Sponsor a Cat--advice and tips needed

[funkiechicken]

Having read the other posts regarding CP Sponsor a Cabin - you could generalise by doing similar or just have a "Sponsor Long-Terms" as a Group?
I know it would probably make organising it easier and i'm sure donators would be happy if any were nursed to health & re-homed and of course the stories of any new-comers to the group.
Could your Rescue Organise a Annual Sponsors Day too (with a view to Fundraise at the same time? Bric-a-brac, Raffles etc - you know the type of thing)

While, I promised myself i'd sponsor a cat from our local rescue in memory of my cat that sadly went to the bridge and also in appreciation to my new arrival Peanut - the dilemma i do have is "picking" one cat over another  I'm not qualified to know whats more needy and I worry that everyone might be sponsoring the same cat!?!  so thats what i have to worry about this month  lol

Good Luck!!!!

[funkiechicken]

Hi,

I have never organised/ran or had any involvement in this myself but I know our local rescue do a Sponsor a Cat Scheme (of which I am going to do each month myself, now Chirstmas is over)

Here is the link & what a Sponsor receives in return. I'm sure if you had any queries about the Financial/Admin side of things an email or call to them??

http://s-a-r-a.org.uk/helping-sara/sponsor-an-animal/

Hope it helps in any way 

 

[Dawn F]

I think cp changed over to the pen sponsership because people wanted to know that the money they had given went to the cat they wanted it to go to obviously with a pen it is a bit less specific - also they called them cabins rather than pens sounds a bit less like prison I suppose 

[madamcat (Edd)]

When I used to be the fundraising co-ordinator for local CP, we used to do sponsor a pen. It was supported by monthly standing order (a number of existing members) and we used to raise around £3k a year on it.

Basically they could sponsor a pen from £3 per month and would receive a update quarterly from all the cats that had passed through that pen - in their own words of course and a picture. The sponsors loved  it and of course we had a great volunteer who just was able to create fab stories from the info on each cat.

It worked well in getting more funds in for the daily care of the cats but of course it was pen-based rather than specific cat based. Also if your rescue operates a home fostering it could operate the same as pen sponsorship.

We did not have permanent residents but am aware that some rescues do - but don't know if that means that the funds have to be "ring-fenced" for those cats rather than go into the general cat care fund?

So don't know if this helps at all

 

[emmmy_lou]

I dont know anything about this, but know of somewhere (think it was cp newcastle) that used to ask people to sponsor a group of pens rather than cats?
Sounds like it might be easier to manage, but think they did abandon it for whatever reason...

[Angiew]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130615548984?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_1642wt_932

[Dawnin8r]

Angie, you've given me a lot to think about there.  I want things to be fairly straightforward to cause as little stress/extra work to the "head honcho" as possible for maximum benefit...I, personally, would be more than happy to do monthly updates/newsletters of my foster kitty (if s/he were a sponsor kitty) but I'm not sure everyone would be as diligent.  Aaaand I'm rubbish at organizing big things.

Would it be possible to post a link to your ad that you mentioned? 

[Angiew]

It is better for a direct donation - do you have a 'public' account? at least that way money goes into the charity without any deductions.
We have a membership scheme and some of them pay by direct debit.

Updates are all well and good if you can get fosterers to provide them - I have enough trouble getting my lot to send me photos for the website and tbh, thats one of the reasons I would not really consider running a scheme like this. It a pain having to chase people up and I know how little input I get for the newsletter!

It is good to restrict it to email as at least then you are spared printing, stationery and postage costs - and if you are thinking of a monthly update then that at least £6 or £7 per year for that alone. The downside is of course you are reducing the number of people who can participate - a lot of our supporters do not have email addresses.

I think you would have to produce something at least quarterly for this sort of scheme.

someone would need to keep a list of subscribers, who they are sponsoring and income - and if you have gift aid, know what can be claimed back. Someone would need to chase up the fosterers for their input on a regular basis and compile and send out to subscribers.
If they sponsor a cat, what happens if that cat is homed - you will need to let the subcriber know and change/cancel subscription. I simplify this with ebay, by just stating that we do have at least 10 oldie residents and Jill, bless her, was not into the idea of writing updates so all I do is renew the list we have in each time I repost the ad.

[Dawnin8r]

Thanks, Angie.  Well, to be honest I'm rubbish with financial things, generally.   But I was thinking if, however it was organised, the fosterer of the individual sponsor cat were to produce a monthly email update on that particular kitty, complete with pictures, to email en masse to the listed sponsors, (or maybe even have a blog site set up, to be updated at least once a month?) Maybe that would keep some of the running costs down and it would be mainly a matter of managing the money, etc? (that last bit is where I don't have a clue, I'm afraid. )  Would Paypal be the way to go for this, or is it possible to have a monthly Direct Debit arrangement with the sponsors?


I'd like for the sponsorship idea to be as fully-fledged as possible before I propose it, though.

[Angiew]

we have played with the idea but not really done it - most people want to spend about £20-£25 per year and expect regular updates and newsletters and we don't have the people power to be able to do this.
I suppose if it became popular then it is worth doing, it all depends on how much support you have as a charity, I think we only get one or two requests a year.

We do have an ongoing auction on ebay to sponsor feeding an oldie for £2-50 a go and do find that some people sponsor one or more of those each month. But even then there is a fair bit of admin, monitoring the financial income and sending out receipts for the donations. The downside is of course ebay/paypal fees reduce the amount, though we have had some money in that I have not been able to trace with people donating straight into our "public" account.

Let us know how you get on..

[Dawnin8r]

The rescue I volunteer for has a number of cats and kittens in right now who will either need to be in rescue care for a long time, and some have such special needs that they may never be adopted.

I was thinking that to help fund these longer-term kitties in need (who often need costly diets or ongoing treatment), we could start a sponsorship scheme where we ask members of the public to sponsor a particular kitty for a certain amount of money each month/year.

Have any rescues here done this, and if so, how did you go about setting it up and administrating it?

Thanks in advance!