Cat Friends Helping Friends

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How can I help?
   First of all, it’s wonderful that you want to help and thank you. There are always kitties in need, so donations are always needed to help them out. If you are not able to donate at the moment, maybe you have some item you want to donate to raffle off, or maybe you want to hold some kind of a contest or raffle on your own and donate the proceeds to us. If you would like to do something along those lines please contact our very own ML Sherwood, chairperson of the fund raising committee at vp [at] catfriendshelpingfriends [dot] com and she will be delighted to work with you.

2. How can I get involved?
   We welcome help in many areas, and without people like you getting involved, we would be able to do far less for the kitties. So thank you very much for considering it! Do you want to donate administrative services, maybe make a graphic for us, spruce up our website, or something along those lines? Then you can contact our fabulous Secretary, Robyn Harton, at secretary [at] catfriendshelpingfriends [dot] com and she will be happy to let you know what kind of needs we have. If you have some other idea, feel free to contact Trisha Stephens, President at president [at] catfriendshelpingfriends [dot] com and she’ll either assist you in your quest to get involved or guide you to which of our board members you should contact.

3. Do I get anything for helping?
   Well, aside from our gratitude, we will have a badge that you can put on your blog available before the end of April. We’ll also keep a running list of donors and contributors, but you can let us know if you’d rather not be listed. Also, if you make some sort of donation out of contributions for a contest, then you also get a receipt you can use when the next tax season comes around. You may also get a warm fuzzy feeling from helping out your fellow bloggers.*

4. How do I get help?
   Once we get our incorporation filing settled, we will be able to help, so please stay tuned. By the end of April 2008 we hope to be in the position to begin helping furry critters and their owners.

5. Are my donations tax deductible?
   Once we file with the IRS to become a 501(c)(3) charity, all donations will then be tax deductible. We have 15 months to complete this filing, and once that is done, all donations made from the time we were incorporated will then be tax deductible, even if they were made before we file to get and receive 501(c)(3) status.

6. Can I have a receipt then?
   You should receive a thank you email shortly after your donation is received. An official receipt will be emailed or mailed to you within a week to 10 days from our wonderful treasurer, Karen Chavez.

7. Where do the donations go?
   We haven’t entirely finalized our budget, but we can tell you that so far we have agreed that 80% or more of all donations will go to help kitties in need, unless they are received from a raffle or donation specifically for fund raising or administrative purposes which we’ll tell you up front.  While some charities have historically used as much as 60% of their donations for administrative costs, we want as much as possible to go to the critters.  To this end, all Board Members are volunteers who receive no compensation for work and donate the use of their own computers, office equipment, etc., and we are paring other costs down to the bare minimum required to keep going.  We’re very excited that the kitties will get the lion’s share!

8. How do I contact the Board of Directors?
   All of our contact information is on the Contact page.

*Warm fuzzy feeling not guaranteed by CFHF, no refunds if warm fuzzy feeling is not achieved. :)