Adoption Fundraising

Hey everyone!! In our previous posts, we talked about why we're so excited about adopting and gave you some details on our adoption plans and costs. We also shared our goal of raising $5,000 by January 1, 2020 to pay for the home study and the Christian adoption consultant. This post is about how we plan to partner with friends and family to raise funds and include ya'll in our journey to bring our baby home!!

We did an analysis of our expenses from the last 6 months and will continue monitoring our budget to cut back as much of our non-essential expenses as possible. We will also use our God-given talents to make extra money and will apply for several grants, but we need some help (and prayers!) for the rest. We would be ever so grateful for your support!!! We will keep you posted on our progress. 😊

We've done a ton of research on adoption fundraising. There are hundreds of great ideas out there!! We've read several blogs from couples who adopted and have been able to raise thousands of dollars with these ideas! It is amazing that so many people are so supportive of couples hoping to adopt!! We wish more people knew about all the resources available and considered adoption as a possibility!

Here are our plans for fundraising (100% of proceeds go directly to our adoption fund):

1. Sell Andrea's Handmade items. Andrea has made several beaded necklaces, bracelets, earrings, decorative picture frames, decorative wood signs, essential oil diffuser bracelets, and essential oil diffuser rearview mirror hangers. She is planning to sell these items on Etsy and Facebook, and is planning a handmade items sale along with other friends who make delicious baked goods and unique hand-made crafts to raise funds for our adoption. Coming soon! Stay tuned for more details!
• Note: the funds received WILL count towards the adoption tax credits!
2. Take orders for Scott's Famous Ribs. Scott's smoked ribs are famous among our friends and family! Scott is currently planning his approach to making and selling his Smoked Ribs and other BBQ meats and will be taking orders to raise funds for our adoption soon. Stay tuned for more details!
• Note: the funds received WILL count towards the adoption tax credits!
3. Donated Items Garage Sale. We will gladly accept (and pick up!) donations of garage sale items from friends and family to sell at a large garage sale, either at our house, a friend's house, or at our church. We will also go through our home and donate as much as possible to the sale. We will need volunteers to help us with preparations and at the sale, so if you can't contribute monetarily, you can donate your time! We're still working out the details, so stay tuned!
• Note: any proceeds on donated items will NOT count towards the adoption tax credits, but WILL help us pay for adoption costs!
4. T-shirt Fundraiser.  https://www.bonfire.com/ will work with us to create a custom design for t-shirts related to adoption, like "Love Makes a Family" for example. We will then send out the link to friends and family so they can place their order online, and Bonfire will ship the t-shirts directly to the customers. The difference between cost and price paid will be paid to us and go directly to our adoption fund. This is an affordable way for folks to contribute and get a cool t-shirt! As a bonus, it could be a conversation starter to spread awareness about adoption! We will start this fundraiser after our home study is completed. Stay tuned for status updates!
• Note: any proceeds we receive will NOT count towards the adoption tax credits, but WILL help us pay for adoption costs!
5. AdoptTogether.org. This non-profit organization is like GoFundMe, but WAY better because it's only for adoptions and they verify that the donations to our adoption fund are used (by us) for valid adoption expenses. This is an IRS approved 501c3 organization, so donations are tax deductible on donors' tax returns if they itemize deductions. Also, if a donor's employer does charitable donation matching, they could double their donation to our adoption fund! AdoptTogether also has matching grants that they give to some people! Donating to this fund is a good way for friends and family that live out of town to contribute, or people who maybe aren't interested in purchasing handmade items, t-shirts, or BBQ or don't have time to volunteer at the garage sale. Every little bit helps bring our little one home and we are sincerely grateful for anything people can donate!!! We will start this fundraiser after our home study is completed. Stay tuned for status updates!
• Check out their page for more details:  https://adopttogether.org/about/ and https://adopttogether.org/faq/
• Note: any proceeds we receive will NOT count towards the adoption tax credits, but WILL help us pay for adoption costs!

Another important way you can support us is to cover our family and our future birth mom (and family) in prayer. We want to make sure that God is glorified through our journey and that He is guiding our steps and providing a way to bring our baby home. We also hope that others would be inspired to adopt children! The birth mother (and possibly father) of our future child is facing a difficult situation, so we need to pray that they would be surrounded with peace in knowing that God will take care of them and this precious baby, and give them healing all throughout the adoption process. Also, please cover all birth families and adoptive families in prayer, as they step forward in faith believing that the Lord is good and that babies' lives are precious.