Get free donations to VHLFA as you shop for your wedding . . .

by A. Lewis

Thanks to the generosity and savvy of our members, the VHL Family Alliance office has been made aware of different fundraising websites engaged couples can use to raise money for the VHLFA.

The best option seems to be The I Do Foundation ( www.idofoundation.org). You need to register (for free) as a couple with the I Do Foundation at their website. Once you have done this you can choose the charity that you would like money to go to, by clicking on ‘select charities’. VHL Family Alliance is not on their initial ‘recommended’ list of charities, but there is also an option to ‘suggest a nonprofit’. If you suggest the VHL Family Alliance they have already approved us and they will accept it as you charity of choice. Once you’ve done this, you have different choices for how money can be raised for VHLFA:

1) You can buy the essentials you need for the wedding through the website and shops that are in their list of partner vendors will give a different percentage to your chosen charity. For example, if you choose to shop for rings at icecom, they will give 5% to your chosen charity. However, you must shop through the ‘shopping’ section of the I Do Foundation website for the donation to be made.

2) You can create wedding gift registries on the I Do Foundation website for their partner vendors. You can choose one or more stores, and again they will donate a percentage to your chosen charity. Partner vendors include Macy’s and Target amongst others.

3) You can create a charity registry so that guests can visit the website and donate money, which will go to the VHLFA. This could be in addition to or instead of wedding gifts. This may be a good option if you want to donate to VHLFA but you also need gifts, as you can set a limit to the number of direct donations made by guests through the charity registry. Therefore, you will still receive plenty of items from your gift registry to help you begin your new life together.

You can also use many of the I Do Foundation programs internationally, which is helpful if you are not one of our U.S. members. For example, the I Do Foundation will ship favor cards abroad, you can use the charity registry and some of the shopping and gift registry vendors are international. The programs available to couples in countries outside the U.S. vary from country to country, so you may need to contact the I Do Foundation once you’ve registered to find out what your best options are.

Another website is www.weddingchannel.com. This website will allow you to donate money to VHLFA if guests give money instead of gifts. However, this website will not give a percentage to VHLFA as you shop or through gift registries as we are not one of their ‘100 recommended charities’ and they will not add us to their list.

Your final option is to set up a First Giving web page for donations, which is a great option if you would like money to go to VHLFA instead of receiving gifts, but we know not many people can afford to do that!

Another bright idea one of our members is using at their wedding is to use the VHLFA wristbands as favors. We have also worked with couples to prepare favor cards announcing their own donation to VHLFA in celebration of their wedding.

Thanks to those of you who have made us aware of these ideas and for thinking of donating to VHLFA at such a special but hectic time.

Congratulations! Celebrate generously!

As printed in the VHL Family Forum 14:2, August/September 2006. For permission to reprint, please contact VHL Family Alliance, editor@vhl.org. Further information is available from the VHL Family Alliance, info@vhl.org