Nychsa Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Greetings everyone, There are so many good people who are taking in distressed animals, and I imagine, while this is a labor of love, it is a tremendous strain emotionally and financially. I'm really feeling a strong need to somehow pitch in and help. So, I'm wondering how much interest there would be in the Grey community in standing up a grant fund where people can make tax deductable donations, and then have this fund make grants to people who are rescuing these poor babies. The grants don't have to be tremendous amounts of money - just something to cover a vet bill, or maybe a special cage, or maybe a rescue start up kit. Just put a little bit of extra help into the lives of these families. If there is interest, I could ask a friend at T Rowe Price about it and specifically what it would take to stand up the fund and have a professional fund manager, like T Rowe manage it. A collective "board" could be established to develop grant criteria (quick and simple process - but effective) and review grant requests - again - simple process as these families need help quickly IMO, and don't need to be hassled with tons of paper work. Donations could be as small as 5 dollars, 5 dollars here and there add up! I'm sure we can find some fund "starters" who would make a larger donation (I know I would bug Petsmart and Petco to kick in a nice amount! Off set some of the pain they might be producing by buying from mass breeders!). If there is interest - let me know and I'll investigate this - setting up a fund is pretty easy. Cheers! Terri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 I'm interested in hearing more on this and see how it develops. It would be a great way of helping out the birds and those who rescue them. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christina Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 I think its a great idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tari Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 I have two rescues and yes it is a lot of work and money cause one of my rescues was a plucker. I am on a couple of the forums they have emergency fund set up. But I don't think it is tax deductible and the mods decide who is deserving of the money. One of the forums I am on even bought a bird for one of the members because they were moved by something bad that happened to her. They sent pm's to all members asking for donations. However this forum as members more spread out. Spain, England ect so this just may not work for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Terri, I want to hear more about this idea of yours too, count me in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyGreys Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Terri it is in theory a wonderful idea but as Tari suggests we are spread out all over the world,there would be a lot of issues to work out,who's in charge of the funds,whos the most deserving case etc.. I am intrested in hearing more details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nychsa Posted January 30, 2008 Author Share Posted January 30, 2008 Ok - I'll ping my T Rowe Price contact and find out how this would work with a geographically disbursed population - I'm not sure that is an obstacle as so many global initiatives happen these days. Will get more details! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamelessmuse Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 I think this is awesome!! I know as someone who recently rescued a Grey that it could be a tremedous help. Even outside the medical bills, if I had the resources I would have contacted a behavorist already. I would love to hear more and find out how much I could help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamelessmuse Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 I think this is awesome!! I know as someone who recently rescued a Grey that it could be a tremedous help. Even outside the medical bills, if I had the resources I would have contacted a behavorist already. I would love to hear more and find out how much I could help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nychsa Posted January 31, 2008 Author Share Posted January 31, 2008 Greetings everyone! I've dropped my contact an email - and should be hearing back soon. I have a non-for-profit corp set up that handles other charity work, so putting a fund like this under that corporation wouldn't be a problem. I think once the fund details are known and it looks like a 'go', then people who are interested in being a part of the process can send me a pm. I'll create a distribution list. This group would need to establish the process for distributing funds, fund reporting requirements (does the collective group receive monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual reports about the status of the fund?). We should decide if there are upper limits to how much we can distribute or will that be handled on a case by case basis and the availability of the funds etc.. In general house keeping stuff etc. I think it also needs to be determined if the fund will only be for AG's or for all parrots. Once the fund is set up, I think seed money needs to come from pet stores I mentioned previously, so that would be my next step - contacting them. Then a web site needs to be stood up - that can happen within an afternoon and then that needs to get linked to various interested sites where individuals can make a donnation or apply for funds. Those are just some of my initial thoughts, I'm sure there's more to come. Now that would be very rewarding - helping these people who are doing so much for the Parrot communities! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nychsa Posted January 31, 2008 Author Share Posted January 31, 2008 Hi there Tracy! In terms of how the fund would be set up re: management: I think it should consist of volunteers from the AG community. A grant board should be formed with a chairperson, treasurer, and secretary. Once this is set up, then the grant criteria should be established (and those shouldn't be hard and fast - they should have general guidelines that support the board being able to make quick decisions). Once those things are set up and the infra-structure established, seed money placed, then the fund should be ready to go! Applications could come in via the web site. The board can take a look at these maybe once/week or something of that sorts, make decisions and then fund manager can then cut the checks. As part of the implementation process the board should decide what kind of verification process should be required: i.e. vet bill, purchase receipt etc... Does that sound like it could work? Cheers! Terri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamelessmuse Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Sounds awesome! I would be more than happy to put my Marketing skills to work on this! Thanks so much Terri! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyGreys Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 You know your stuff Terri It sounds good to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nychsa Posted January 31, 2008 Author Share Posted January 31, 2008 Shamelessmuse wrote: Sounds awesome! I would be more than happy to put my Marketing skills to work on this! Thanks so much Terri! Yeah Musey! That would be super. I think we could push this forward and get these funds distributed rather quickly. So, you're up for joining the board? I don't want any of these families feeling disheartend and discouraged, and have to watch one of these distressed animals suffer even more because the costs simply become too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nychsa Posted January 31, 2008 Author Share Posted January 31, 2008 lovemyGreys wrote: You know your stuff Terri It sounds good to me. LOL Thanks Tracy! It's kind of scary - it looks like the business world has assimiliated me! :ohmy: Usually when people ask me what I do for a living I say I'm a security engineer by trade - which I am :lol: But, I have been running a business for the past five years, so I guess it's starting to get into my blood - my partner said he's assimiliate me - looks like it snuck up on me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nychsa Posted January 31, 2008 Author Share Posted January 31, 2008 Ok - for the interested parties - T Rowe Price has a fund for charity purposes. They actually have it set up as a separate company. The fund is called a Donor Assisted Fund (DAF). It's pretty straight forward - we set up an account, donations go into the account, and the fund manager invests the funds for us. We pull money out as needed to issue grants. The rub is we need $10K to open the account. So, I don't think we'll be able to raise that immediately. So my buddy said to set up a regular account and kick off the project and once we get the 10K critical mass then put the money into the fund for investment purposes. I'm going to look also at the Principal and Vanguard and see if they have an option that allows for a lower start up. Our 401K is with Principal and I've done things with Vanguard before in the past. Either way - it looks like we can kick it off by simply opening a regular non-for-profit bank account. I'm meeting with our board for the non-for profit we have set up for other charities this weekend and can mention that we'd want to get a companion bird charity going. Cheers! Terri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatB Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Wow, you guys have been busy today! I'm interested in helping, as well. Please keep me posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nychsa Posted January 31, 2008 Author Share Posted January 31, 2008 Kat, That's great! I think if at least five people are willing to serve on the board, then we've got a 'go'. Terri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 That's great news Terri! You have done your homework and found a way to bring this together. The hard part, is going to be getting this off the ground and running. Perhaps with your contacts and Muses marketing abilities, it could come to fruition fairly fast. There should probably be an "All Call" sent out through this forums service by one of the Admins to get everyone alerted to the fact that this is being put forward as a "Community" effort. We need a large group to get the funds rolling. The bigger the group, the less the financial strain on everyone. Great idea Terri, I hope this really takes off!! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nychsa Posted January 31, 2008 Author Share Posted January 31, 2008 Dan, Thanks for the vote of confidence! I'll brief the board on our non-for-profit (Skydancer's Gate - it's a Buddhist non-for-profit) this weekend about this potential charity fund. Once they're good with it (I'm sure they'll be quite excited about it too - the head of our school, who is a very well respected and known teacher within the community is an avid bird lover and has two cackatoo's that he loves very much) then I'll get with Citibank to set up a separate account for it. After that maybe we can do a system call for voluteers to serve on the board? We dont' want to burdon people's time, so maybe if we say the term is six months and we can rotate like that? That way we won't burn board members out. We need to set up the governance framework for the fund. Then I can work with Muse on the web site, and once we have that up and running, then we might want to go out with a system call for donations and for applications for people who have rescues and need assistance to cover some bills relative to their rescue. What do you think? Am I missing any steps? Cheers! Terri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Terri - I think you have covered all the steps and it sounds great. Thanks for bringing this up and taking the lead on this!! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animalgreygail Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Hi, b4 getting our new bird I started looking for bird rescues on petfinder.com. I'm on there now for dog rescue. Which I'm not doing right now as there are so many other rescues it is hard to find good homes. There really are Few birds for adoption on there. Why I don't know. Maybe we could list rescues on there it is national. Petco will let you go there to adopt out animals. They will even take donations for groups using there store. Policy think adoption first. You do have to be a 501. After I get an online adoption app. my first meeting with a new family is at petco. Since this I have been thinking about learning more and rescuing birds myself. I'm willing to help if I can. btw my site is purebreed.petfinder.org<br><br>Post edited by: Animalgreygail, at: 2008/01/31 18:53 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MazyAK Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 From Alaska to South Africa to the U.K. to Iceland, this is a super idea and something we can all be involved in to help others and the birds. Count me in for any help and a donation also. With todays technology geographics shouldn't be a barrier. To form a board and make these decisions are well within our abilities and interest. I'll be watching for any developments and am a willing participant. Great idea , let's try to roll on this. Bruce & Mazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nychsa Posted February 1, 2008 Author Share Posted February 1, 2008 Animalgreygail wrote: Hi, b4 getting our new bird I started looking for bird rescues on petfinder.com. I'm on there now for dog rescue. Which I'm not doing right now as there are so many other rescues it is hard to find good homes. There really are Few birds for adoption on there. Why I don't know. Maybe we could list rescues on there it is national. Petco will let you go there to adopt out animals. They will even take donations for groups using there store. Policy think adoption first. You do have to be a 501. After I get an online adoption app. my first meeting with a new family is at petco. Since this I have been thinking about learning more and rescuing birds myself. I'm willing to help if I can. btw my site is purebreed.petfinder.org<br><br>Post edited by: Animalgreygail, at: 2008/01/31 18:53 That is a great idea! I know every time I'm at Petco and I pay, a message pops up on the card swiper as to whether or not I wish to donate a dollar to a particular fund and I always select 'yes'. Is that the program you are talking about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nychsa Posted February 1, 2008 Author Share Posted February 1, 2008 MazyAK wrote: From Alaska to South Africa to the U.K. to Iceland, this is a super idea and something we can all be involved in to help others and the birds. Count me in for any help and a donation also. With todays technology geographics shouldn't be a barrier. To form a board and make these decisions are well within our abilities and interest.I'll be watching for any developments and am a willing participant. Great idea , let's try to roll on this. Bruce & Mazy Super Bruce! Board member? RE: different locations - we can use PayPal as a coversion service - it does have a service charge, but I think it isn't cost prohibative. I think once the board gets into the nitty gritty details of implementation plan, it will shake out which international monetary service would serve this purpose best. I should have an update on Monday was to whether or not we can use Skydancer as the 501c Charity vehicle to initiate the program under. Cheers! Terri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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