My very favorite dog and cat rescue group has begun a new campaign called “Desperation Sucks–Get on the Bus with Us.” Here’s the text from their email:
One of the foremost tenets of our rescue’s business model is “desperation sucks.” You all know what we are talking about–“If you don’t help, this puppy will die” (read: and therefore, it is all your fault); “If you don’t donate, we’ll have to shut down the program and animals will die” (read: you suck that you can’t give us your last 5 dollars that you were going to use to feed your own pets. Where are your priorities?); “If you don’t foster, BARC animals will be euthanized” (read: well, you get the picture).
We hate the desperation-filled emails, and we hate always begging the same wonderful people for money. But as most people in rescue understand, desperation is often the only way to shock people into action. Trust us when we say being desperate is no fun–it is embarrassing for us, it is horribly depressing to you, and it makes you not want to open our emails. We get that, we understand, and we want to be different.
Our program is about POSITIVE change.
But to be different, we need your committed monthly help and your voice. It seems that most people think that “since they aren’t begging for money, they must be doing okay.” Well, hold onto your hats–we are going to let you in on a little secret. Saving the enormous number of dogs and cats we save costs busloads of money. While our cost per pet is extremely small (approximately $200 per pet), multiply that by the 2,500 pets we have saved to date, and that number is $500,000 in eight months of work.
Indeed (another little secret), our group is approximately $200,000 in debt (yes, that 2 is followed by 5 zeros). We are staying afloat because of the most-awesome monthly donors who already support us and because our board members have extraordinary faith in our program and have personally secured loans to keep us going.
We have absolutely refused to let the lack of donations slow us down.
The good news is that the demand from other parts of the nation for adoptable pets is so large that we can’t even begin to meet it. That means we are just tapping into the potential for our program to grow and save enormous numbers of companion animals who are on death row.
Just think of what we could do if we had money!
Introducing our “Desperation Sucks–Get on the Bus with Us” Monthly Campaign! To keep up our program without making you each feel personally responsible on a daily basis for every homeless pet out there, we ask that you sign up for a committed monthly donation to help our cause; and, here is the important part, then encourage your friends and colleagues to do the same. Spread the word, share this email on Facebook, determine whether your employer has a matching program, tweet about us, forward this email, Instagram it, post it on Linked In, yodel it from the mountain tops, go to a Spoken Word event and make us your muse, stop people on the streets and tell them about us, be like that NYC cowboy who serenades the public in his underwear, create a flash mob in the Galleria…the possibilities are endless.
We all know there are thousands of people out there who care about Houston’s dogs and cats; they just don’t know about our organization.
If those people could donate as little as $10 a month, the transformative reach of our rescue has no limit!
This week’s challenge:
How many new monthly donors can you sign up by this lucky Friday, June 13?
There are PRIZES! A brand-new rescue T-shirt for the person who recruits the most donors this week and a koozie to the runner up! The winners will be announced on Monday, along with a new contest.
I’ve committed a monthly amount to our rescue. It’s not much, because like almost everyone, I’ve stretched my budget almost as far as it can go. But I believe in this group with all my heart, so I’ve moved other donations to them (donations are tax deductible). I’ve seen with my own eyes what kind of success they have. Every week, I photograph dogs and cats who I know would be dead except for the tremendous commitment of the board members and volunteers, and the generous donations of people who understand that no dog or cat deserves to be desperate for just one more day, one more donation to stand between him or her and a wonderful life.
[Links redacted because they’re no longer functional. If you ever find this post and want to know more–because the organization does still exist!–comment with a query. I’ll see it and answer you even years from now. =)
I know many of my friends and family are already donating, some monthly, and that means everything to me.
If you can only donate now and then, any amount will help. But if you can donate as little as ten dollars a month, it really does make a difference. I’ve watched the program get increasingly more efficient and economical since it was formed last September, and I promise you, donations aren’t going to large salaries or wasteful spending. Donors and supporters are saving lives, like Toby’s and Braden’s. Thank you from them and almost 3000 other animals–with many more to come!