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]