moment that Alex was loved and God’s hands were with him at all times. Before we knew it, it was time to go home. I would be lying if I told you the flight home was wonderful. It wasn’t. Alex was missing his foster parents and crying for them. He had gotten sick on the plane and was 18 months old and the last thing he wanted to do was sit quietly with us. Mom and Dad were missing my brothers; it was a long flight.

We arrived at Dayton and our family and friends were there with open arms. Alex was passed around. There were lots of tears, hugs and cameras flashing. Looking back, some people thought our journey ended; it had really only begun. Aiden and Alex sat in their car seats next to each other on the way home that night. From that day, my little brothers have formed the strongest sibling bond. We refer to them as the artificial twins since they are only six months apart and not only brothers but best friends!

Today, I am a typical 13 year old girl who loves sports, running, cheering, hanging out with friends, painting nails, family vacations and I am proud of earning all A’s on my report card. One thing that is not so typical about me is I have a burning desire to share my story with hopes of raising adoption awareness. I want to see children not only find loving parents, but parents find their children. My prayer is that through my platform of “Adoption a Beautiful Option”, I am able to make a difference. Please visit my blog for more information, breaha.blogspot.com

Post note: Breah is selling wristbands as a fundraiser for other families adopting. The wristbands say “ADOPTION” on the front and have her website address on the back. For more information or to purchase one, visit Breah’s blog or e-mail her at breahashtyn@gmail.com. Here is a picture of her brother Alex wearing some: