Garage sale? Spaghetti dinner? Live auction?

If you’re in the throws of adoption fundraising (or gearing up to get started), you’ve probably tossed around a few of these ideas—or the blog-loads of others like them.

Don’t get us wrong, traditional fundraisers are highly effective! But if you’re looking for a change of pace, as well as an opportunity to serve someone in your community, we’d love to introduce you to a different kind of adoption fundraiser: Both Hands

Both Hands gets its inspiration from James 1:27—

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

One hand for orphans, and one hand for widows.

In short, they help Christian adoptive families fund their adoptions by coordinating a service project fixing up a widow’s home.

Here’s how it works:

1. Gather a team. The saying goes “It takes a village to raise a child.” Both Hands believes it takes a village to bring one home, too! A Both Hands project starts with gathering around 10 family members and friends to serve as the foundation and support group of the project.
2. Find a widow. Widows are often overlooked in our communities and need help, but aren’t sure how to find it. Both Hands guides a family through finding a widow in their community to serve for their project.
3. Serve for a day. On the project day, the family serves a widow alongside their team of volunteers. Tasks are typically labor-focused, such as painting, cleaning, landscaping, and de-cluttering. Both Hands also coaches families on how to get local merchants to donate any needed supplies.
4. Raise funds for your adoption. The family and their team raise sponsorship for their project day through sending letters and sharing their fundraising webpage, raising an average of $15,000 (as of 2020). Both Hands fundraises support for its operating costs through private donors, so NO funds raised by a family and their team are deducted for Both Hands’ operating costs.

Lifesong has partnered with Both Hands to help hundreds of families raise funds for their adoptions, like the two beautiful families below! Both received Lifesong matching grants, making their Both Hands dollars go even further. The following testimonies are in their words…

The Robinson Family

Working with Both Hands

We learned about both Lifesong and Both Hands at the 2019 Rooted in Love conference with our agency, Lifeline Children’s Services. At that time, we had no idea where to being our fundraising, even though we knew we needed to get started. We loved the idea of a Both Hands project to serve a widow as a way of raising funds, and we were interested in applying for grants. Lifesong was the key that enabled both!

Lifesong was so helpful in managing our funds! They made it so easy to keep track of expenses and we even had them pay our agency directly a couple of times so we didn’t have to go through the reimbursement process. When we finally brought our daughter home, the reimbursement process was very easy and Lifesong mailed a check with our remaining funds within a couple of days.

Seeing God in Their Story

Before we decided to apply for adoption, there were many legitimate concerns that kept us from jumping in. Unstable health, job insecurity, possibilities of moving/deploying (I’m in the military), and the overwhelming idea of the cost of adoption. Miraculously, God squashed every obstacle.

God restored my health which enabled me to keep my job in the military. He facilitated a 6-month deployment during a perfect time while we were in a season of waiting, and then He prevented me from deploying when it would have impacted our process. He kept us from moving and allowed us to remain in our community while we brought our daughter home, which has been such a blessing to have a faith family surround us with love and care.

God squashed every obstacle in bringing His chosen daughter to our family, and we are so blessed to have her in our family!

The Floyd Family

Working with Both Hands

Lifesong working with Both Hands was a game-changer for us. I wish I had known about this funding option earlier in the adoption process because we would have applied here first before running other fundraisers! Lifesong team members were great with communication and answering every question I had, along with quickly funding whatever funds we were given.

Lifesong’s matching grant with Both Hands was instrumental in paying off a huge chunk of in-country fees for our adoption.

Seeing God in Their Story

Shortly after Lifesong paid some in-country fees, the last big thing that was owed was a “suggested orphanage donation” (which we learned is not a suggestion). However, that $12,000 was waived! The finance department head at our agency called me in tears—she had never had that happen before! Only God could move in that way to allow our son to come home without delay.

Ready to learn more about Both Hands?

Lifesong helps lift the financial burden of adoption.

We guide adopting families through the fundraising process, removing the financial barriers to adoption. Download Lifesong’s free adoption financial assistance application to receive matching grants, interest-free loans, and access to our free crowdfunding platform!

Download your free financial assistance application!