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17 August 2017

They're good cats Bront! Crowd funding? Anyone have any experience or advice to offer about crowd funding?

I find myself caring for three feral cats. (Four really, as we have our beloved Whitey Ford. He is with us 14 years and a feral but he is like a real life Winnie the Pooh now. Gentle, sweet, wise, and snuggly.)[More:]

I like to end my day by sitting out on the covered patio reading. Recently cats have found me.

Ginger. A ginger and white cat, young, curious, and skittish. He has explored the yard and run past me to circle round the garage and pop up on the perimeter wall on the other side. He has been up on the roof of the garage and the roof of the porch. He been up in the pines and one night I heard a rustling in the pear tree and suddenly Ginger sailed from the top of the tree and down to the lawn. He has explored all the things and now he eats then sits under one of the other chairs near me or on the wall and just hangs out for a while but never looking right at me. Either that or he jumps from the wall up on to the garage roof and wanders around above my head. He eats like a bear.

Wilson is another ginger cat but with much more white than Ginger. He is even more twitchy than Ginger. I named him Wilson because the name Ginger was taken and the neighborhood grocery store near my childhood house was Wilson's Red and White. Like the other two he ate like crazy when he first arrived. He broke my heart though, whenever he finished a bowl of food. He would sniff the inside of the bowl then start scratching at the bottom of it looking for more in a panic. He seems to have settled in to a regular amount of food now. Sometimes Wilson behaved like an asshole toward Ginger but he got over it. Pan put them in their place.

Pan, short for Panther is a trim black cat full of dignity and seriousness. Even when scared he is calm and seemingly unruffled. He was here first. He comes for his food but he never never looks desperate. It is a transaction. He graces me with his presence and listens to my talk and then I give him food. He has the reddest tongue of any cat I have ever seen.

Rosemary and I went away for a few days to attend a funeral. The cats were fed but I was not in my place. The first night back Pan ate and then jumped up on the chair across from me and studiously cleaned for more than twenty minutes then looked at me for a bit and left.

The next night was unseasonably chilly. Fifteen degrees. I have been shaving my head for many years and I have a nice light stocking cap for nights that are a bit chilly but not truly cold. I went in to the house and left the hat on my chair. When I returned my hat was on the ground and well and truly pissed on.

I have no doubt it was Pan. He missed my company but I must never do that again.

I clearly need to do more. I can't feed them and not get them neutered. We have a TNR (Trap. Neuter. Return.) program here and I can have them fixed, chipped, ear clipped, and shots for $75 each. I would also have to put up a $180 deposit for live traps. I also have a little house I made for our old feral pal Bob Cat. He was with us for about 4 years. I would like to build something more substantial for the three of them and have a bit of an emergency fund.

Money is tight right now and I am considering crowd funding. I know it is on the decline (unless you are alt-right. Some of them folks is making $40,000 a month. But I digress.)

The basics:
$225 would get the TNR/neutering done.

The pluses:
-1 Heated Bowl
-3 Extreme Weather Kitty Pad (heat for the coldest nights. I can make due with a couple more Rubbermaid box houses made from stuff I have on hand.)
-Havahart Live Animal Trap (for future possible emergency needs.)
-Diatomaceous Earth Food Grade (for flea and tick control without having to physically contact the cats. Can also be used to control internal parasites.)
-Straw
-Farm Innovators TC-3 Cold Weather Thermo Cube Thermostatically​ Controlled Outlet
$455.00

The top of the line:
-2 4-ft x 8-ft Standard Spruce Plywood
-2 1-in x 4-ft x 9-ft EPS Laminated Exterior Wall Insulation
-Shingles and drip edge
-Exterior paint
-Hardware and nails, screws, and other bits of lumber, glue, caulking, etc.
$510

So I would be looking to raise $225 to $1190. Any more would cover any future emergency.

So can anyone give me advice? What platform and what to do? Best practices?

Thanks in advance.
That's a very good write-up. Maybe take it to gofundme? If that will work?

Post here if you do find a way. You're doing great things and I know some of us would help.
posted by mightshould 17 August | 19:11
mightshould Gofundme was my first thought. I have been asking around just trying to get some ideas because I know there are other platforms and I wondered if some are better suited to certain types of things than others.

Thank you for the kind words. A few bunnies have popped up via email. I will certainly let everyone know what I decide to do.
posted by arse_hat 17 August | 19:41
Be sure to include your complete write up in whatever you do. Maybe even break the donation 'levels' out so people can give $x towards a heated bowl or $x towards tnr for Ginger; etc. It makes the donations seem more specific and tangible.

Unfortunately I have no idea how to do this. Maybe you can contact Orange Swan for guidance. I remember Trilby needing some major care and there was a funding site for that.
posted by mightshould 18 August | 06:52
It seems like some kind of ongoing funding would be best like Patreon or items for sale and The Bees has given me the right to use her likeness since she decided to find refuge in a hole under the porch to my great dismay. While understanding this does not make us even, she seems to acknowledge my unconditional love is not something quantifiable. while still being affronted whenever my hand is not present pet her when she throws back her head.

Anyway, places like threadless and teespring seem to have some mechanism for setting up shops and I'd be happy to create some kind of image or logo for whatever you want to name this cat fund.
posted by ethylene 23 August | 18:26
The infamous Joaquin Phoenix Letterman interview || It started getting dark but I

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