Vote to Help Your Favorite Shelter or Rescue Win a $5,000 Grant from Petfinder!

Petfinder.com has a really awesome program going on through October 1, 2008 to assist shelter and rescue organizations with disaster relief. Petfinder is giving away $1,000,000, yep that's ONE MILLION DOLLARS, worth of power generators to shelters and rescue organizations to help prepare for disasters.

In addition, Petfinder.com is also giving away two $5,000.00 grants to two partner shelters or rescue organizations, and WE get to choose! Simply go to Petfinder's Pet Disaster and Emergency Preparedness Contest, select your favorite rescue organization or shelter, and VOTE! You can vote every day between today through October 1, 2008, so be sure to visit every day.

Kudos Petfinder and Honda!

Please help spread the word far and wide!

Now, off you go to vote! :)

Flipper and Suzie from Adopt-A-Pet Fargo-Moorhead Need Your Help

Flipper and Susie have been together for 13 years, but their companion can no longer take care of them, as he has needed to move to a nursing home. They did get to wish him well at the local VA Hospital before they moved in to their new Adopt-A-Pet foster home. Flipper and Susie are in great health; however they both need to have their teeth cleaned as well as have some teeth removed. As many dog and cat owners know, teeth cleaning and/or removal is not cheap. Adopt-A-Pet is trying to raise $500 to help cover the costs of the dental work for Flipper and Susie.

Please consider "chipping in" by donating through the Chip-In Widget below to help Adopt-A-Pet offset the costs of caring for these sweet senior pets while they wait to find their new forever home.

If you are not able to donate, please consider helping spread the word on your web page, your blog, your facebook page, or your myspace page.




Adopt-A-Pet of Fargo-Moorhead is a non-profit, completely volunteer-run organization with the primary goal of placing rescued pets in loving and responsible homes.

Catnappers: Helping Feral Caretakers

I ran across a wonderful organization called Catnappers, located in Albany, Georgia. This organization is dedicated to helping feral cats by providing assistance, education, and resources to feral cat caretakers.

One of the major ways they are helping feral cats is through their low-cost spay and neuter program. Catnappers sponsors low-cost spay and neuter clinics, and clinics especially for feral cat caretakers. Through sponsoring T-N-R (Trap-Neuter-Return), Catnappers is assisting caring individuals to help feral cats.

So how can you help this awesome program? Sponsor a spay! Click here to donate to this wonderful cause! Feral cat caretakers can also apply for assistance from Catnappers directly through their website.

CatNappers
PO Box 71203
Albany, Ga. 31708
http://www.mystraycat.org/index.html

Tips for Online Giving to Make Sure Your Money is Being Put to Good Use

I give tons of money online to various animal rescue organizations. Don't get me wrong...I'm not a rich person...I'm just a sucker for a cute fuzzy face in need.

Thus far, I have been fortunate enough to avoid giving money to an organization that I later find out is not legitimate. That's because I do my homework BEFORE I donate! Just a few extra minutes of your time beforehand to research the organization will pay off when you feel secure knowing your money is going to a good cause. The first thing I do before giving money to an organization that I haven't worked with before is to do a simple Goodsearch search.

Chris at HoundsGood has some other wonderful tips. From HoundsGood:

"Stay away from mass (print) mail and telemarketing. If you feel strongly about the organization, give in another way.

Large charities like the ASPCA and Humane Society of the United States send out mass mailings soliciting donations at various times of the year. The truth is that much of this is sent out by a third party and the charity only gets a small percentage. A telemarketer representing an organization contacted us and when pressed, we found out that the charity was only getting 10% of our donation, so we declined.

Please don’t get me wrong, there are many great organizations that send out mail to remind you or update you as not all of their supporters are tied to a computer. Some have had the fortune to have a benefactor who pays for their mailings or other fundraising that is earmarked clearly. But if you receive a letter with free mailing labels, think twice about sending something in the reply envelope."

This great tip is just one of Chris' ten great tips for smart giving. Be sure to check out Houndsgood for the rest of her tips!