April 2011 Newsletter
Happy Spring!
Yogie and Friends begins its 2011 season tomorrow. The sanctuary will be open from noon – 5 P.M. (Weather permitting) and it looks like it will be a perfect weather day for our visitors. We hope you’ll come out and visit us tomorrow and often.
Volunteers: We want to remind people that Yogie and Friends is a 100% volunteer driven rescue sanctuary. Nobody receives any compensation for the work we do. We have a great crew of volunteer staff and we love what we do. We appreciate all the volunteers who come out and help us with mowing, weed eating, cleaning, and just whatever is needed to be done to make life as stress free and comfortable for these animals.
Finances: Whenever you donate to any non-profit you have a right to know where your tax-deductible dollars go. Never be afraid to ask about the financial solvency of a non-profit. If they balk at answering your questions, then you may want to rethink who you are donating to. Visit Guidestar.org and you will also be able to view an organizations tax forms. There is nothing wrong with knowing if organizations are being good stewards of your donations.
Den Houses: Two of the Cellexion people came out to Yogie and Friends to see what kind of logistical issues we are facing in order to get the buildings out to the property that will be used for den houses. We don’t know at this time what we will need for equipment to do so. That is what is currently being determined. Fortunately the buildings are only about 9000 pounds, which at first we thought they were 15,000. This will make maneuvering them a bit easier. We do have to prep some of the area around a couple of pens to make it more level and dirt was purchased to do this. We hope to get assistance from the Navy Sea Bees and other construction companies to ensure we are ready to put the buildings in place. Our new deadline with Wildlife and Fisheries is July and we really hope to be done well before that.
Bake Sale and Fundraiser: Our bake sales get better and better. This last one was the best and most successful to date. Keep watching for our updates on this and all fundraisers. Thanks so much to those who helped make it such a success. The bakers, volunteers, and most importantly, those who came out and bought items in order to support the big cats. We couldn’t do it without you.
Gift Shop: We have a small gift shop at the sanctuary that you can buy some really nice gifts. We have a nice selection of t-shirts, ceramic mugs, tiger umbrellas, puzzles, animal figurines, and more. Come check us out. Again, 100% of the proceeds go to the care of the animals.
Face Book: Don’t forget to follow us on Face Book. We have a very active page and update it often with news and events as they happen. Tell all your friends about us. We’d love to get a huge fan base.
Combined Federal Campaign (CFC): Yogie and Friends has been told that they will not be able to be part of the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) for the second year in a row. They changed some of the requirements for how the IRS forms are filed and since we are such a small organization we file the IRS 990ez, which is pretty extensive. However, they want a different form to be used and it’s too late for that. They also said they won’t accept organizations that use the accounting method we use, so we will change that during this new year to be eligible for next year. But, CFC has accepted us in the past, and shouldn’t have based on that. We are going to file an appeal and complaint regarding this. It may not do any good, but it may help change some of the forms used for smaller organizations. We can only hope. CFC is a government employee payroll deduction program. The military uses this as well as postal employees and other Federal employees. It’s a great help to our animals because it is an easy way for folks to contribute to the big cats. Since we will not be able to be part of the payroll deduction program we hope donors will look at donating directly to Yogie and Friends. We have several donors who choose to have a monthly donation come out of their checking accounts directly to Yogie and Friends. By doing this there are no fees. PayPal charges a small fee. Just 2%. Others have much higher fees. CFC has fees. You can still help the animals by setting up your own payment plans and this way the animals will not lose out. Thanks for your help with this.
Kroger Neighbor to Neighbor Program: The Neighbor to Neighbor program will end this year’s cycle on 30 April 2011. The accumulation period for the 2011 – 2012 year begins again in July 2011. You will need to relink your Kroger Plus Card again, but please use your cards like crazy and help the cats while you shop at Kroger. The letter is linked on our website. The barcode numbers remain the same. Just download this letter and make sure you hand it to your cashier to scan it along with your Plus Card and this will link it together so Kroger’s in Texas and Louisiana will donate a portion of the sales to Yogie and Friends. It’s a win, win situation. No money comes out of your pocket (other than what you are paying for your groceries of course). This is Kroger’s way of giving back.
A few ways to help financially:
An easy way you can help the cats is when you do your shopping on-line is by using iGive. If you do your shopping on-line then you can contribute by shopping through the iGive tool. Everything helps. Visit www.iGive.com and select Yogie and Friends as your cause when you shop. It’s so easy.
Coins for Cats! I recently emptied a little piggy bank I throw all my change in when I come home. It wasn’t even full, maybe half so. It added up to $106! That little bit of effort ended up being a nice chunk of change. I gave it to Yogie and Friends. This is a neat way for kids to be able to help the animals with very little effort.
Go Green with our ink jet and cell phone recycling program. This program has been doing very well. What a way to help the big cats and environment all at the same time. It’s an easy way to get kids involved as well. Details are listed on our website.
We have several programs for you to help our animals: www.magfundraising.com, www.igive.com, Cause ID 19883, www.networkforgood.org, www.goodsearch.com, just to name a few. They are all listed here on our website.
Let the 2011 Yogie season begin!
Jenny and the Yogie Cats!
Posted in Monthly Newsletter
April 2011 Newsletter
Happy Spring!
Yogie and Friends begins its 2011 season tomorrow. The sanctuary will be open from noon – 5 P.M. (Weather permitting) and it looks like it will be a perfect weather day for our visitors. We hope you’ll come out and visit us tomorrow and often.
Volunteers: We want to remind people that Yogie and Friends is a 100% volunteer driven rescue sanctuary. Nobody receives any compensation for the work we do. We have a great crew of volunteer staff and we love what we do. We appreciate all the volunteers who come out and help us with mowing, weed eating, cleaning, and just whatever is needed to be done to make life as stress free and comfortable for these animals.
Finances: Whenever you donate to any non-profit you have a right to know where your tax-deductible dollars go. Never be afraid to ask about the financial solvency of a non-profit. If they balk at answering your questions, then you may want to rethink who you are donating to. Visit Guidestar.org and you will also be able to view an organizations tax forms. There is nothing wrong with knowing if organizations are being good stewards of your donations.
Den Houses: Two of the Cellexion people came out to Yogie and Friends to see what kind of logistical issues we are facing in order to get the buildings out to the property that will be used for den houses. We don’t know at this time what we will need for equipment to do so. That is what is currently being determined. Fortunately the buildings are only about 9000 pounds, which at first we thought they were 15,000. This will make maneuvering them a bit easier. We do have to prep some of the area around a couple of pens to make it more level and dirt was purchased to do this. We hope to get assistance from the Navy Sea Bees and other construction companies to ensure we are ready to put the buildings in place. Our new deadline with Wildlife and Fisheries is July and we really hope to be done well before that.
Bake Sale and Fundraiser: Our bake sales get better and better. This last one was the best and most successful to date. Keep watching for our updates on this and all fundraisers. Thanks so much to those who helped make it such a success. The bakers, volunteers, and most importantly, those who came out and bought items in order to support the big cats. We couldn’t do it without you.
Gift Shop: We have a small gift shop at the sanctuary that you can buy some really nice gifts. We have a nice selection of t-shirts, ceramic mugs, tiger umbrellas, puzzles, animal figurines, and more. Come check us out. Again, 100% of the proceeds go to the care of the animals.
Face Book: Don’t forget to follow us on Face Book. We have a very active page and update it often with news and events as they happen. Tell all your friends about us. We’d love to get a huge fan base.
Combined Federal Campaign (CFC): Yogie and Friends has been told that they will not be able to be part of the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) for the second year in a row. They changed some of the requirements for how the IRS forms are filed and since we are such a small organization we file the IRS 990ez, which is pretty extensive. However, they want a different form to be used and it’s too late for that. They also said they won’t accept organizations that use the accounting method we use, so we will change that during this new year to be eligible for next year. But, CFC has accepted us in the past, and shouldn’t have based on that. We are going to file an appeal and complaint regarding this. It may not do any good, but it may help change some of the forms used for smaller organizations. We can only hope. CFC is a government employee payroll deduction program. The military uses this as well as postal employees and other Federal employees. It’s a great help to our animals because it is an easy way for folks to contribute to the big cats. Since we will not be able to be part of the payroll deduction program we hope donors will look at donating directly to Yogie and Friends. We have several donors who choose to have a monthly donation come out of their checking accounts directly to Yogie and Friends. By doing this there are no fees. PayPal charges a small fee. Just 2%. Others have much higher fees. CFC has fees. You can still help the animals by setting up your own payment plans and this way the animals will not lose out. Thanks for your help with this.
Kroger Neighbor to Neighbor Program: The Neighbor to Neighbor program will end this year’s cycle on 30 April 2011. The accumulation period for the 2011 – 2012 year begins again in July 2011. You will need to relink your Kroger Plus Card again, but please use your cards like crazy and help the cats while you shop at Kroger. The letter is linked on our website. The barcode numbers remain the same. Just download this letter and make sure you hand it to your cashier to scan it along with your Plus Card and this will link it together so Kroger’s in Texas and Louisiana will donate a portion of the sales to Yogie and Friends. It’s a win, win situation. No money comes out of your pocket (other than what you are paying for your groceries of course). This is Kroger’s way of giving back.
A few ways to help financially:
An easy way you can help the cats is when you do your shopping on-line is by using iGive. If you do your shopping on-line then you can contribute by shopping through the iGive tool. Everything helps. Visit www.iGive.com and select Yogie and Friends as your cause when you shop. It’s so easy.
Coins for Cats! I recently emptied a little piggy bank I throw all my change in when I come home. It wasn’t even full, maybe half so. It added up to $106! That little bit of effort ended up being a nice chunk of change. I gave it to Yogie and Friends. This is a neat way for kids to be able to help the animals with very little effort.
Go Green with our ink jet and cell phone recycling program. This program has been doing very well. What a way to help the big cats and environment all at the same time. It’s an easy way to get kids involved as well. Details are listed on our website.
We have several programs for you to help our animals: www.magfundraising.com, www.igive.com, Cause ID 19883, www.networkforgood.org, www.goodsearch.com, just to name a few. They are all listed here on our website.
Let the 2011 Yogie season begin!
Jenny and the Yogie Cats!
Posted in Monthly Newsletter