As a lot of people know I am in the military.  Something we military
folks have thrust ed upon us every year is a little something called CFC
or for you civilian folks Combined Federal Campaign.  This a a national
fund raiser where military members have a choice of either making a one
time donation or they can even set up an allotment out of their paycheck
to go directly to their chosen charity.  We are given a book that lists
hundreds of different char ties dealing with every from animal rescues,
children, disaster relief, art foundations and I have even seen
alternative life styles organizations listed but never anything for
ferrets.
 
Normally I would give to places like Defenders of Wild life, Ducks
Unlimited and children organizations.  Currently I am trying to locate
a resource that will have information regarding how a charity or Non
Profit Organization can be included on CFC.  It may be that as individual
shelters may be to small.  In this case Everyone may have to pool
together as Ferret Rescues of America.  As soon as I find out more
information I'll post it.
 
On a smaller scale of fund raisers, auctioning off naming rights on e-bay
has proved to be a wonderful.  The first baby that was placed up for a
name brought in $50.00 after that the normal was around $30.00.  But you
have to be careful.  You have to offer something physical along with the
auction or e-bay will pull it.  At Dook-n-Dance the winning bidder
receives a nice parchment certificate stating the new name and the person
who gave the name.  The materials are fairly cheap.  $8 - $10 for a ream
of parchment paper.  Most people already have a digital camera or a
scanner and a color printer.
 
I did see a couple of other auctions where the shelter offered pictures
and a pin.  I'm not sure how well they did but I know that the person
who for his own reasons placed his personal ferret up for naming didn't
receive any bids.
 
Just make sure that if you do the auctions that you don't gouge people
on their postage and make sure it's states clearly that the buyer is
responsible for postage and that people from out of the US need to
contact you before sending payment.  Also try to set it up where you
will only accept checks or money orders.  This way you will only have
to pay for placing the auction and not additional pay-pal fees.
 
The last advice I have is Place the ferrets life story on the auction.
I hate to say this but sob stories sell.  Another women had a name this
kitten auction up on e-bay.  The kitten was in the engine of a neighbors
car and ended up getting mangled and lost a leg.  The women stated how
she was trying to raise money for the kittens vet bill and that anything
left over she was going to donate to a shelter.  The bids on that went
over $165.00 in less than a week.
 
EBay will allow you one free picture, You can add more pictures by cut
and paste into the description and it won't cost you extra.  Also, if
someone at the shelter has time, Create a "ME" page on E-bay.  It doesn't
cost anything and it's good publicity because you can add other links
to it.
[Posted in FML issue 4967]