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Adoption
Am I being unrealistic?
I need advice. I'm thinking about planning a fundraiser in order to help offset some of the cost that we will be encountering for the cost of the adoption. Now, although I haven't gotten to that point, we have a meeting in mid January and I want to be able to give as big of a check as I possibly can. Now, I wasn't sure what kind of fundraiser that I wanted to do, but my friends were telling me to do a bus trip to AC or do a party. Is it unrealistic to expect to be able to make a good amount of money from either of these ideas in this ecomony? And has anyone ever done any fundraising like this. I'm new to all of this and it's scary and exciting all at once.
Thank you for any help that you can provide to me.
Melinda
My Wonderful Sister is my GC!!!!
3 IUIs, 2 unmedicated, 1 50mg of Clomid = All BFNs
Next step IVF!!!!
Melinda & Michael
5*6*06
God Bless The Broken Road
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Am I being unrealistic?
I really can't tell you about the best way to fundraise, but I want to urge you not to pay as much as you can to your agency upfront.
There are many, many unethical agencies out there, and it is important to research your choice thoroughly. I highly recommend you use the yahoo adoption research groups for this. They are called "Adoption Agency Research - Domestic" and "Adoption Agency Research" (for international), and you will get very candid responses there. You can also search the archives and their files for information about specific agencies.
The reason you shouldn't pay as much as you can up front is that (like most honest contractors) a good, ethical agency will never request that. You pay for their services as you go or as they provide them. One of the surest signs of an unethical agency is that they don't have a detailed payment plan (which specifies how much you are required to pay at each stage) or a contract that spells out conditions for refunds (e.g., what happens if you withdraw from the program, the adoption is not completed, you aren't chosen, etc.). Since so many things can happen along the way, never, ever prepay the agency--it would make it so much harder to get that money back if you choose to leave/switch agencies, if the agency goes out of business, or other unforeseeable circumstances interrupt your adoption.
Also, it seems from your post that you are planning on paying/signing with the first agency you meet with. Unless you know people who have used them and/or have already researched them, I highly recommend checking them out on the sites I mentioned above.
In the meantime, it would be a great idea to use the time between now and that meeting to do some basic reading on adoption in general. Three great books to get you started are The Complete Idiot's Guide to Adoption, Adoption for Dummies, and The Complete Adoption Book. I used the first one, but they are all good sources that explain the basic issues inherent in adoption, the different types of adoption, and questions to ask/ways to research agencies.
I'm sorry that this post is somewhat off-topic or if it is a bit alarmist, but finding the right agency is so important, and I wanted to make sure you had the tools to do so. There are so many things that can go wrong during this process, but a good agency will be able to help you deal with any bumps in the road and support you throughout. The true sign of a good agency is not that they never have problems (since many times the problems that arise are outside the agency's control), but rather how they handle the problems that do come up. Your agency choice can truly make or break your experience.
As always, CS makes some great points. She's a wise woman!
As for fundraising, I work in non-profit and coordinate several fundraisers to support our work. IMO, the type of fundraiser which would work best for raising funds for adoption would be either an on-line silent auction (it allows close friends and family to be ridiculously generous) or a dinner.
One dinner comes to mind which was effective. A patient I worked with got the support of a local Italian restaurant which had a banquet room which held a large number. The restaurant provided a nice spaghetti dinner at a very low cost ($5/person). The "ticket" to this dinner was $20 per person. So, the net was $15/person. Over 200 people attended over the course of five hours raising close to $5000 (donation buckets were on each table so many people wrote checks above and beyond their ticket price).
I think the most important thing to consider in organizing a fundraiser is the true overhead (i.e. bus if you went to AC). Keep the overhead low...and get as much of the overhead donated as possible.