5 Keys To A Successful Adoption Fundraiser
5 Keys To A Successful Adoption Fundraise
It can seem impossible to pay for your adoption expenses out of pocket, especially in the large amounts that come due at the most random moments in time. I mean who has an average of $40,000 just laying around? But if you have been around me for even half a minute you know that I believe anything is possible with a clear plan and support. After all, I did become a mother after several doctors told me I would never “have” children.
Having a clear, simple step by step process will make funding your adoption so much easier. Being in a community with people that are walking through the adoption process too will make it even easier. You can always come join us in the free Facebook group for support and an answer to all your most important questions on how to adopt a baby.
Let’s make one step less overwhelming, let’s talk about how to raise funds to pay for your adoption. First before we do that we need to acknowledge that fundraising should not be the only way you consider paying for your adoption. If you have not already done so please check out this article on the 5 Ways To Fund Your Adoption. I will give you the quick list of the 5 Ways To Fund Your Adoption below but check out the article it will help you so much more.
5 Ways To Fund Your Adoption:
Grants
Savings
Loans
Tax Credits
Fundraising
One last before you get started with your Adoption Fundraiser, you need to be clear on how much money you need to raise for your adoption. If you have not already made a complete list of all your adoption expenses, even the seemingly hidden ones, please check out The Adoption Financial Planner to help you through the process. Not only will it help you get clear on how much money you need to fund your adoption but it will give you the step by step process for working through each of the 5 Ways To Fund Your Adoption too!
An adoption fundraiser will only be as good as its marketing message and how easy you make it for your audience to donate to your cause. While it seems simple on the surface to communicate what you are asking them to support and why there are really 5 Keys To A Successful Adoption Fundraiser.
5 Keys To A Successful Adoption Fundraiser:
Concisely share your adoption story
Create a unique and compelling call to action for each fundraiser
Compelling graphics that communicate what your fundraiser is about and how the money will be used are vital
Understand what type of fundraiser your audience likes
Create a strategic messaging sequence so that you continue to drive donations throughout your fundraiser
Concisely Share Your Adoption Story
First we need to get clear on how to concisely share your adoption story. More than likely you are sharing your adoption fundraiser via social media and you are competing with all the other things in their news feed as well as their general attention span. So you want a few quick sentences that lead them into wanting to support you. It is not safe to assume that everyone knows that you are adopting or why you are adopting so it is important to share a bit about your story to help them ease into your post.
Here are a few examples that you could adapt to make your own:
We hoping to adopt a child and we could use your help
We are working to complete our family and we would appreciate your prayers
We hope to expand our family through the miracle of adoption and would love your support
Take these and adapt to your own situation, apply the general idea of announcing your adoption without a ton of details on the why for them to get lost in upfront, then quickly getting to the what you want/need from them. You can be as direct or indirect about the ask in the first sentence as you would like since you will get more specific later on in the post.
Create a Unique and Compelling Call To Action
Since you are likely to be holding adoption fundraisers several times before you ultimately adopt it is important that each fundraiser look and feel slightly different so that your audience does not get confused. It is also important that you tell them what the fundraiser is for specifically, so rather than saying we will use it for our adoption say we will use it to pay for the home study or the matching fee, etc. Being specific with what you are requesting dollars for will help your audience stay on the journey with you and feel more comfortable to give you dollars for each of the different steps within the adoption funding process.
Here are a few examples to help:
Please help us pay the home study fees by supporting our fundraiser
We would love your help to pay the advertising fee so that our family can get picked faster
Would you please consider supporting us in our adoption with a donation to our home study
Again the goal is to be specific with what you will use the money for as well as asking them for donations into one concise sentence. Cutting through all the clutter on social media in a quick fashion will make your adoption fundraiser a success.
Create Compelling Graphics For Your Adoption Fundraiser
Graphics are an essential part of your adoption fundraiser and can really make or break your entire fundraiser. They can help your audience understand what you are selling in the fundraiser, what their money will be used for and all of the other relevant information they need to know about transferring funds etc. Graphics can seem the most overwhelming part of the fundraising process for most but it really doesn’t have to be. There are tons of programs out there that can help you walk through creating your own graphics.
The program I love to use is Canva, they have a free version and a paid version. The free plan has loads and loads of things you can use or if you upgrade to the paid version it only costs $155 for the year. It could be used to not only create your graphics for your fundraiser but also to create social media posts to find expectant mothers, videos for your social media or website, create your adoption profile, etc. When you consider all the ways you could use it it is a real bargain! You can sign up for a free plan and also pay for small upgrades along the way, like $1 for that clip art, etc but in the long run the yearly plan is so cheap it is worth it! The possibilities are endless with what you can make within it! If you are interested in learning more about Canva you can use my affiliate link below. Note that I will earn a small commission from them if you purchase from that link but you WILL NOT be charged anything extra by using my link. And if you want to see some examples of things that have been created in Canva you can just look at anything on my website because everything here was made with Canva.
Understanding What Your Audience Typically Supports in Fundraisers
While most people will just want to support your adoption fundraiser by buying something to help you out there are some that see it just as an opportunity to buy something cheaper. It is important to offer a mixture of fundraisers where people are given the opportunity to just do good and also a few where they just get a good deal on something. No matter what you are using as the actual fundraiser it is important that it has mass appeal in order to drive up your donations.
I have a couple of articles to give you ideas on different fundraisers if you are stuck: 10 Adoption Fundraisers That Are Not A T-Shirt or 25 Adoption Fundraiser Ideas. No matter which route you go I would just take a quick survey of what you see your audience supporting. Or you could even ask them via a quick poll on your page too, which would be a great way to gauge how many donations you think you could generate from your fundraiser before you spend time and money creating it.
Creating Strategic Messaging For Your Fundraiser
In most cases, the amount of funds you need to raise for your adoption is substantial enough that one fundraiser will not provide all that you need. Nor will one post within one fundraiser be enough to generate enough cash to meet your fundraising goals for that fundraiser. So it is important to pre-plan what you are going to ask for and when. Having a plan to vary up the graphics and the call to actions is going to be important so you don’t burn out your audience. If you burn them out they will begin to tune you out and that obviously hurts your chances of raising the funds you need. If you need help figuring out how to do this get The Adoption Financial Planner here.
Now that you have learned the 5 Keys To A Successful Adoption Fundraiser I would suggest you figure out how to accept funds from your audience to support your adoption. This quick article will give you the ins and outs of accepting funds, what fees are associated with the different options and why it is important to choose some of the more common options How To Accept Fundraiser Money
Fundraising for your adoption can be hard but nothing is impossible when you have the step by step process and support you need. Remember you can do it and I have your back!
-Amanda
Hi, I Am Amanda
I help women build their families through adoption by giving them the step by step guide to adopt a child and support them on their journey