10 Simple Fundraising Ideas for Foster Care Homes and Families

There are above 200,000 kids in the US at various foster homes. Undoubtedly, they find it challenging to mix into normal society. They enter foster care because their families are in crisis. Some of the kids stay at the homes of resource parents or foster parents and some live in a group home usually called congregate care. Even though foster care is a temporary solution, the families that raise foster kids find it expensive to provide for education, medical expenses, and other therapy costs. But there are ways and means of raising funds to cover these costs. Start crowdfunding and make an impact by raising funds for their education and well-being.

What are the benefits of fundraising for foster care homes and families?

By raising funds for foster care homes, you-

• Help the children in foster care homes get a good education and cover any of their medical expenses.
• Raise awareness about foster kids and their adoption methods.
• Raise awareness about their PTSD (post-trauma stress disorder).
• Get in touch with authorities to resolve issues that need immediate attention
• Build a strong community that will be empathetic to the needs of kids at the foster homes.   

How do you go about fundraising for foster care homes and families? Here are some of the best and easy fundraising ideas for it.

1.  Tag a bag

Many kids end up in foster homes with a bag that contains bare essentials. It is left to the foster homes to provide them with proper clothes and other needy stuff. For the Tag a Bag idea, you need to get in touch with wholesale suppliers of bags, clothing, and other essentials. First, buy a bag and pack in clothes, a blanket, a jacket, socks, underclothing, and care items like toothpaste, soap, and other essentials needed for a kid in the foster care home. Once you get an idea of the expense involved for a bag, ask people to donate the equivalent of one packed bag or its multiples. Tag the bag with the donor’s name and email the photo to them to let them know that their contribution is being used wisely.

2.  Back to school

It’s challenging for foster kids to enter a new school especially when they are undergoing mental agony. You can make it interesting by giving them new books, bags, outfits, and shoes. In the Back to School fundraiser, you make a list of things you can give to foster kids when they are prepared to go to a new school. You raise money to buy them the essentials needed for school. And the best part is, you can start crowdfunding online for free to increase donations.

3.  Online fundraising

One of the easy fundraising ideas is to start an online donation drive. There are many fundraising platforms that support charities and individuals to raise money for different causes. GivingX is one such best fundraising platform to help you start your fundraiser page with ease. It has all the features needed to set up a page and share it with your community. It also has features to help you track the success of your fundraising goal. The benefit of GivingX is that it makes page-sharing easy for you to collect funds from people across the globe.

4.  Social share your fundraiser

With people spending most of their time online, you can turn this into an opportunity and share the fundraiser among your followers on various social media channels. Encourage your peers to reshare the link. This takes the chain forward helping you to get more donations. Start crowdfunding and share it with your team. A fundraiser page with a compelling story, image, video, and CTA will gain maximum attention helping you to reach the goal.

5.  Parents Yoga class

It’s an opportunity any parent would not want to miss. Hold a Yoga class for parents in your community as a fundraiser. Get a Yoga guru to conduct the classes. Talk to a local gym or health club to sponsor the event. Talk to health doctors to raise awareness about the fundraiser. Share it among your social circle. You can even get the foster kids in your community to attend the class. Let them share their story if they are willing to. Stress on teaching relaxation yoga, breathing techniques, and meditation to parents. If this family fundraising idea is a success, you can even continue it as a weekly class to get more members and donations.  

6.  Support from the church and other religious institutions

Churches and other religious institutions allot a certain amount of funds they collect to causes that align with their values and goals. Talk to your local church if they are willing to donate to the foster kids’ care fundraiser. Else, you can request them to give you five minutes after Sunday mass to talk to the prayer attendees about your cause. Things can get easy if the church and other religious institutions are willing to support you through their faith fundraising programs.      

7.  Moms-only, Dads-only day out

As much fun family fundraising ideas are, you can also include a fundraising event only for moms or dads. For instance, you can arrange golf outings, trekking, poker tournaments, or anything that dads will enjoy. Collaborate with your local sports organizer and sell tickets to the event. Hold these events during Father’s Day or International Men’s Day for added value. Similarly, you can arrange a moms-only fundraising event such as a visit to the spa, wine evening, dinner, salon packages, and more. It has to be a relaxing event so that they enjoy a day off from their busy schedule of taking care of the homes and kids.

8.  Outdoor Fun Night

If you have a big community park, set an outdoor event for the night such as movie watching, fun games, barbeque, and more. Set up a screen and projector and invite your community people for a movie show. Arrange for fun games and gather all the kids to set up a few stalls for the event. Charge an entry fee and give a pep talk on the need to raise funds for kids at foster care homes.

9.  Birthday boxes

Kids at foster homes need love and affection. Surprise them on their birthday with goody bags and gifts. Form a kid group in your community. Let each of the kids ask for some amount from their parents. Pool in all the money and buy gifts for foster kids. Buy cakes and arrange for a party in the park or any home. Gift them what they love.

10.  Holiday cards

If you have an address list of potential donors, design and post beautiful holiday cards to them with a personal note. Print the fundraiser page QR code on the card to make it easy for donors to donate through the code. Even though digital cards and messages are the trends now, traditional fundraising methods such as posting cards for holiday still holds value and will get enough funds to support kids in foster care homes.

Wrapping Up

These are the 10 easy fundraising ideas for foster care homes and families. Try them and don’t forget to start crowdfunding on GivingX.

Custom fundraising software like GivingX is a cost-effective solution especially since you cannot afford to spend on creating custom software or holding events. It has tools to help you set up a fundraising page for FREE.

Start crowdfunding on GivingX and help foster kids to cope with the challenges with a smile on their faces.