For the beginning of National Infertility Awareness Week I thought it would be beneficial to talk about the foundation that Chase and I started, The Hope for Fertility Foundation.
There are a lot of nonprofits that help with growing families, either giving support and knowledge to the community like Resolve and Utah Infertility Resource Center.
There are also nonprofits which help give grants to couples seeking fertility treatments and adoption, like Hope for Fertility Foundation.
The theme that Resolve put out for this years National Infertility Awareness Week is #listenup.
Well this is how and why we started our nonprofit so LISTENUP:
Chase and I had been going through infertility for 6 years when we created The Hope for Fertility Foundation.
Leading up to the creation of the foundation, friends and family would ask how they could help us, knowing of our struggle. Yes, cleaning my house, or bringing us dinner is nice, but that’s not exactly what we needed.
What we needed was help paying for our fertility treatments, which really was just cash to pay for in vitro fertilization (IVF).
We started a Go Fund Me. There, friends and family could give a donation to help us offset the cost of our IVF cycle. In our efforts to raise funds, we got a LOT of negative feedback. People, who we didn’t even know, saying how we were just asking for a handout, and that it was our “choice” to have children.
After that push back, while we were initially upset, we took that motivation and instead decided to have a big yard sale fundraiser. That included a bake sale, yard sale, character meet-n-greets, food trucks, and a silent auction.
We created a small committee and started asking for donations for the yard sale. Unfortunately, we quickly realized that businesses wouldn’t donate to us directly for our silent auction, but they would to a nonprofit.
The Creation of Hope for Fertility
That’s when we created The Hope for Fertility Foundation.
During that time, Chase and I were also saving up any and all cash that we could to cover the cost of our IVF cycle on our own.
We created the foundation with just myself, my husband and one of our dear friends. We got the necessary permits, and all the donations that we received went to help making the fundraiser a success.
At the end of the fundraiser we were able to raise just over $4,000 that went towards the foundation.
By July of 2016, Chase and I saved up about $14,000 in 4.5 months by ourselves. We were blessed by God, and felt that this was His way directing us to help others in need.
Aside from sharing the foundations story they also help with spreading HOPE. Something you need in order to deal with infertility. And in March of 2017 we gave away our first grant.
Donations
Because Hope for Fertility’s board members are not paid, they rely on donations or fundraising efforts to be able to give grants.
For those that have struggled with infertility and would like to give back. There is a donate button on their website, which is tax-deductible.
They have an AmazonSmile account, and a portion of eligible purchases made on Amazon will go to us. All you have to do is go to smile.amazon.com and search “The Hope for Fertility Foundation.”
If you have any questions you can reach out via info@hopeforfertility.org or check out their website.
P.S. Are you needing help paying for IVF? Sign up for my newsletter and get my free printable on “10 ways to pay for IVF.”
P.P.S. Check out this blog post that has other ways to save up and pay for IVF in cash!
P.P.P.S. Check out Hope for Fertility if you’re in need of a grant to help pay for fertility treatments.
P.P.P.P.S. Be sure to check out my Etsy shop! A portion of my sales goes towards the foundations national grant.
