Julie Gumm - Author

Successful Both Hands Projects helps family raise $10,250

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You’ll here me talk about the Both Hands Foundation a ton because I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE what they do. Not only is it an awesome way to fundraise (because you’re helping someone else) but if you follow their suggestions the average project raises $10,000 for your adoption. This is one of those fundraisers that I think every adoptive couple should do.

Stacey and Rodney (my infamous Amazon Affiliate couple) did a Both Hands project this summer.

They gathered 40 volunteers, including several contractors who donated their time, and went to work on a hot Nashville summer day. Wendy, the widow they were serving, lost her husband to cancer at the age of 31, and is now raising their young son Quinn on her own.

The Kennedy crew tackled six projects for Wendy:

  • Washed, detailed & vacumed Wendy’s car (a perfect job for some of the older kids)
  • Tore down and rebuilt the rickety back deck
  • Painted the porch trim and front siding
  • Repainted the mailbox and cleaned up the flower bed
  • Tore out overgrown bushes in backyard and trimmed bushes in front yard
  • Moved the compost bin and wood pile to a better location

They also trimmed the bushes and landscaping of the widow across the street.

After their experience, Stacey advises families to have an army of people praying for you at all times. She said the spiritual warfare on them individually and on their marriage was intense from the moment they filled out the application to Lifesong. They knew God had called them to do it, but she said it was ten times harder, emotionally and spiritually, then getting their home study approved.

The Kennedy’s Both Hands project brought $10,250 into their adoption fund. They benefited from matching donations from several of the volunteers employers.

They even had local news coverage which is featured in the video Stacey put together.

“What a privilege to be able to give a day of service to our dear friend Wendy, a young widow and her son Quinn…AND the widow across the street! This Saturday, surrounded by our friends and many that we just met, devoting the day to hard labor in the intense summer heat, we experienced the Gospel of Jesus being lived out before our eyes. To bring home an orphan into our family by serving two widows is truly one of the highlights of our entire lives. We are so incredibly grateful and blessed.”

– Stacy Kennedy

Have you done a Both Hands project? I’d love to hear about it.

How one family raised $4,400 for their adoption with pancakes

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Last week I stumbled on a blog post by Jillian Burden and when I heard they raised over $4,400 at their pancake breakfast I knew I needed to find out more. Jillian was kind enough to answer a bunch of my questions so I could tell you more about their breakfast.

Held in their church fellowship hall, the breakfast menu included pancakes, eggs, bacon, juice, coffee and tea. The bacon and eggs were donated by farmers from the church, leaving the Burden’s to only buy pancake ingredients and the drinks. Even though the cost was only marginally cheaper, the Burdens decided to make the pancakes from scratch and got rave reviews from the crowd.

They bought their ingredients at a restaurant supply store open to the public, which allowed them to return unopened bags of flour and cartons of syrup.  They returned $100 worth of food at the end, but were glad they had extra rather than not enough.

They also spent a little over $30 on some mason jars and flowers for simple table decorations.

Jill and John wanted to be sure all their friends and family could participate so they advertised a suggested donation of $10 per person or $30 per family. Most people gave far more than that amount. Total attendance was just over 100 people.

Fortunately their friends and small group stepped up to help. Six adults set up the tables and main serving station the night before the breakfast.  Jillian and John pre-mixed dry ingredients for pancakes and got all the cooking stations prepared the night before as well.

At the breakfast they had two adults at the donation table, seven adults cooking, two adults washing dishes, three teenagers running food to the serving line, two adults serving food (Jillian and John so they could say hello to everyone), two adults at the drink station, two adults selling t-shirts and jewelry, and one adult babysitting all the volunteer’s kids – 22 people all together.

They offered their adoption t-shirts and jewelry for sale at the breakfast, but did not count those sales toward the final tally.

Jillian’s advises others to plan your timeline and then start cooking 20 minutes earlier than you think you should. Give your volunteers clear, written instructions. Estimate how much food you should make and add 20 percent.

As far as advertising the event, the big push began a month before when they created a Facebook event. Two weeks before the event they talked it up on their Facebook accounts and blogs, including taking photos of them shopping for ingredients. They also posted the event to the church’s Facebook page.

See their blog post for more pictures and info.

I love the idea of a pancake breakfast because it’s casual and menu is pretty defined. Plus I’ve never heard of anyone who doesn’t like pancakes. If putting on a fundraising dinner intimidates you, this might be the way to go.

The Pros & Cons of Adoption Fundraising

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Not everyone is comfortable with fundraising for their adoption. Before you make a decision on whether it’s right for you, here are some pros and cons. Thanks to all my Facebook friends who weighed in on the issue. If you have additional thoughts, leave a comment. I’d love to hear them.

PROS

Raises awareness – Welcoming other people into your adoption journey allows you to share your heart for adoption and your heart for the orphan. Many people are unaware of the orphan crisis and the need for loving solutions for U.S. Birth moms who want to choose life for their child. Even if they never give, you never know how far this influence will reach. You may find one of these families later adopting themselves.

Allows others to be obedient – Remember that scripture about caring for the orphan and widow? If adoption isn’t for everyone, what is one other way they can do that? Financially supporting your adoption gives your friends and family the opportunity to carry out God’s call to care for the orphan.

Teaches humility – Nobody likes asking for help, especially financial help. But what if you didn’t look at it as asking your friends? Because really you’re asking God to provide for your adoption. And it is God that supplies all our needs (Philippians 4:19), but sometimes he uses others to do it. How will they help if they don’t know the need?

Makes adoption possible – Quite frankly many people would never be able to adopt without fundraising. Even if they take out loans, those are limited, grants are limited and many of the biggest adoption advocates are those already pouring out their financial gifts on others or working in ministry. Without fundraising many adoptions would simply not happen.

CONS

Hard work – Fundraising is hard work – whether it’s the manual labor of sorting donations and preparing for a garage sale, or the perseverance to blog, Facebook and tweet about your efforts. Hopefully you have a village of people that want to help you.

The questions – You’re going to get a lot of questions and, quite frankly, a few insensitive comments. Friends might ask “Why does a kid cost so much?” It’s a good time for you to use some positive adoption language as well as educate them on why adoption is expensive. Explain about agency fees and paperwork and travel. Be open and honest.

Accountability – If adoption donations are coming straight to you, versus to a grant organization, you need to be faithful about making sure that money ONLY goes toward adoption expenses. Not, “we’re going to have another kid” expenses like a bigger car, nursery decor and clothes, but agency fees, paperwork costs, etc.

Scrutiny – If you’re going to be asking for money you are opening yourself up to scrutiny. You may not want to send out a fundraising letter and then leave on a 10 day cruise two weeks later. This is especially hard in this digital age where we tend to spew our every move via Twitter and Facebook. What if that cruise is a work perk that isn’t costing you a cent? What a blessing – just be sure to mention that when you post all the touristy pictures. Also, let people what you’re doing to help pay for the adoption – things like trimming your budget or taking on second jobs.

Backlash – Be prepared for the “If you can’t afford it then you shouldn’t be doing it?” comments. Who they come from may even surprise and hurt you. Respond lovingly and let them know you would never want them to feel obligated to give.

 What are some of the pros and cons I haven’t listed?