Fundraising for Adoption: Embrace Social Media!
One of the number one reasons families are hesitant about diving into the adoption waters… Money. It is certainly not an inexpensive undertaking. The fees can turn hesitancy to fear!
We know these emotions well. We are freshly home (14 months) with our three Ethiopian beauties! Our two year journey to Joshua, Ruth and Dibora brought joy, heartache, love, and lots of check-writing!
As the adoption costs began to rise, we would continue to remind ourselves that God is the Father to the fatherless… and God is not a dead-beat Dad. Then we would take a big huge gulp and write the next check!
We began to see that the money-issue was actually a divine lesson in trust. We believed all the rich verses in the Bible about orphans and adoption. Yet, we were being put to the test: did we believe the verses about God as Provider?
Our encouragement to you… Watch God show off a little. Embrace the craziness of having to raise thousands and thousands (and thousands) of dollars. Embrace God being Father and Provider to your future children. He adores them and desires that they enjoy the beauty of family!
First lesson:
Get over the awkwardness of fundraising! You have kids to bring home and people that will partner with you to make “home” a reality for your future children. So, get to it!
First Fundraising Tip:
Embrace Social Media! There are lots of different opinions about status updates, tweeting and blogging. Keep this in mind: stories change lives! When you blog, tweet and update your status, you have a unique opportunity to tell your circle of influence (and all those who frequently RT) the inspiring story of God working. With each blog post, tweet or FB status you can tell people your story and invite them to join you. Many people are not called to adopt but would adore helping YOU on this journey!
We tweeted this phrase each day: “Want to help an orphan become a Wanderer?”…along with an explanation of our latest fundraising idea. Those fundraising ideas? We will cover some of those in our next blog post. 🙂
— Ed & Susan Wanderer