Good day all, Our local ferret club holds as many yard sales during the spring/ summer/fall months as the weather & available weekends allow, raising funds for the shelter. During the colder, uncooperative winter months we still have medical expenses, as do all shelters, that we need to fund so we are trying to come up with some unique kinds of fundraising we can do during those months. We had considered the ebay thing but don't wish to compete with the shelters already established as sellers on there & we would really like to try something more on the local scale. After all the ferrets came mostly from local surrenders so it's fitting the funds to continue to care for them be locally collected as well. We do have a fair amount of talented crafters & seamstresses but don't have a physical storefront to spotlight the wares. Any ideas? We are not yet 501 but are conducting business with regards to how the money comes to us and how we spend it as if we were already, keeping very accurate records, kinda like practice so we don't make any financial blunders when we do attain our status. Which raises a question we have about buying items with shelter funds to resell as fundraisers. For examples, if we use $100 from yard sale money raised to benefit the ferrets and buy say, ribbon magnets to sell, or if we use shelter funds to purchase fabric to make hammies or sleep sac's to sell to local ferret owners, the proceeds of which would go back to the shelter, would we be in any violation of 501(c)3 guidelines? We're not talking about thousands of dollars here but we also don't want to try these or similar ideas as fundraisers if they would be a violation. Jane Bradley (our Treasurer) & I went to one of the IRS 501 seminars last year and both remember something on the topic but neither can remember the specifics or locate data to corroborate or dispel the actuality. Can anyone clarify this for us? Thanks to all in advance for any info. Hugs to the fuzzies! Debbie Saunders Shelter Director & Foster Mom Big Lick Ferret Shelter & Hospice Roanoke Virginia www.biglickferretshelter.org {FYI: Roanoke VA used to be called Big Lick by the native Indians. There were natural salt deposits in the area that attracted all sorts of wild life so the Indians called the area Big Lick. I couldn't think of a better name for a shelter than that, after all, that's what the ferrets give us for helping them in their time of need... a great big lick!} [Posted in FML issue 5381]