August 2000

Other Strategies

Animal-welfare nonprofits continue to raise support outside cyberspace. The Marine Mammal Center holds special events for donors who give more than $500 a year. According to director of development Pamela Westfall-Bochte, donors particularly enjoy witnessing "the releases of rehabilitated animals back to their ocean homes—these releases truly allow donors to experience their gifts at work."

Susan Andres also points to The Marine Mammal Center's Adopt-A-Seal^® Program, which "enables people to adopt a previously rehabilitated patient and thereby contribute to the rehabilitation of those animals currently in our hospital." Another benefit of this program is that it "educates people about the issues that marine mammals face to their survival."

Michael Mountain notes that fundraising appeals from the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary differ from those used by a number of animal-welfare organizations. Faced with "endless quantities of sad, shocking, gruesome photos and stories of animals in distress" and the message "that the situation would get worse for these animals unless we sent money NOW!" Best Friends decided to "send out only materials that we ourselves would want to receive." The sanctuary, he continues, "raises funds entirely through sending our members good news about what their dollars have achieved. Our members and donors enjoy what we send them, and we enjoy sending it. We regularly receive requests for extra copies of what, from other organizations, would be called 'junk mail.'"