There are lots of ways to help save big cats from abuse and abandonment. Some are free and some have a cost.
WAYS TO HELP FINANCIALLY
DonateSponsor a cat / Become a member
Leave a Legacy: Remember the cats in your Will
Amazon Wish List (sign up for free w/ Smile.Amazon first & Amazon will donate, too! see below)
See how we spend your money here http://bigcatrescue.org/about/finances/
Here at Big Cat Rescue, literally 100% of your donations are spent directly ON THE CATS!!! We are able to adhere to that strict policy because the other sanctuary expenses, administrative expenses, salaries etc come out of tour fees and other sources of income. We are extremely serious about donations being used JUST FOR THE CATS!
Because of adhering to that strict policy regarding donations, and all of the other ways Big Cat Rescue is transparent in our operations, we have earned Charity Navigator‘s highest 4-star rating for “sound fiscal management and commitment to accountability and transparency” EVERY YEAR since we were first evaluated by them in 2010. Here is a quote directly from their rating letter “Only 7% of the charities we rate have received at least 4 consecutive 4-star evaluations.” Big Cat Rescue has done it for all these consecutive years.
WAYS TO HELP AT NO COST
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
With an operating budget of approximately $3.5 million/year, of course Donations and Memberships are critical to our ability to care for the cats. We cannot exist without this financial support. But you can make a very significant difference in other important ways as well. There are many ways to support our cats and help end abuse that cost nothing. Some are actions you can take or avoid. Others are ways to make purchases you already make in ways that result in funding for the sanctuary.
SIGN UP FOR AMAZON SMILE
A wonderful way to support the cats at no cost to you is to go to your Amazon.com account and sign up for Amazon Smile to have Amazon donate a portion of your purchases donated to Big Cat Rescue.
It is easy to set up. Once you do, instead of going to Amazon.com to shop, you go to Smile.Amazon.com. Everything at Smile is exactly the same as you are used to at regular Amazon, same products, same prices. If you have a Prime account, it will still be there in Smile. The ONLY difference is that .5% of your purchases are donated by Amazon to Big Cat Rescue. ZERO cost to you, but it sure adds up for the cats. About $25,000 for the cats in 2017!
To sign up for Smile just go to BigCatRescue.org/smile and log in with your usual Amazon ID and password as you see below:
Once you have signed up, from now on you should go to Smile.Amazon.com to make your purchases instead of Amazon.com.
Just typing Smile into your browser instead of Amazon should take you there, or bookmark the URL,
or, after you select Big Cat Rescue, you may see a screen like the one below inviting you to download a shortcut to Smile.Amazon.com.
Want to access your Smile account from an iPhone or iPad? Easy!
Open Safari and go to Smile.Amazon.com
Log in with your Amazon login
Hit the SHARE icon at the bottom of the screen (the square with the arrow pointing up)
Hit the Add to Home Screen icon (the square with rounded edges with the + sign in it)
You will see an icon direct to your Smile account (including Prime if you have it) on your phone’s home screen.
If you have the regular Amazon app on your phone, it is a good idea to delete it so you do not forget and go there.
Smile.Amazon.com works the same as Amazon.com and has all the same products. The only difference is that it sends a portion of your purchase to Big Cat Rescue. This has become a meaningful source of support that you can add to at no cost to you. Please sign up and urge people you know to do so.
Watch & Share our Videos
When you share our videos you ARE HELPING!!
Yes, watching and sharing our videos is really HELPING Save Cats!
Sharing our videos is helping introduce more people to Big Cat Rescue, the cats, and our mission through your own posts. When you share our educational videos and others watch it YOU are helping spread the word and helping teach others about important cat issues.
Sharing our videos is encouraging social sites to show our postings to more people. Example, when a video on Facebook receives a lot of attention Facebook will then put it in even more people’s feeds which further increases exposure for the video. On YouTube when a video gets a lot of attention YouTube will sometimes even add that video to the suggested videos on the side of the page which also increases viewership.
The Google Ads that display on the YouTube videos are actually raising a little bit of money for the cats, so every time you share one of our videos for your friends and family to watch YOU are not only helping pass on our mission and giving your friends something either educational or fun to watch, but you are also helping raise funds for the cats. Sometimes, when people watch a “Just For Fun” video that YOU have shared they will go to our channel and watch additional videos. Again, this helps the cats and our mission.
Learn more about this at: bigcatrescue.org/share-youtube-video/
Post a Review
Please post your reviews at Facebook, Google Places, TripAdvisor, Yelp and Charity Navigator, as that helps others know about us and helps counter balance the 1 star reviews that animal abusers fraudulently post on those sites to bring down our overall ratings.
Other Actions you Can Take
BECOME AN “ADVOCAT”
Sign up below to get our Monthly e-Zine called the AdvoCat that will tell you about our most recent rescues and how you can get involved, no matter where you live.
As an extra bonus you & a guest could win 4 Days/ 3 Nights at the Sirata Beach Resort, Airfare, Big Cat Rescue Keeper Tour, Dolphin Cruise, and more! Random drawing on March 15th of our Subscribers. Only one entry per person will be considered.
You can make an enormous difference by signing up to receive our email alerts and taking action by voicing your support for legislation and your opposition to abusive exhibits in our easy online system.
Click here to learn about becoming an Advocat.
To see current issues and take action now visit CatLaws.com.
One of the biggest impacts that animal lovers can have is to guide the conversation when it happens. This is how we do it:
1. Set up google alerts for words like tigers, cubs, lions, zoo, circus, fur, etc.
2. Sort through the results daily and find the ones that are really about cats and not Tiger Woods, the Detroit Lions, etc. and read the articles.
3. Join the conversation and steer it in the right direction. ie: explain why people shouldn’t attend circuses that use animals, or wear real fur or how having your picture made with a cub results in lions and tigers being over bred for that purpose, exploited and then discarded or warehoused.
Don’t bother getting into debates with the animal abusers and don’t make it personal. Just deliver the facts so that people who don’t know the issue can understand what they can do to end the abuse. Everything you need to know about what to say is here: http://bigcatrescue.org/abuse-issues
You can download and print these images as posters and fliers to get the message out: http://bigcatrescue.org/posters/
Visit the sanctuary. Revenue from day tours, kids tours, feeding tours, keeper tours, photo tours and private group tours covers about half of the cost of caring for the cats.
Volunteer on site at the sanctuary.
Volunteer remotely by becoming an “Advocat”. Help stop abuse and support better laws by joining thousands of other big cat lovers in making our voices heard.
Become an Intern for three months.
Send us items on our Wish List.
Join our Legacy Society to remember the cats in your estate planning.
See how you can investigate and expose abusers. Be a Saber Tooth Sleuth. When you see big cat abuse take photos and post them and your report on 911 Animal Abuse site
Visit our Corporate Sponsor page to show them you appreciate their support.
Use your Social Networking to help build awareness by linking to us from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok etc. and watching and rating our cool videos on YouTube.
Vote for us in online contests when available. (none currently, but register here to receive alerts so you know when you can help in this way)
Create a wedding gift registry with the I Do Foundation’s partner stores and up to 10% of gift purchases will be donated to your favorite charity. Choose Big Cat Rescue when you register HERE.
Watch and Share Our Videos
See our Wish List
Shopping for Gifts or Things you already Buy
You can help at no extra cost by making purchases you would otherwise make in ways that generate donations to Big Cat Rescue. Looking for gifts or items you need for yourself? Please consider these alternatives:
Big Cat Rescue Online Gift Shop: Shop in our online Gift Shop
Big Cat Rescue eBay Store: Shop in our eBay Store
Big Cat Rescue Cafe Press: Check out our Café Press store for hundreds of big cat items from t-shirts to mugs and everything in between.
Big Cat Rescue Zazzle: Our Zazzle store has big cat calendars, logo items and many other Big Cat Rescue items.
Magazines: Buy or renew your favorite Magazine Subscriptions at up to 85% off newsstand prices. 40% of your online purchase is donated to BCR. Over 650 popular titles.
Sell on eBay and Benefit Big Cats
eBay has a non-profit component called eBay Giving Works. Through this, Big Cat Rescue and many other charities may use eBay to promote items for reduced fees.
But another large purpose of eBay Giving Works is to allow other eBay sellers to choose a registered charity to automatically receive a portion of their eBay sales.
Big Cat Rescue has had more than 640 community sellers through the eBay Giving Works program. These sellers raised over 2,800 dollars for Big Cat Rescue by selling through eBay! We would like to take this opportunity to say Thank You and let our community sellers know how grateful we are for their donations.
If you are a community seller who provided address information through Mission Fish, you will receive a thank you note and tax receipt for the total we received from your efforts.
If you are not a Big Cat Rescue Community Seller through eBay but are interested in becoming one, it only takes five easy steps!
1. When selling an item on eBay, under the “Choose how you’d like to sell your item” tab there is an eBay Giving Works option.
2. If you are already a community seller for Big Cat Rescue, the icon will show up automatically. Otherwise click on “Or, select another nonprofit you love”.
3. In the “Nonprofit name or key word” search box, type in Big Cat Rescue.
4. When Big Cat Rescue shows up, hit the “Select” button.
5. You automatically return to your “Choose how you’d like to sell your item” tab with Big Cat Rescue selected. All you have to do choose the Donation percentage you want Big Cat Rescue to receive when your item sells!
eBay Giving Works also provides benefits for sellers who participate in the program – check out what you receive in return at https://www.ebaygivingworks.com/
Thank you again to all of our community sellers who have chosen to include Big Cat Rescue in their nonprofit giving through eBay!
Social Networking for Big Cats
If you have an account at MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Photobucket, AOL, or any of the myriad of social networking sites, you can help promote Big Cat Rescue. Add us as a friend, watch, rate and embed our videos, or post photos of our cats with links to our site. Your visitors will love it and you will be helping to save the big cats!
It’s a great way to support the cats at no cost to you!
Big Cat Rescue’s sites:
Adding us as a friend on your social networking site helps raise awareness for the cats. Liking, commenting on, & sharing our posts are all actions that really do help us reach more people.
- FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/bigcatrescue Like Us and add our donation app to your page!
- Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/bigcatrescue/ Join the fun
- Twitter https://twitter.com/bigcatrescue
- YouTube https://www.youtube.com/bigcatrescue This is our main YouTube site. An easy to remember link for this channel is BigCatTV.com
- YouTube Mini Clips https://www.youtube.com/DailyBigCat – This is also the channel we put all of our Facebook Live videos on.
- Tumblr https://bigcatrescue.tumblr.com/
- Blogger https://bigcatnews.com
- Care2 https://my.care2.com/savethecats
- LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/BigCatRescue
- SnapChat @BigCatRescuer
We also have three Facebook Show Pages: Click the Shows Below to Join them Now!
If you know of more social networking site you think Big Cat Rescue should be on, please suggest a site to Info@bigcatrescue.org
Help the Cats by Sharing our YouTube Videos
Sharing our videos is helping introduce more people to Big Cat Rescue, the cats, and our mission through your own posts. When you share our educational videos and others watch it YOU are helping spread the word and helping teach others about important cat issues. The Google Ads that display on the YouTube videos are actually raising a little bit of money for the cats, so every time you share one of our videos for your friends and family to watch YOU are not only helping pass on our mission and giving your friends something either educational or fun to watch, but you are also helping raise funds for the cats. Sometimes, when people watch a “Just For Fun” video that YOU have shared they will go to our channel and watch additional videos. Again, this helps the cats and our mission. Again, here are the link to both of our YouTube channels: 1) BigCatTV.com and 2) https://www.youtube.com/DailyBigCat
Actions to Avoid
You can help by NOT doing the following and discouraging others from doing so. Click to see more about each:
– Don’t go see the new white tiger cub on display. Details on white tigers
– Don’t attend performing acts or traveling exhibits containing big cats. Why not?
– Don’t participate in offers to pet or have photos taken with a cub or adult big cat. Why not?
FUNDRAISE FOR BIG CAT RESCUE
Several times a week someone will call and ask us to promote their product or gig to our millions of fans, in exchange for the vendor giving us back some small percent. That is always more advantageous to them than to us, and most of the time we see no meaningful contribution to the cats. We have to post many, many fun, fluff pieces to our fans, so that on the rare occasion when we ask them to donate, or take action for the cats, they see our posts and will care enough to act. Promoting other people’s products and gigs, just detracts from the good will we are working to build up to really benefit the cats.
A lot of people ask if they can use our images or logo to promote their products or gigs to their own fans, and we will do that on limited occasions, with donors who have already proven themselves to us, or with those who have audiences that are far larger than our own. It is a case by case basis, and if you think you’ve got some amazing cred and want to help the big cats, you can email me at Cat@BigCatRescue.org with all of the details that might make me want to take a chance on you doing what you promise. Because there is so much opportunity for fraud, and so many people will be contacting me and asking if you really do have permission, it is a huge hassle for us, so there are very limited exceptions.
True Fundraising The Matters
Some people really do want to raise funds for the cats and are not looking to benefit themselves in the process. We make that easy for you with Facebook Fundraisers. You create your own fundraiser, promote it to your own fan base and the money goes directly to Big Cat Rescue. That helps the cats the most. Thanks from all of us at Big Cat Rescue if this is the option you choose.
If you are doing a fundraiser for the cats through Facebook Fundraisers and would like photos of the cats to use on those fundraisers please contact lawanna.mitchell@bigcatrescue.org and let her know what you are doing.
See how easy it is to setup a Facebook Fundraiser. Here is a link to a page with step by step instructions and screenshots of each step. It’s really easy and quick to set up. http://bigcatrescue.org/facebook-fundraiser/
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