So far in this series we’ve talked about how being a teenager can be a benefit to financially supporting orphan care. We covered five ways to make money for orphans. And I shared some lessons I’ve learned from fundraising. Today I’d like to share a few more ideas for ways to raise money for orphans. After all, that’s the hard part, right? You know that you want to help orphans. You know that ministries and adoptive families need money. But figuring out how to go from desire to action can be difficult. Please enjoy part three of the Teens and Money series.

5 More Ways You Can Raise Money for Orphans

1. Have a garage sale (tag sale, yard sale … whatever you call it in your neck of the woods). I do not live in a family of tag sale enthusiasts, so I don’t have very much personal experience with this idea. Lots of adopting families have experienced great success with them, though, raising anywhere from a few hundred dollars to more than five thousand dollars! Ask friends and family to donate the stuff they want to get rid of and, if you don’t live on a busy road, see if someone who does is willing to partner with you and host the sale. This sounds like one of the more labor intensive fundraising options, but also one of the highest potentials for profit. Check out 10 Tips for a Successful Adoption Yard Sale Fundraiser.
2. Ask people to fill baby bottles with change. Our local crisis pregnancy center does this regularly. People take the baby bottles home for a set period of time and fill them up with loose change (or bills and even checks if they’re feeling very generous). At the end of the time, everyone returns their filled bottles and the ministry gets the money inside of them. You might not think this would raise much, but that change piles up prettyquickly when people include dimes and quarters. You could get creative and use containers besides baby bottles too. Maybe crayons if you’re raising money for school supplies or make personalized money banks for your project.
3. Get sponsored. Both Hands is a ministry that facilitates adoption fundraising by ministering to widows. Families find a widow who needs help repairing. They then recruit a team of workers to come help fix up the widows home. The workers get people to sponsor their day of service and the money raised goes to the family’s adoption expenses. You don’t have to use particular model of course. It’s the same concept that feeds into a walk-a-thon or similar charity event. I kind of like the idea of getting sponsored to do something service related instead of just walking, jogging, swimming, etc.
4. Host a Raffle. Buy something nice to raffle off, get people to donate raffle items, or make the items yourself. You can host raffles at parties, church events (if your church is okay with it, of course), blogs, on facebook … the options are as varied as you are creative. 😉 You could put together gift baskets, buy or obtain donated gift cards, or make a quilt to raffle off. You can buy raffle tickets pretty inexpensively on Amazon.
5. Donate Your Birthday. This idea (along with some of the others I’ve listed) is also included on the Ways to Help page. If you click through, you’ll find links to organizations that will guide you through the process of organizing your birthday to support their specific goal. You don’t need the help of an organization to do this, though. When I turned nine I asked my friends to bring baby clothes and other items for our crisis pregnancy center. It was a great experience, and you’ll be hard pressed to find an easier fundraiser. You could ask friends and families to bring actual items (like the baby clothes) or cash.
6. Bonus Idea! Create Your Own “Ice-Bucket Challenge.” With the fundraiser for ALS still sweeping the country in massive proportions, it’s hard not to think of fundraising without imagining people dumping ice-water over their heads. It might be fun to think up a similar challenge to raise money for orphan care. It probably won’t take the world by storm, but you and your friends could enjoy it. You might want to let people recover from the ice-water first, though. 😛

Which of these fundraising ideas appeals most to you? Do you have any more ideas to add to the list?

Previous Posts in this Series

Orphans, Fundraising, and Teens (part 1):
Why teens are in a good place to support orphans financially and 5 Ways to Raise Money for Orphans.

Orphans, Fundraising, and Teens (part 2):
Lesson’s I’ve learned that might help you overcome your fear of fundraising.