Adoption Fundraisers
What adoption families raise for here
Adoption fundraisers on GiveSendGo are usually run by the adopting family themselves, and the ask is almost always itemized: agency and program fees, the home study, legal fees, travel and a longer-than-planned stay abroad, or the phase of an embryo transfer that's next on the medical calendar. Domestic private infant, international, kinship, and embryo adoption fundraisers all run in this category. Costs attach to the process, never to the child.
Anyone can start a fundraiser here, with no nonprofit status, no EIN, and no sponsor. The creator doesn't have to be one of the adopting parents either: a sibling, a friend, or a grandparent can run the page while the family is buried in paperwork, as long as the person the money is for is named as the recipient.
Every fundraiser listed above belongs to a family in the middle of this process. Each page names its creator and its recipient, so you know where your gift lands.
Support a family raising for their adoption on this page
Adoption fundraising: how to raise money for an adoption
An adoption fundraiser reads best when it shows the process rather than one large number. A process is something a giver can picture and pay toward. Work through these four before you publish:
- Itemize what you actually owe: agency and program fees, the home study, legal fees, travel and lodging, and post-placement costs.
- Set the goal to the next real number, whether that's the home study, the agency retainer, or the next phase on the medical calendar, rather than the whole projected total.
- Write the story yourself, or have MICA, GiveSendGo's AI writing assistant, draft one from a short description and edit from there. Our help desk names these key elements: a realistic goal, a specific breakdown of what the money covers, a clear story with a direct ask, strong photos or a short video, regular updates, and steady sharing.
- Decide what you'll say about the child and the birth family before you publish, then hold that line in every update. Plenty of creators here leave detail out on purpose.
You don't have to wait for an approval to start
Nothing on GiveSendGo's side waits for a completed home study, an agency match, or a grant cycle, so you can publish immediately or save the fundraiser and publish later. That matters because adoption-assistance grants generally don't accept an application until a home study is approved. The months before that approval are exactly when families here are raising. One account can run more than one fundraiser, and the category on a fundraiser is editable later if the situation changes.
Verification is the one part that runs on its own clock. Review starts once the recipient has uploaded ID and the fundraiser has received its first gift, whichever comes later, and it typically completes in 1 to 2 business days after that. It's a standard financial-industry requirement and it isn't waived for anyone, so if a program payment is due soon, publish earlier than feels necessary.
Setting your fundraiser to private
Get this one right before you publish. You can set your fundraiser to private: it stays out of GiveSendGo search results and category listings, so only people you send the link to will find it. Your name still shows to anyone who opens it. GiveSendGo is a public platform, so the creator's and recipient's names always display on the page, and a fully anonymous fundraiser isn't possible. If you're withholding detail out of respect for a birth mother's privacy or a match that isn't final, write the page that way from the start, because privacy here comes from what you choose to put on the page rather than from a setting.
Embryo adoption and IVF fundraisers run here too
Embryo adoption fundraisers already run in this category, and so do the phases that come with them: a mock transfer, the home study, matching with an embryo's family, and the transfer itself. Because each phase arrives with its own date and its own invoice, most creators set the goal to the phase in front of them and update the page as each one completes. GiveSendGo lists medical costs, along with family and personal needs, among the things you can fundraise for. And if you want people praying with you through it, recipients who opt in can receive prayer calls.
What reaches you, and when
GiveSendGo doesn't take a cut. There's no platform fee. What's deducted is the payment processor's fee: 2.7% + 30¢ per gift for US fundraisers, 3.5% + 30¢ outside the US. On a $100 gift to a US fundraiser, $97 reaches you.
Your first gift becomes available 5 days after it's received. Every gift after that becomes available on a rolling 3-day basis. Once you request a transfer, it typically lands in your bank within 2 to 3 business days.
The rest of the mechanics, in one place:
- The recipient has to be 18 or older, live in the fundraiser's country, and have a bank account there, and every recipient completes identity verification before any transfer.
- The recipient's country can't be changed after the fundraiser is created, so choose it carefully at the start. If your country isn't supported, a trusted adult in a supported country can be named as recipient and pass the funds along.
- Non-USD transfers can take longer, which matters when you're paying an international program, and minimum transfer amounts vary by country.
- Transfers go out when you request them from the Transfers tab, or on the weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly schedule you set.
Common questions
How do I raise money for an adoption?
Start a fundraiser and itemize the process: agency and program fees, the home study, legal fees, travel and lodging, and post-placement costs. A specific breakdown of what the money covers is one of the things the help desk names as making a fundraiser work, alongside a realistic goal, a clear personal story with a direct ask, strong photos or a short video, regular updates, and steady sharing rather than a single post. You don't need a nonprofit or an EIN, and you don't need to be working with an agency.
Can we start before our home study is approved or before we're matched?
Yes. Nothing on GiveSendGo's side depends on an approved home study, an agency, or a match. You can publish as soon as you're ready, or save the fundraiser and publish it later. Verification review of the fundraiser starts once the recipient has uploaded ID and the first gift has arrived, whichever comes later, and typically completes in 1 to 2 business days after that.
Can we keep our adoption fundraiser private?
You can set your fundraiser to private: it stays out of GiveSendGo search results and category listings, so only people you send the link to will find it. Your name still shows to anyone who opens it. GiveSendGo is a public platform, creator and recipient names always display, and a fully anonymous fundraiser is not possible, so decide what belongs on the page before you publish it.
How much of each gift reaches us?
GiveSendGo charges $0 in platform fees, and no cut of what you raise goes to us. What's deducted is the payment processor's fee: 2.7% + 30¢ per gift for US fundraisers and 3.5% + 30¢ outside the US, so $97 of a $100 gift reaches a US fundraiser. At checkout your givers see an optional tip to GiveSendGo, adjustable to any amount including $0. If you set a percentage to GiveSendGo when you created the fundraiser, that amount is added on top of each gift and shown to your givers at checkout; it's editable anytime in fundraiser Settings.
When does the money reach our bank?
Your first gift becomes available 5 days after it's received. Every gift after that becomes available on a rolling 3-day basis. Once you request a transfer it typically reaches your bank within 2 to 3 business days, and your bank's own posting schedule decides when it appears. Non-USD transfers can take longer, which matters if you're paying an international program. You can also set transfers to go out weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.
Are gifts to our adoption fundraiser tax-deductible?
Nothing given on GiveSendGo is tax-deductible unless it goes through GiveSendGo Charities, the 501(c)(3). That includes the Giver Army, which is Charities' recurring giving program. The one exception is a recipient that is itself a verified 501(c)(3). GiveSendGo itself is not a 501(c)(3), does not verify any recipient's tax status, and does not issue tax receipts for a personal fundraiser. When the recipient is a nonprofit, the receipt comes from them, not from us.
Who can be the recipient?
Someone 18 or older who lives in the fundraiser's country and has a bank account there. They'll also provide a tax ID for that country, a government-issued photo ID with date of birth, a phone number, and a residential address, with no PO boxes. If your country isn't supported, a trusted adult in a supported country can be named as recipient and pass the funds along. The recipient's country can't be changed after the fundraiser is created.
Can we raise for an embryo adoption or an embryo transfer here?
Yes. Embryo adoption fundraisers run in this category already, usually with the goal set to the phase that's next on the medical calendar rather than the full projected cost. Medical costs and family and personal needs are both among the things GiveSendGo hosts. The category on a fundraiser is editable later if a different label fits better as things move.
