Americans Adopting Orphans Donation Program

To make a donation, please see the Charitable Contribution Page.

From Your Heart, For Their Lives

Established in 1994, Americans Adopting Orphans was created by David and Cynthia Ptasnik. Dave is an adoptee. Together, Dave and Cindy decided to start their family through adoption. After adopting their two children from China, they chose to devote their lives to the children they could not bring home.

Our agency was founded on three basic principals.

1. To advocate for, assist, and support American citizens in ethically adopting orphaned and abandoned children in other countries.
2. To allow and encourage parents to have choice and freedom in the adoption of their children.
3. To keep adoption affordable and available to a wide range of people.

From these simple beginnings, Americans Adopting Orphans has grown to become an internationally recognized provider of a doption services. We have helped and are helping hundreds of families.

And, when you support our giving program, together we will help thousands more.

To donate now, you may download and fill out our charitable contribution form.

Where do your charitable dollars go?

You may give to your church. You may support several causes. Or you may have chosen not to make donations, thinking that government is already helping the poor through taxes, or questioning the actual use to which your contributions are put.

If you already give, or if you who have not yet found a cause worthy of your charity, the adoption agency that helped your family has an important message for you.

The children of Asia need your help. They are part of your extended family. If you did not have a personal tie to a developing country, now you do.

We believe that it is not enough to just take from a culture. Once that culture becomes a part of your life and family, being a part of and helping that culture becomes an obligation that you just can’t ignore.

By giving tax deductible, charitable donations to Americans Adopting Orphans, you can help the culture that the chosen child in your life has left, but not left behind. In the coming pages, we will show you how you can help, and how you can be sure that the money you give will have the impact you intend.

This is your chance to give.

Secure Choices for Your Gift

How can give you give a donation, and know that your gift will truly help children. Sending gifts of used clothing or small amounts of food and medicine can feel good, but may they not be needed or used properly. Giving goods, or even cash donations, that are not accounted for in the official budget of the orphanage, can leave questions as to whether your gifts will actually benefit the children.

With all of the Americans Adopting Orphans Giving Program Choices, your foreign donations are being given through, or with the official knowledge of, the central government. They become a part of the official equipment or budget for which the orphanage is accountable.

China Orphanage Fund

Working with the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA), Americans Adopting Orphans is helping orphanages in Sichuan Province with special projects. As the Chinese government provides basic supplies for orphanages, it is the goal of our fund to find specific capital improvements that the orphanages can’t afford with their existing budgets. Already, with your help, we have answered the call of an orphanage that needed washing machines. We are investigating providing a van to be shared by several orphanages (controlled by the ChongQing Ministry of Civil Affairs) for the transportation of children and documents. Contributions to this fund will make a major difference in the lives of many children.

Bridge of Love Donations

For families who want to make a cash donation to a specific orphanage anywhere in China, the CCAA established the Bridge of Love. Donated money is sent directly to the orphanage of your choice, through the formal budget process. Unfortunately, the Bridge of Love is not recognized as a charity by the US Internal Revenue Service, so donations have not been deductible in the past. However, when you make a contribution to the Bridge of Love through Americans Adopting Orphans, your donation is deductible. In addition, we will forward any letters, pictures, or video tapes you want to send

Cambodia Orphanage Project

In a desperately poor country, ravaged by civil war, and devastated by vast fields of land mines, tens of thousands of children face bleak, hopeless lives of poverty in government orphanages. Many children live in ramshackle dormitories, without solid walls or a whole roof. Americans Adopting Orphans has established a relationship with one of those orphanages. In Kampong Chnaang your money will first go to providing basic, humane shelter and nutrition. Then we plan to provide a practical education to help the children lift themselves out of poverty.

Adoption Grants

If you want to know that your donation will help a specific child and a specific family, then donate an adoption grant. Each quarter the Board of Advisors will meet to recommend that individual families receive grants to help them with their adoption. Your gift will be joined with the gifts of others and be given to a family shortly before they travel to complete their adoption. Your donation will not be spread amongst many children, or large projects. You will help one family adopt one child, and change all of their lives forever. These grants will make it possible for a family who can afford a child to be able to afford the adoption.

You will receive a family photo and letter when your family returns with their child. You may not be able to fix the whole world, but you will know that you fixed a part of it.

Americans Adopting Orphans

Help us help families. A non directed gift to your adoption agency will make it easier for us to provide the basic adoption services that are at the core of our mission. Help us bring foreign officials and staff members to the United States. Give us the resources we need to begin working with another country, and help even more children. Trust us with your donation, and together we will help more children become a part of a forever family.

How You Can Participate

You have chosen to fulfill your obligation to your adopted culture, and have decided where you want your money to go. Now come your hardest decision, how much to give. Every dollar is desperately needed, and deeply appreciated. There is no gift too small. Our appreciation is not determined by the amount you give, but by the depth of your commitment. Rich and poor families can share equally in the rewards of giving.

Donors

Every gift is welcome. Whether you make an occasional contribution, or would like to establish a regular donation, we thank you for your help in writing. With each newsletter we will publish the names of each of our Donors who wish to be named, and tell you how all of our donation programs are helping children and families throughout the world.

Benefactors

Know that your gift will make a great difference in the lives of children and families, and in our ability to plan for the future. Benefactors will receive private reports about the details of our giving program, and be invited to come to a private thank you reception twice each year. Your input will be sought about the overall nature of our program, and the direction of our Giving Program.

5 in 5

If you pledge 1% of your income for five years, you will be one of our Benefactors. Each month we can send you a reminder note, or automatically charge your credit card. A small part of your discretionary income can add up to a big deal for your Giving Program choice.

Major Gift

With a donation of $5,000 or more in a calendar year, you become a Benefactor. We are happy to accept this gift over the course of a year.

Lifegivers

Become a true part of the Americans Adopting Orphans Giving Program in one of two ways. Lifegivers become lifetime members of our Board of Advisors. Twice each year, you will be invited to meet and review the contributions received, hear presentations of project proposals, and voice your opinion about how the money should be spent. You will be invited to groundbreaking ceremonies in distant lands and to private receptions of visiting dignitaries. You will become a true giver of life, a part of the adoption community, and your name and picture will hang forever on our walls. You will also receive the benefits of our other levels of contributions.

4 for 4

If you pledge 4% of your annual income for 4 years, you join the ranks of the Lifegivers. This is a noble act of dedication. Your commitment will help us plan for the future and be the foundation of long term commitments to children and families.

Named Gift

With a gift of $15,000 or more, you will join the ranks of the Lifegivers. If donated as an Adoption Grant, it will establish an annual award of $1,000 in perpetuity. The grant will be named in honor or memory of the person(s) of your choice. Recipients of the grant will receive a biography of the named Lifegiver. If donated to an Orphanage Program, a building or major facility will be built or rebuilt with your donation. The building or facility will be named in honor or memory of the person(s) of your choice. A large plaque bearing the name will be placed above the entrance and become a permanent part of the building.

Planned Giving

If adoption has changed your family forever, your gifts can continue forever. You can add Americans Adopting Orphans to your will, and know that your bequest will help future generations of children. Contact us for assistance with establishing your donation.

Thank You

Just as we were trusted with a part of building your family, we have again been entrusted with some your hopes for the future. It is our pledge to you that your money will be used wisely, and effectively. Your gifts will help children and families.