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]