Thinking about fundraising for your family? You probably already know by now but using gestational surrogacy as a means to grow your family can be pretty expensive. It can cost tens of thousands of dollars to have a baby through surrogacy, and most people do not have that much cash lying around. It can sometimes feel really discouraging to see those big numbers and dollar signs, but fear not, because there are many ways you can save, cut costs, and raise money so that you can achieve your dreams of growing your family through surrogacy.
Cutting Costs and discovering ways to fundraise.
When trying to figure out how to pay for surrogacy, there are two main lines of thinking you’ll want to consider. These include taking money away from your current expenses and adding money to your monthly savings. There are a ton of ways to cut costs and add a little extra padding to your income, and little by little, you may eventually find yourself in a better financial situation. Here are some ways you can come up with some extra money to save up for surrogacy.
1. Cut your expenses. While it’s great to start doing things that add to your income, you would be doing yourself a disservice by not also coming up with ways to cut costs from your monthly expenses. Whether that be by canceling subscription services you don’t use anymore or by substituting those weekly Friday night dinners out with home-cooked meals, you may find yourself saving a lot of extra money. (Just be sure to stay and cut expenses you know you can stick to.)
2. Have a side hustle? There are dozens of ways you can make a little bit of extra money every month, and it can start adding up very quickly. You can make money selling things you no longer need or want (goodbye old panini press and DVD player you’ll hardly be missed!). Go through your whole house and do a complete purge. You’d be surprised how much you can sell!
If you don’t want to sell things, you can also generate income by starting a side hustle. Think about what you’re good at. Maybe it’s photography, knitting or crocheting, graphic design, cutting grass — anything that you think you could get someone else to pay you to do.
3. Family Building Financing. There are a million ways you can borrow cash in this day and age. You could opt to take out a loan for surrogacy from your bank, or you could look into surrogacy-specific loan programs. You could also consider one of these options to borrow some extra cash to pay for surrogacy:
- Looking into benefits provided by your employer. RESOLVE has excellent resources on step-by step how ask for coverage here.
- Refinancing your house with a cash out
- We have a list of financing organizations you can consider:
- Getting an equity line of credit on your home
- Borrowing money from your 401(k) plan
Putting the “Fun” into Fundraising
So, maybe you’ve cut as many expenses as you can, sold all of your things, and consider taking out a loan, but are still short on having enough money to finance your surrogacy journey. Don’t feel hopeless yet. There is still one way you can make your dreams happen, and that’s through fundraising! Fundraising can be a great solution to fill up your surrogacy fund, and here are a few ways you can do that:
- Fundraise using Amazon. You can also set up a personal fundraiser through Amazon. You can share a special link with friends, family, and members of the community, and those who shop on Amazon with your link will be able to donate a percentage of the money they spend toward your surrogacy fund. Here’s how you can do that.
- Get on social media and spread the word. There are many online fundraising platforms that you can use and share to others via social media. One of the most popular is GoFundMe. You can start one of these fundraisers and share the link to your social media, encouraging people to donate (maybe with the promise of future baby cuddles).
- Involve the community. Get people to donate their old items to you and a massive yard sale. Have a car wash or a bake sale. Do an online auction. Host something! Anything that you can involve your community in and raise some extra cash for a good cause.
The bottom line, the cost of a surrogacy partnership can feel a bit overwhelming. But there are tons of ways you can raise money to fund your dreams. Plus, at Fairfax Surrogacy, you never have to worry about unexpected expenses because of our unique flat-rate fee policy.
