With their explosive growth and effectiveness, crowdfunding sites have changed how we finance many things. Expanding a family in any way is beautiful, and adoption touches so many people around the world. However, adopting a child can be expensive. The expenses that come with adoption include fees for your home study, document preparation and authorization, adoption attorney, and so much more. If you need to fundraise to afford adoption fees, consider adoption crowdfunding.
Before selecting an adoption crowdfunding platform and beginning a campaign, research. Check with online communities, social media, adoption forums, and other adoptive families that have used crowdfunding successfully to learn from their experiences. In addition, we’ve created criteria for choosing the right adoption crowdfunding platform for you.
Adoption Crowdfunding Criteria
As you prepare to crowdfund your adoption, consider the eight criteria below when selecting a fundraising site:
- Type of platform: There are four types of crowdfunding platforms in general: reward-based, donation-based, lending-based, and equity-based. We encourage you to use a donation platform to finance your adoption fees. This type of platform will provide your donor with a tax receipt so they can claim the gift on their taxes.
- Fees and costs: It’s crucial to ensure that fees are transparent and clearly visible on every crowdfunding website. Be wary of any sites that hide or make it difficult to find their fees. Their fees may include listing or setup fees, transaction fees, and payment processing. I recommend looking for sites that offer total fees of 5% or less, such as AdoptTogether.
- Reputation and Trustworthiness: It’s important to thoroughly research the platform’s reputation, history, and success stories. Make sure to look for reviews from other campaigners to gauge the platform’s reliability and trustworthiness.
- Personalization: Look for adoption crowdfunding sites that will allow you to personalize your page. You want your page to resemble your family’s unique personality so that your friends and the people in your network will recognize and connect with it right away and want to donate to your adoption.
- User-Friendly: A user-friendly platform with an intuitive interface can enhance the experience for both campaigners and backers, simplifying navigation and encouraging greater participation.
- Fund Disbursement: Make sure to familiarize yourself with the platform’s policies on fund disbursement. Some platforms disburse funds only after the campaign reaches its funding goal, while others may allow earlier partial disbursements.
- Visibility: Some platforms with a larger user base and better marketing reach can significantly enhance the visibility of your campaign. It’s important to assess the platform’s capacity to broaden the reach of your campaign to a wider audience.
- Tracking and admin: Look for an adoption crowdfunding platform that can perform as many administrative tasks for you as possible. These tasks should include sending donation receipts and tracking donations in real time. After all, the less time you have to spend on administrative tasks, the more time you have to devote to your fundraising campaign.
Spreading the Word
While the adoption crowdfunding platform you choose is essential, the success of your campaign is typically not dependent on it. The most important factor in your success is how well you develop and promote your story with your networks.
In addition to emailing friends a link to your fundraising page, leverage the power of networking to drive traffic to your site by posting it to social media platforms. Then, continue sharing updates and milestones on social media to create visibility and momentum, keeping people engaged and informed about your adoption.
The most successful adoption crowdfunding campaigns we’ve seen included a captivating, personal story shared in a video. When you tape a video on your fundraising page, remember to be clever, creative, and authentic.
More than likely, social media will reach new people and networks who don’t even know you but want to support you in achieving your goal faster.
Adoption Crowdfunding Platforms
Among the most widely used crowdfunding platforms for adoption are GoFundMe, AdoptTogether, Plumfund, and AdoptionBridge. These platforms typically provide features such as:
- Page setup for detailed descriptions, promotions, and updates, often including video content.
- Seamless integration with social media for effortless sharing.
- Online donation acceptance.
- Fee structures comprising a percentage of funds raised along with transaction fees.
GoFundMe
GoFundMe is a crowdfunding platform designed to raise financial support for individuals, charitable causes, and community projects. It is particularly well-suited for personal fundraising, allowing anyone to create a campaign. Backers typically support campaigns from personal networks, local communities, or causes that resonate with personal interests, such as supporting a youth sports building renovation or helping a family in need.
Campaigns can gain momentum and attract a broader audience of backers. Even if visitors to your campaign page don’t donate, they can share your profile to increase its visibility.
There is no platform fee for fundraising campaigns, only a 2.9% plus 30¢ payment fee. Unlike Kickstarter, GoFundMe releases your funds even if you don’t reach your goal. This ensures you won’t lose any of the money raised for your adoption fundraiser.
AdoptTogether
The first and largest adoption crowdfunding site, AdoptTogether has helped raise over $35 million for more than 5,000 families. AdoptTogether allows you to fundraise all of the expenses for your adoption.
All donations are tax-deductible, and AdoptTogether awards the funds to each family through a grant. It’s easy to use and allows you to manage all of your adoption fundraisers entirely online. Hopeful adoptive parents create a profile with AdoptTogether to be open to supporters who provide designated gifts and encouragement throughout their adoption journey.
Getting set up is simple! Begin by creating an account and setting up your profile. You can tell your story, and then you will be ready to begin sharing your adoption journey with friends, family, and more! Many families have found that the more compelling your story is, the more success you’ll see.
Plumfund
Plumfund is a fantastic crowdfunding platform where you can set up an adoption fundraising page to seek support from friends and family worldwide. It’s perfect for individuals who want to raise funds without directly asking for donations from their personal network.
The best part is that it’s completely free to use if contributors pay by cash or check. Even if paying by credit card, the fees are very minimal.
The creators of PlumFund are also the founders of Honeyfund, the leading online wedding registry with over 14 years of experience in creating a positive giving experience.
AdoptionBridge
AdoptionBridge is a platform that enables you to create a Waiting Family profile to seek financial assistance for your adoption process. Through AdoptionBridge’s crowdfunding functionality, you can raise up to 1/3 of the costs associated with domestic, international, or embryo adoption.
Registering as a Waiting Family is a simple, two-step process. First, sign up to become a Waiting Family to access your My AdoptionBridge home page. From this central hub, you can create your profile and access additional site features.
Upon completing your registration, you will be directed to your My AdoptionBridge page, where you can create and update your profile easily. Once logged in, you can conveniently access your page by clicking the ‘My AdoptionBridge’ button located in the top right corner of every page.
Adoption Fundraising
The cost of adoption can be one of the most challenging obstacles for families. It may seem overwhelming, especially when you’re just starting and seeing the expenses for the first time. However, the good news is that you don’t have to face it alone.
With some creativity and the support of friends and family, there are many effective ways to raise money for adoption. In addition to applying for grants, utilizing the adoption tax credit, and exploring other financing options, many adoptive families also consider crowdfunding. The crowdfunding platforms shared in this article will bridge the gap between families who want to adopt and children who need loving homes.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on June 27, 2018, and has since been updated.
Founder of Lifetime Adoption, adoptive mom, adoption expert, and Certified Open Adoption Practitioner (C.O.A.P).
Since 1986, adoption expert Mardie Caldwell has been dedicated to bringing couples and birth parents together in order to fulfill their dreams.
“Many years ago, I was also searching for a child to adopt. We didn’t know where or how to get started. Through research, determination, and a prayer, our dream of a family became reality. I started with a plan, a notebook, assistance from a caring adoption consultant and a lot of hard work; this was my family I was building. We had a few heartaches along the way, but the pain of not having children was worse!
Within weeks we had three different birth mothers choose us. We were overwhelmed and delighted. Many unsettling events would take place before our adoption would be finalized, many months later. Little did I know that God was training and aligning me for the adoption work I now do today. It is my goal to share with our families the methods and plans which succeed and do not succeed. I believe adoption should be affordable and can be a wonderful “pregnancy” for the adoptive couple.
I have also been on both sides of infertility with the loss of seven pregnancies and then conceiving by new technology, giving birth to a healthy daughter. I have experienced first-hand the emotional pain of infertility and believe my experience allows me to serve your needs better.
It is my hope that for you, the prospective parents, your desire for a child will be fulfilled soon.”
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