Getting the Biggest Bang (or Bark or Meow) For Your Buck to Help Animals

It's that time of year again when most of us are looking ahead to holiday shopping and most nonprofits are seeking donations to help them continue to help people, causes and animals.  If your physical mailbox and email box are anything like mine, they are full of catalogs from companies trying to sell you what they market as great gifts and full of solicitations for donations. I thought it might help some folks for me to share my thoughts about private donations to help animals for the benefit of the public and share information about grant funding to help animals for the benefit of  animal-oriented nonprofit organizations.

Public Donations to Help Animals

When it comes to holiday shopping, I am a huge fan of making a donation to the non-profit organization of your choice in honor of your gift recipient. Most of us have enough "stuff" and while the phrase says, "it's the thought that counts," what you thought your loved one or friend might like may have nothing to do with what they want or need. Donations are easy. They are a one-size-fits all way of telling someone in your life you love them or care about them while helping a worthy organization and avoiding giving a gift that may never be worn or used. The question then becomes to which organization you should donate. An easy answer is to help an organization that means something to the person in whose honor you are donating. Maybe it relates to helping veterans or helping people who are unhoused or have food insecurities or maybe it has to do with research to end a disease. There is no shortage of very worthy organizations where your donation makes a difference.

The landscape is more complex when it comes to donations to help animals. It is no secret that I'm not a huge fan of what I call the alphabet soup of animal welfare. The ASPCA. HW (Humane World, which used to be called the Humane Society of the United States). BFAS (the Best Friends Animal Society). I know and respect some people who work for these organizations but you won't see me giving them my money. Why? Because they have millions of dollars already. They all do some good in some ways, of course. Just not enough for me to encourage anyone to donate their hard earned money.  It is not difficult to find information on the finances of these and similar organizations. This includes copies of their most recent 990 forms that list contributions, assets and compensation of key members, all of which will likely dissuade you from adding your money to the millions those organizations already have. I believe that if these organizations really wanted to change the culture in our society regarding animals, specifically companion animals, they should stop spending such a large percentage of donations on salaries, advertising and marketing and start spending it, well, to actually help animals. I am reminded of a blog Nathan Winograd wrote years back called What Happens to the Dream Merchants When the Dream Becomes a Reality? It was written 15 years ago but is still relevant for one reason: if large national animal welfare organizations wanted to put themselves out of business - at least when it comes to the issue of animals being killed in our nation's "shelters," they could. In my opinion.

When I donate to animal related non-profits either on my own or as a gift to someone, I make one of three choices. 

• donate to an organization based on values. I have often gifted donations to the No Kill Advocacy Center lead by Nathan and Jennifer Winograd because I support the work of the non-profit, I know my money will be put to good use and I know my money will not pay for Nathan and Jennifer to fly first class, attend a conference in some touristy location or pay for a high-end place to stay. I've often wondered how the Winograd's make a living helping animals but have never asked. I presume it has to do with book sales. Everyone in my family seeks a time when healthy and treatable animals are no longer killed in our nation's shelters so donating to the NKAC is an easy choice for me.
• donate to an organization based on past interaction. My sister and her family have adopted multiple dogs from rescue groups based in southern California, one of which is called Chihuahua Rescue of San Diego County, and my brother and his family have fostered hundreds of dogs for Bichon Furkids in the same area. Making donations in their honor is easy because I donate to the organizations they support themselves. If you want to help an animal rescue group or non-profit organization that means something to your loved one or friend, ask them if they have a preference. Most small organizations have no paid staff, rely heavily on fosters and volunteers and your money goes directly to support animal care and vetting.  When it comes to helping local animal organizations like these, no amount is too small. Really.
  
• donate to an organization based on location. If you are not sure which organization your loved one or friend would prefer receive the support, do a little research. It does not take much time to search for nonprofits in a particular area and then look at the website or Facebook page to learn more about the work they do. Even doing a Google search based on the name of a group helps; you can learn about the work done in the area and also learn if the organization has been involved in any controversy or conflict. One of my contacts in the music industry who lets me use his music for video projects is a cat lover who lives in the Los Angeles area. It was not difficult to find a great nonprofit located near him called Kitty Bungalow (Charm School for Wayward Cats) that helps social cats and also does TNR (trap, neuter, return) in the region to help community cats.

As a note of caution, there are animal related organizations that claim to be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit when they are not. I know of many rescuers who used a self-help legal platform to set up their organization which resulted in 1) using a name that is trademarked by the US Patent and Trademark Office which is asking to be sued; and 2) registering with the Secretary of State's office; 3) but stops short of them seeking legitimate non-profit status with the IRS. Any true nonprofit will appear in a nonprofit search using the IRS website and the organization will also be able to provide an EIN (Employer Identification Number).

Grant Funding to Help Animals

I have many contacts in the rescue world, most of whom lead organizations that are foster-based and forever struggling to get enough money to help more animals.  None are compensated for their work, all have families and most have full-time jobs. How they find the time to help animals and keep some kind of life balance is a mystery to me  and the sad truth is that many ultimately "flame out" and leave rescue work entirely because they lack life balance and the need is just so great. Finding fosters to house animals short-term is typically the biggest obstacle to the mission, but a close second is the issue of money to pay for food and veterinary care. Some of the rescuers I know do what I consider "hair on fire" rescue in which they take on way (way) more animals than they can possibly help with the resources they have and then beg for money they need immediately. Other organizations in my area do a great job of keeping the public engaged, asking for help when they need it (but not every day) and holding small fundraisers that range from yard sales to auctions to t-shirt sales. Even those groups can find themselves with huge vet bills and no immediate way to pay them. Which is why I want to talk about grants.

Everyone is familiar with the subject of grants. There is grant funding available from numerous sources that are mostly subject-based (science, education, disease, veteran support, etc.) and mostly focused on businesses and people. Like the issue of donating to an animal nonprofit, the landscape is more complex when it comes to finding grants to help animals. An internet search for animal grants can produce some results, but trying to navigate through a tremendous amount of information is difficult for most in the rescue and animal welfare non-profit world if for no other reason than they simply lack the time. I asked a cat rescue contact of mine recently what she was doing to seek grant funding and her answer was pretty short. "Nothing. I don't have time to do my laundry and I can't remember the last time I took a vacation. Who has time?"

I think in order to help animals, nonprofit organizations have to make time not only to learn about the landscape of animal grants but how best to seek those grants . And luckily for us all, there is someone to help us named Stephanie Mathers. I first ran across Grants4Animals in my efforts to help a local rescue group for which I have done some small fundraisers. I know money is out there and I know it's a matter of knowing where to find it. The best way I can describe Stephanie's platform is that the grants are buried treasure and she provides the treasure map. You can visit her website yourself to learn more about the great work she is doing, but the two services I recommend most to my animal rescue and nonprofit contacts are the 1-hour consulting session and the Train Your Grant writer self-paced program. To be clear, neither of these services are free (although the monthly newsletter which highlights animal grants is available for the taking). In my opinion, the nominal amount of money spent for either service is well worth not only the cost - but the time - because of the potential that thousands of dollars in grant money can be obtained not just in the short-term but long-term as part of keeping the nonprofit organization afloat (ahoy matey...I could not resist the water reference). Stephanie shared this related to the cost, and I could not agree more: 

You cannot understate the 'value' of one good grant lead. Most grants in animal welfare start around $5,000 and range up to $50,000. So, there is real value in even one good grant lead. Potentially, learning how to find grant leads or paying for a consulting session that will generate many of them has a great return on investment, even if it's hard to pay upfront."

If you lead or are associated with a nonprofit organization that helps animals, I hope you will sign up for Stephanie's newsletter and consider taking advantage of her services. Happy grant hunting! And tell Stephanie I sent you.