Hi everyone,

First, we want to thank everyone who has purchased raffle tickets to
the June 2009 Friends of Ferret Shelters raffle on behalf of Ferret
Business of GA in Marietta, Georgia. We've had to suspend the raffle
temporarily due to some unforeseen problems, which we expect to resolve
in the next day or so. To make up for the lost time, we will extend the
raffle at least the end of this month.

We also want to caution those of you who run online raffles, in hopes
you can avoid the same problems we've had.

The story begins last fall, when PayPal told us that Friends of Ferret
Shelters had to be a 501(c)(3) or have a state or county permit to
run our raffles. We found the cost of becoming a 501(c)(3) to be
prohibitive and the process too time-consuming (6+ months). We don't
have the resources to hire legal counsel or accountants. The state
and county permits, meanwhile, cost money to apply for, and are too
restrictive for the number of raffles we can have each year and the
amount of money we can raise.

So to keep FOFS going, we regretfully decided to work only with
501(c)(3) shelters hat have PayPal accounts, and have the ticket
purchase money sent directly to the shelter's account. We basically
just provide the technical resources and do the gruntwork for the
shelter to hold a raffle. We - and other generous souls - donated
all of the prizes and shipping costs, too.

They say no good deed goes unpunished! Still, we were very surprised
when PayPal told shelter operator Juliana Quadrozzi that she had to
send them proof of her legal authority to hold the raffle. We thought
that since Juliana is a 501(c)(3) shelter, it would be a simple matter
and the raffle would resume in a couple of days.

Unfortunately, PayPal told us that Juliana also had to send them a
permit from her town, county or state in order to hold a raffle. We
were fortunate to have terrific support from a local official in
Juliana's county sheriff's office. This person was fast and extremely
helpful. So we have all the required permits, and have been waiting 
for PayPal's approval to resume the raffle.

Shelter expenses and vet bills can't wait, though, so we're also
actively pursuing Plan B. We expect to have this wrapped up in the
next couple of days -- with our without PayPal!

Bottom line - shelters and organizations that have online raffles
should check their county and state laws, and make sure they have the
necessary permits in hand. If PayPal comes knocking, it'll save a lot
of time, money and heartache.

Stay tuned ...!!

Susann Thiel and Lisa Oestereich Friends of Ferret Shelters

http://www.shelterfriends.blogspot.com

[Posted in FML 6387]