One of the most common holiday philanthropy examples is adopting a family! Adopting families is a great way to give back during the holidays. You can absolutely do this all year round if you are able, yet this is especially present during the holiday season. 

As you look into ways to give back and volunteer this holiday season, consider adopting a family. This can be included in the types of corporate philanthropy in your office. Yet, don’t worry if your colleagues are not involved. No problem, if your company doesn’t have a corporate giving program yet. You can adopt a family individually or with those around you. Consider pooling resources through friends, family, or other groups you may know. 

This post mentions a few quick ideas to review for a successful adoption. We’ll explore how to google search to find a family to adopt. After that, we’ll look at a few examples that are helpful in making the experience even more meaningful for the families you’re helping.

Quick Tips to Find a Family

Perhaps this is your first year supporting a family! If so, here’s a quick way to find nonprofits to support and families to adopt. You can do an easy google search online for “adopt a family + in your city’s name” and you’ll find dozens of local organizations you can contact to get this done. Additionally, if you are not familiar with the nonprofits, you can considering reviewing the organization further on Charity Navigator 

For example, you can search “Adopt a Family San Francisco.” You may find the following nonprofit — Compass Family Services. The search will lead you to their Holiday Adopt a Family landing page.  You can check out the website and may be able to sign up. 

A second example is searching “Adopt a Family Dallas.” On this search, we find the following nonprofit — Genesis Women’s Shelter & Support and are directed to their holiday giving landing page. On that page, two examples are adopting a family and sponsoring an angel tree.

Make Your Support Meaningful 

Adopting a family is a terrific giving activity. Definitely, one of the most well-known holiday philanthropy examples. You get to work with the nonprofit to fulfill the family’s needs. Many times you also can go out shopping for children who need presents. How fun?!

The nonprofit will guide you on the needs of the family. You can review the needs with your colleagues, friends, family, children or whomever you invite to join the giving effort! Don’t be shy to invite people to join you. The more that are involved, the more joy spreads throughout our circles.

Further, as you think about supporting a family, remember you can also donate money to the nonprofit. The combination is an awesome benefit! Sometimes it can be easy to forget that these families may also need more than gifts for the kids. Considering the expenses for social services, medical care, emergency assistance, and the overall staff at the nonprofit. 

Sometimes the best thing you can do is simply ask the nonprofit what is most needed right now. You can allow the nonprofit to be candid with you. Ask, how can I help make the greatest impact?! If the answer is simply a donation, that should be celebrated too. As some of our friends say, “Remember, no donation is too large or too small. If you can give a little, you have a lot!”

Conclusion

Wrapping up, thanks so much for reading and considering adopting a family. It’s a great way to give back during the holiday season. Simply by reading this post, you’re increasing awareness. You’re leading the cause to help people who need it. Further, if your company is considering adding an employee giving program, check out one of our previous blogs. We mention reasons why this is the perfect time to start an employee giving program with your team.  You can also check out our Resources to help your team get started for free.

Have an awesome week!