Fundraising 101!!!!!

I'm certainly NOT the pro on fundraising, but my outing last night gave me the INSPIRATION for this post!! Last night I attended a "bunko" adoption fundraising night for my friend and adoption buddy, Amy!! I have seen SO many creative ideas on "fundraising" that I've decided to make a post of them all in the hopes that it will give some of you out there in adoption/blog Land some ideas............

(above, me on left with Amy and Sarah at the Bunko Fundraising night last night )

**Ok, so here goes....THE MONEY is the "not so fun" part of adoption...I know VERY FEW people that have 20 something thousand dollars sitting around NOT being used....BUT with that said, I know MANY people that still adopt anyways...SO, HOW DO THEY DO IT??? Well, let me share some things I have witnessed over the past two years!!

**First, people are praying about the "funds" for adoption!! You must pray that the Lord will provide AND HE ALWAYS WILL!!

**People are also WORKING HARD to come up with the money!! Someone can't expect to sit back and have it fall from the sky (even though I swear i've seen that happen)....It will take work, creativity, and determination!! Here are some ideas:

1. I love my friends Sallee's idea of Poppy Dip dresses!! She is using her talents of sewing and putting it to good use!! She got a blog set up for her adorable "children's dresses" and the rest is history

(my girls showing off their poppy dip dresses this past summer)

***Another great blog showing off her talents in sewing is the http://www.flitterbugsblog.blogspot.com/ Check her out too for some GREAT ideas in this department too!!

#2. Baking Cakes: I know someone who sold cakes over the holidays to raise money..This person had a Momma that could bake and she agreed to bake and my friend sold the cakes to go toward their adoption...(I bought a couple and they were delicious :)

#3. Gold Parties: I had big success by hosting a gold party at my home..This is where you have all your friends and all your friend's friends bring ALL their old gold over to your home and they get MONEY on the spot for their gold AND you get a percentage off the night's total!! We had HUGE success with our Gold Party. We used greengoldparty@yahoo.com She was wonderful to work with and really ONLY works in our area....but I've known several people that emailed her and she set them up with a consultant in their area!! #4 Art for sale: I watched a local adoption friend raise her money for adoption by using her talents in the ART/Creativity department...She made my tshirt I wore on the plane to Ethiopia:

You can find her at http://www.pitterpatterart.com/ She has great stuff STILL even though she's home and happy with her little Ethiopian Love!!

#5. Flip Flops and Bows: My friend Betsy blew my mind when she came to me ON HER OWN saying she wanted to help raise money for Lucy Lane's orphanage. We knew we wanted to take LOTS of donations with us as we traveled and Betsy sat at home making and selling her flip flops and bow holders giving us ALL THE PROFITS for donations!! It was a huge success and I'll forever be grateful to Betsy for allowing us to take so many donations with us!! You can still find her raising money for other's adoptions at http://www.betsysbowsandblessings.blogspot.com/

#6. Flowers for Valentine's Day: I love how my friend Vanessa was blessed by her friends when they offered to use their talents of "making flower arrangements" and sell them for Valentine's Day...Their goal was to sell 30 and they sold 50!! You can check out the story at http://www.bonnerfamilyjourney.blogspot.com/
#7. Silent Auctions: I bid on something and got it last night at the Fundraiser Bunko Night I attended...So, they can be incorporated INTO a night OR a Silent Auction CAN BE the entire event!!

#8. Musical Concerts: My friend Gwen had Point of Grace do a benefit concert for them AND it was a huge success!! I attended and it was so much fun!! See WHO YOU KNOW and WHO can pull some strings for you...Don't be afraid to ask!! They might just say YES!! :)

#9. Selling Cookbooks: I've never put one of these together BUT i've bought a couple and really enjoy them. I have no idea HOW successful they are...but they may be worth looking into!!


#10. Stamping Your Own Tshirts: I have local friends that designed and Hand Stamped the following fabulous tshirt....I'm guessing this saved in "printing" cost..but I can imagine it was also time consuming!! Either way...they had huge success with this great tshirt:

You can find it at http://www.goseeklove.com/ And, maybe even Sarah will let you in on HOW they were able to stamp SO MANY SHIRTS!! I know they worked hard for their success!!

#11 My FAVORITE: Adoption/Orphan T-shirts!!!!! Ok, so yes, I LOVE all my tshirts..I think they are so great!! I love all the families that pour so much energy into them!! They truly make up my entire wardrobe now!! One person with LOTS of tshirt success is Kari from http://www.mycrazyadoption.org/ Her shirt design was brilliant for Valentine's day and I've seen it all over town: I've personally never designed or sold a tshirt, but find someone that has AND ASK QUESTIONS!! Email people and ask them WHAT worked and WHAT didn't!! I'm sure they'd be happy to share!!

#12. That leads me into www.147millionorphans.com These are two friends that are actually giving YOU their merchandise to sell for YOUR OWN adoptions!! They have the best stuff and are pretty much famous now!!! :) I turned on my local news this week and THERE THEY WERE!! Below we have LL sporting one of their tshirts:

And, they sell much more than just tshirst...check out their site to see it all!! I love these two women!!

#13. Yard Sales: These can be a HUGE success!! We pretty much sold everything we had in our house that we weren't currently using :) Our yard sale was freezing cold and WE STILL MADE LOTS OF CASH!! We just really went through the entire house and got rid of LOTS of stuff. Many people involve the entire community and have people donate their old stuff to the sale...It can really add up in the end. Also, i've seen much success when people sell bottle waters and baked goods and such at their yard sale...that can bring in the cash too!!!

#14. Ok, so then there are the obvious ideas: Grants, loans, tax credit (yall do know there is a GREAT tax credit right now for when you adopt...You can get back almost HALF of what you spent....I know they are considering lowering the amount of money you get back..but right now it is awesome)...Work places give money all the time..just ASK and CHECK INTO IT; Churches sometimes have grants set up for adoptions; some people put it on credit cards (i know..maybe not the greatest idea, but it works )!!

#15. Sell, Sell, Sell on EBAY: Yes, you can sell just about anything...just give it a shot..I personally have never sold anything on any site, but I hear lots of people doing just that and making cash!! Other ideas to sell: You can sell your house and down size (i've known people to do it), sell your car and get a cheaper one, etc. What are you willing to give up to make this adoption happen???

#16. Change your lifestyle (during the adoption) and save the money !! For example: I gave up my Starbucks during our adoption, I didn't get my hair cut or trimmed or anything like it for 18 months, no nails or toes or anything pampering, no Target runs and extra clothes AT ALL!! We ate out less, shopped at Walmart for groceries more, I never ordered fast food for myself..just ate the kid's leftovers (ok, so this is just a habit..I still do this :), no YMCA membership (no membership anywhere), no hired help PERIOD (ok, so this is just the way my hubby works..do it yourself to save a buck :), no babysitters, no mother's day out programs, no vacations (you get a big vacation when you travel to Africa for your child :), etc. I could go on and on, but yall get the picture...What are you willing to give up to make this happen??

**Oh, one of my travel buddies is a nurse and she picked up extra night shifts for a year to pay for their adoption...She might have been a little extra tired, but I can promise it is worth it as she holds her twins now :)

#17. Start a blog and MAKE YOURSELF KNOWN by visiting and leaving comments for other people in Adoption/blog land!!! My sister simply did a "20 to Travel" idea on her blog...She had nothing to give anyone..she just simply asked for 20bucks from everyone AND the money poured in!!

**I watched http://www.the30dayjourneyforhope.blogspot.com/ raise all their money in a RECORD time!! She put fliers in all the mailboxes in her neighborhood and WHAM the money came in...People were coming out to help everywhere!!

**I've seen several successful raffles on blogs too...Get stuff donated to you and THEN have people donate money to get their name in a hat for the item!!

** Or how about the mass email or letter that goes out letting people know WHAT you are doing and that you will be fundraising!!!

#18. Photography sessions!! Ask a photographer friend to donate their time and talents to your adoption!! http://www.babeofmyheart.com/ has been successful in the photography world!! :)

#19. Coffee!!!!! There are many sites selling coffee to help people's adoptions right now!! I've seen it all over the place. A friend of mine is using http://www.abbajava.org/ to sell their coffee for their adoption!!

#20. Christmas Ornaments: I love Amy's idea of having her father make Christmas Ornaments to sell...You can find them on her blog: http://www.filledwithpraise.blogspot.com/

***Ok, so you are getting the point here...the ideas are endless!! I've witnessed the poorest of poor adopt and the richest of rich!!! It IS POSSIBLE to come up with the money!! You just have to have FAITH, PRAY and WORK HARD!!! Ok, so that's all I've got for now...I'm tired after this LONG post!!! :) Hope this helped someone out there know that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE WHEN YOU DO GOD'S WORK!!

Happy Wednesday to you all, kj