So many shelters are in the same predicament as Ferrets Unlimited - not
enough cash coming in- We too struggle with the same- we have done bake
sales, dollar drives, letters to supporters, selling stuff on Cafe
Press, sponsor a critter campaigns, all that and more- plus we do the
animal shows for a donation as well- Still we have huge outstanding
bills with the vet, have to choose whether to pay the electric bill
or buy supplies some months, and yes even have to turn away animals
(but never in an emergency- if a landlord calls and there are ferrets
abandoned in an apt and they will be put down if we don't come get em-
then oh yeah we will get them!)

Anyway this line of discussion reminded me of a suggestion someone
posted once perhaps on this list or another- i cant be sure - but it
was to have everyone pick a shelter and send them 1$ each month - if
that happened & all 2,000+ people on this one list alone did it it can
make the difference for many many shelters- and of course send the same
email to other ferret lists across the country- it could add up to
literally hundreds of thousands potentially

But I think in order to be successful it would need to be an organized
situation- Maybe have a monthly reminder email to the list asking for
just 1$ to be sent ( via post or email - such as paypal) to a central
organizer ( perhaps SOS?) and they have a number of shelters ( 20? It
would depend on the total number of currently operating shelters
listed) designated each month to split the proceeds with them keeping
some for their operating expenses - perhaps receiving shelters would
need to send a note of interest so that they can be confirmed as
current- and this is important too- i believe that every shelter
participating should also commit to sending in a dollar every month as
well- it sounds alsmost like a pyramid thing- but if each shelter sends
in 12$ per year and recieves even say 200$ during their designated
month it would be a winning combination-

of course the oganizing group ( SOS or someone else with a 501c3) would
need to send the monthly notice reminding folks to send their dollar
at the beginning of the month, and then at the end of the month send
a notice as to how much was taken in and who it went to- then have
success stories of shelters that were able to stay afloat etc bc of
this program- and it would be no financial burden on anyone - a dollar
a month is something nearly everyone can commit to-

i think ti would jsut take that concentrated effort and organization to
make this really work for everyone-

if we had our 501c3 i'd offer to coordinate- but we are still waiting-
however we did hear from the irs that we should get it within the next
few weeks- yippee!!!-

but i would also be more than happy to help in any way with the
implementation & operation of such a program-

Please let me know what anyone thinks of the idea and who may want to
help get it started etc-

I am cross posting this on FML and American Ferrets for now to see what
kind of support it gets -

Thanks!!

Beth
www.crittercamp.biz

[Posted in FML 5474]