About fundraising. There are a few sites out there that are great
little money savers and fund raisers. Some people forget about them
and then they seem to just fall by the way-side.

http://www.goodsearch.com/Default.aspx - 
this website gives a penny every time you use it to search for
something to the organization of your choice. I typed in ferret and
over a dozen came up, including the Jean's one. All you have to do for
this donation is use this website, very simple.

www.iGive.com
Wonderful little gizmo. It lets you put links all over the place that
basically say please donate to my shelter, then iGive sends you a
monthly check from any and all who donated.

The ferretstore.com has a shelter program. Even if you are not 501(c)3
you can get in this program through SOS. It allows you to buy
everything they sell at wholesale AND you can use it as a donation site
if you are not 501(c)3. People can buy supplies for your shelter and
the ferret store ships it to the shelter. Wonderful stuff for those
shelters (like mine) that are in 501(c)3 limbo.

The AFA shelter list is a wonderful list that is kept very up to date.
Of course I'm biased because I update it. It's Audited once a year, at
least. If you are a shelter I have probably spoken to you on the phone
or you have at least received emails. I try to touch base with all the
shelters in the US at least once a year. Thank god for free long
distance...

Also this is a wild and crazy idea, but it works...

If you have any big wig friends, some of you may who knows... Or
someone in construction that is demolishing a building you could make
a lot of money. I actually called about 3 demolition companies,
unfortunately the closest demolition for the next 6 months or so was
about 4 hours away. Anyway, usually you have to get permission from the
person who owns the building to be demolished. Then you sell tickets to
push the big red button and make the building go boom. The last time
that this was done the person raised over $200,000 for cancer research.
They sold tickets for about $50 each and people paid it. Amazing stuff.

Anyway the point is think of the unconventional. What about a flamingo
parade? You may have heard of it, you circulate pink flamingos through
a ton of people's yards, they can either pay like $15 to get them
removed or $10 to send them to someone else's yard. It's hilarious as
well as lucrative. Just tell them you're raising money in the note you
leave them and most people will be happy poney up the dough. Mostly
because they want to send the ghastly things to someone else's yard and
laugh. (you put in the note these were sent to you by so and so) Start
with a friend's house and go from there.

Step out of the ferret box when you're fundraising. The truth of the
matter is not everyone has ferrets or even likes ferrets, and speaking
from a buisness perspective your really limiting your customer base by
only catering to ferret people.

-- 
Samantha Newcomb
Shelter Director,The Frazzled Ferret Org.
As Well As,
AFA Shelter Committee Member
USAF Reserves
Diligent College Student At LA Tech

Always Consider Adoption First

[Posted in FML 5476]