Family Fundraising
For most adoptive families, fundraising is a very large part of the adoption process. Most families do not have $25k in their personal savings, so they rely on donations, grants, and loans to get through as quickly as possible. Reece's Rainbow and each family's FSP (Family Sponsorship profile) is an important part of those efforts.
Below are some tips we have found helpful in maximizing your efforts.
1) Create a blog chronicling your journey (www.blogspot.com if you don't already have one) Online presence is crucial for not only raising money for your own adoption, but advocating for other children and families and raising awareness for Reece's Rainbow in general. We have an entire team of folks available to assist you in making your blog the best it can be!
2) Be sure your blog is current. Post often about the steps of your journey, your emotions, challenges, setbacks, joys….
3) Be DISCREET in your blog. Do not mention your child's country openly, refer to them as their RR name to avoid confusion for donors. If you have questions or concerns during your adoption, please share those privately with RR and/or your agency instead of posting publicly.
4) If you don't already actively use Facebook or Twitter, START! These social media forums have proven to be vital resources for advocacy and donations. Our entire website is wired for FB and Twitter for this reason!
5) Be ACTIVE in our Yahoo group. Families who do not participate there are passing up a valuable resource for donations, advocacy, experience, wisdom, support and fellowship. This is also our primary method of sending announcements about the ministry. You can join from our home page at www.reecesrainbow.org
6) If you don't already have a Paypal account, please get one! www.paypal.com An important part of your own success in fundraising is by helping other families at the same time and "paying it forward". This is also our primary method of disbursing your grant funds to you (with no fees taken out), so please do this early if you don't have one.
SO……….what ideas do we have as far as fundraising events and activities go?
*** Online fundraising tips and information, including legal and illegal practices, confidentiality, and other fundraising criteria- Family Fundraising blog-
Contact lucille@reecesrainbow.org with any additional questions. ***
Reaching out to your local community is a fantastic way to help fundraise. Church events, yard sales, raffling items on a blog, and 5k runs are always popular. Make sure to review the policies mentioned in the Family Fundraising blog for compliance requirements related to online communications. (above)
*** Check out the Grant Resources already listed on RR and information available for adoptive families. It is important to identify those other grant foundations and loans you *may* qualify for early in the process, so you can complete those grant apps and have them ready to submit the minute your homestudy is done. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE to submit these, in the hopes you will be approved. Grants and loans are harder and harder to come by in this economy, and there is tremendous competition for those funds. Be PROACTIVE and REALISTIC in your plans to obtain funding for your adoption….a child's life depends on it!
*** Other ideas for funding your adoption: Financing your Adoption.
*** Be sure to use our MINISTRY VIDEO and if you have the opportunity to give a presentation, we do have a Powerpoint template that is available to modify. No need to do it from scratch! Contact kelly@reecesrainbow.org with questions.
*** Reece's Rainbow brochures, magnets, shirts, and other promotional items are available for donation and/or purchase to help in your fundraising events. Please inquire!
Networking and sharing successful previous fundraiser events may help someone else!
If you would like to share a successful fundraiser event, please contact kelly@reecesrainbow.org
Stories will be posted periodically to share such success stories with other fundraiser advocates!
Fundraising Event Idea of the Week!
Shared with the RR Yahoo group on March 29th, 2011, by Nicole B.nicolebspa@yahoo.com
Pamper Me day!!!
What mom or woman doesn't want a day of pampering? But who has the money these days for that? Here's our plan-
- I got some hair stylists, massage therapists, working on finding a reflexologist, people to paint nails, 2 Mary Kay women to do facials and make up makeovers, and then a light lunch consisting of crockpots of soup and some different salads.
- We are hoping to use the basement of our church bc it has a kitchen and 5 different classrooms and then a big open area. We will put the massage therapists in one room so 2 people can get a massage at the same time in a nice quiet candle light room, the hair stylists will be available for hair trims, we'll have hand treatments they can do before they get their nails painted, foot baths with marbles for massaging their feet, and a Dove chocolate lady who will be handing out chocolate!!
- Each participant will pay $25 to get in and for that they get all the services including a 15 minute massage.
- Seems like a REALLY good deal to me and I would want to attend something like that- best of all- the full $25 goes right into the adoption fund as all the professionals are volunteering- they are allowed to pass out business cards and coupons or whatever while they're there so it's a win-win situation for them and me!
- On top of that the Mary Kay ladies and chocolate lady are donating 25% of their sales from the day to the adoption as well.
