A lot of people like raffles or buying something if the merchant says
that a portion will be sent to a shelter

Of course, people can give directly to the shelters, too, or to them
through the SOS:
http://www.supportourshelters.org/

Some shelters also themselves sell the the sorts of things that
merchants sell, but with more profit going to the animals. Our most
recent purchase from a shelter included wonderful, dark, sleep boxes
from
http://www.ferretfarm.org/

Personally, I like such direct approaches because I can be so very
sure where our money goes. (Guess I got burned a few times too many.)

-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my  
private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love  
them:
Ferret Health List
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
AFIP Ferret Pathology
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
Miamiferrets
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org

[Posted in FML 5402]