[PamKH]

Hi All, I need some advice. My dh and I are planning on an adoption from Guatemala. We are by no means wealthy and the cost is a concern. What I need is ideas on how to raise money. We're already planning on having garage sales and car washes and bake sales. Do any of you have any other ideas on how we could raise money? We do own our home but we've only been in it a year so I don't think we could get a home equity loan. I was just wondering if any of you had a problem with financing your adoption. I would appreciate any help you could give me. Oh and I already know that my workplace will give me 2000.00 after the adoption is finalized and I know about the tax credit but thats after everything has been finalized.
Thanks, Pam

[Mindybeth6]

We have only been in our home for 2 1/2 years but becasue of home improvements...we were able to get a second mortgae for 30 grand to cover the adoption expenses. You might be really surprised at what they will offer you. I can't honestly imagine fundraising the whole amount. I am sure it is possible but that much money is hard to come up with without eventually taking out some kind of loan somewhere...thats just my opinion though. We are not a "rich" family either and live on one imcome, my husbands, who is in law enforcement. About the tax credit, everyone told me that we would get the full amount and we only qualify for about $800 of it. It is based off of your tax liability and since we have a 401K and are able to deduct my school expenses and claim our bio...we don't quailify for for barely a thing. If you already get back all that you pay in, then you may be unpleasantly surprised. I would talk to a person who specializes in this so you can be sure you are going to get and are not dependent on that money. Just a word to the wise. Anyway...you will get there. Really look at all the options. Apply for grants, once your homestudy is complete, and if God wants you to have a Guatemalan baby, then I gaurentee he will find provide the way for you to get there.


Hugs

[ManyTimesBlessed]

You are not the only broke one! We are Christians and we believe that God led us to adopt and so we just started out. We don't own a house, so an equity loan was out. All we had the funds for at first was the homestudy and it has gone from there. We have prayed that the money would be there when we needed it and it always has been for each step so far.

Here are some things we have done so far to raise money:

1. Baked potato dinner - we held this at our church after the service one Sunday and it was by donation only. I think we spent about $400 on food and we raised $2500.
2. Letters to friends/family - a lot of people have a heart for adoption, but they do not feel like they should adopt themselves. In the letters we sent out, we just told people what we were doing and asked them to consider being a part of it. If you want, I can give you a copy of what we sent out.
3. Grant applications - no luck yet, but you never know!
4. Cutting back on expensese - eat out less, drive older cars, buy clothes on clearance racks or at thrift stores
5. Setting up a website to give people information about our adoption and also provide a chance for people to get involved through prayer or giving if they would like to. (I'd be happy to give you our website address, but I'm not supposed to post it here because of TOS. PM me if you'd like the address.)

Here are some things we still plan to do to raise money:

1. Big garage sale (asking for donations from friends, church,etc)
2. Selling "live strong-type" bracelets - you can get them with your child's name or whatever you want on them and they sell for $5 each.
3. We are also looking at several other fundraisers, not sure which ones we will do yet.
4. I also know people who have temporarily taken a second job - like delivering pizzas - to help fund the adoption. We may do that, but right now our jobs are both pretty time consuming.
5. We are going to sell our second car and carpool together. The care is old, but paid for, so the few thousand that we will get for it can go towards our adoption expenses.

We know so many families who have lower incomes and who have been able to adopt. Don't let the funds stop you. If you are determined, you will be able to raise the money you need. These kids are so worth it!

You might also want to check out the Yahoo group that talks about fundraising for adoption. If you go to Yahoo groups and type "fundraising for adoption" it should come up. If not, then PM me and I'll get you the link.

Good luck and don't let the lack of funds keep you from adopting if that is what is on your heart. If you want to chat, feel free to pm me or send me an email.

~Rachel

[denise marie]

I am Also saving to adopt....Having a HuGE yard sale family and friends are donating items to sale to put monies made towards our adoption.
I took a babysetting job and all monies earned is put into a savings account for our adoption.
we are not planning on adopting for about a year but anyway i can cut cost and add to the account is another dollar close to bringing our baby home.
Also going to borrow against our 401k.

[Mamma]

We also fundraised for our first adoption and this adoption. We had and plan on having an "adoption fundraiser yard sale." So many people are donating items, it's wonderful. We are also in the middle of an "adoption cookbook fundraiser." This is going great! It was quite time consuming for me as I typed in each recipe as that saved us a percentage if we did that ourselves. We had a few pages in the front regarding adoption and a little about ourselves. People absolutely love it, and the profit is great. That's how we paid for sending our dossier to the Secretary of State and Consulate.

All the ideas are great.

Oh, as far as the tax credit, we did get our entire $10,000 back with our first adoption. We didn't get it all the first yet, however. You have a total of five consecutive years to get it back. I think it took us a total of three income tax years before we got the whole $10,000....but it did come back to us.

Hope that's helpful!