i have no problem sharing...but be fair in what you ask for.

i just want to clarify...what it is ok to ask for and what is pushing the line.

i don't care if people copy this blog or anything on it...i truly don't give a ratz ass if some plagerize anything i write or i say for their own use....(as long as they are not using it as a weapon against me or to exploit one of the animals here for personal benefit cuz that actually does piss me right off) i do not have a ton of ownership issues about much of anything at all....except i guess... the well being of saints.

geez i remember a few years ago..one of the rescues took our christmas letter...and just changed it a bit so it suited their rescue...and then told me they did it...whatever... fine with me..i simply do not care in the very least. people can come to our fundraisers to grab some ideas for their own...that's fine with me too.

other rescues and shelters come here to look around and see what might work for their own shelters....not a problem..why re-invent the wheel? i have borrowed others surrender, adoption and foster forms and combined, added some of the things important to me, and rewritten them into something specific to meet our unique senior animals needs. i think thoughts and good ideas are MEANT to be shared.

but..there are things you just do not expect someone to hand to you...like a mailing list, donor/supporter contacts, special fundraising blueprints and foot prints...those things are specific to each charity..those are the things that individual charities work really hard to build over the years and protect from abuse, misuse and overuse. and it takes a long time to build them..i have been asking for a saints fundraising for dummies manual for almost three years...one that has our contacts for auction items, regular supporters/attendees, venues/menu's, printers, multimedia outlets, copies of our event programs,invitations and announcements videos, decorations.... you name it...every detail that goes into the events and there are a million and a half tiny details that go into every event...all easily accessible in a binder of pages for saints...so even dummy me can pull it off alone if i have too.

and i want this so that every single year..we do not personally have to re-invent the wheel...we know where to go to rent dishes and spoons and table clothes, we know which caterers we liked and did a really great job, which printers support us and will help us with a fair price. we know which venues worked the best and which ones did not...and i want this so each year our event planning gets easier so it is less burdensome for the fundraising committee and i want it because fundraising committees change over time..i want the new generation of saints fundraising folks who may one day take over for us (as we all get old and fall in exhaustion to our knees) to be able to benefit and build on what our past heroes have learned....those lessons learned were learned for the benefit of our animals and we want their new caregivers to have the opportunity to use some of this if they need.

i haven't gotten this saints fundraising manual for dummies yet....but eventually as we perfect everything we will have it....but don't ask me to share it...that is our volunteers blood, sweat and tears with several long and hard years invested in it.
but the idea of the efficiency of having one...your specific charity event manual to save you repeated work every year....... the idea of it.....i am more than willing to share....as long as you do the work to make it your own.

i never expected or asked anyone to hand us a free and overflowing platter of running a successful rescue so we could just slide on in with everything we wanted or needed right at our finger tips....we put the time and effort in to build saints each day and each year, we went out and learned by our mistakes and successes...and we continue to put in the same time and effort to growing and refining and making it better for the animals around here.

and it is so ok to take our ideas and tweek them, improve them and use them for your own....but be respectful and don't ask us to do your hard work for you by handing you over the concrete building blocks we have collected and built upon...those blocks are for the well being to help and protect and care for our own crippled crew and i do expect you to work hard to build your own.

many years ago when i was a newby, one of the old time rescuers, mandy from meow aid, gave me some very sound advice...build, update and maintain your mailing list and DO NOT abuse it by smothering your supporters in begging mail. i appreciated so much her secret..it never occurred to me to ask her if i could have a copy of her list...i just took the thoughtful idea she shared and took it to heart....we do maintain our mailing list and we do respectfully try not to send anything out other than a single saints news letter and/or christmas thank you letter once or twice a year.

she kindly shared with me some very good advice, and it was up to me to build up our own precious mailing list of very special people and choose what i eventually would do with it...i think this was fair....she didn't have to do it for me...her simple, common sense respectful thoughts on this were more than kind of her to share.