Hours: Thurs-Mon, noon-6 pm
An easy and unique way to ring in your birthday and help shelter cats is by hosting a fundraiser on Facebook.
If your profile lists your birthday, Facebook will probably prompt you as it approaches to set up a fundraiser. You get to choose which cause or non-profit organization you want to support. When you select Cat Care Society, Facebook will automatically create a post for your friends to donate to. We recommend tailoring the automatic post language to something more personal that shares why you chose us and your connection to the society. It’s your day, and you get to boast about why you love cats so much! Then, select how long you’d like the fundraiser to run and your donation goal, and you’re off to the races. Your connections will be able to donate directly through Facebook, with no additional processing fees. At the end, we get a nice deposit in our bank account thanks to you!
The best part is it takes so little time to put together that you can set up your fundraiser and still have time leftover to plan that sweet birthday bash at the roller rink (or the party place of your choosing).
(Need help or have more questions? Visit this Facebook help center article.)
Once your fundraiser is live, Facebook will notify us, but we’d love if you reached out and told us about it, too! Email our director of philanthropy at aleader@catcaresociety.org so we can watch your party in action.
“As my birthday was approaching this year, I decided to host a fundraiser for a cause close to my heart,” Brenda Johnson, a Cat Care Society donor and volunteer who recently hosted her own fundraiser, said. “Since I volunteer with Cat Care Society, the decision was easy. I knew that this way, my friends could donate funds to a great organization I love that helps support cats in need. Creating the fundraiser was super easy and made me feel good. I set a goal of $200, and was able to successfully raise $170 from multiple friends who donated directly through Facebook. Now, I can rest easy that Cat Care Society gets a check and knowing that the process was easy and accessible for everyone.”
Not on Facebook? No problem! There are so many other ways you can help the cats. Consider hosting a supply drive, sending financial or physical donations or spending part of your day giving scritches to the kitties.
By Michaela Sullivan, CCS board member
I’ve been a huge fan of the Cat Care Society ever since I visited for the first time almost a decade ago. CCS has been one of my favorite places to donate to. I don’t know of a single shelter that comes close to providing the level of comfort and care for homeless cats that CCS does.
I work in finance and am very passionate about tax planning because I know what a huge difference it can make for someone’s bottom line. I have found that my favorite way to donate to CCS is through my Donor-Advised Fund (DAF). But what is DAF, anyway?
A DAF is an investment account for charitable giving. I can donate cash, appreciated stock and even illiquid investments in some cases. I don’t have to pay taxes on the gains for anything I contribute and receive an immediate charitable deduction.
I can select how I want my DAF invested and make grants to charities any time (now or into the future). Being able to take control of when I get my deductions has been crucial to optimizing my tax situation while supporting the organizations I care about the most. With the standard deduction now being so large, many people are bundling multiple years of donations into their DAF in one year while switching off between itemizing and taking the standard deduction. This is extremely helpful from a tax standpoint because if they did smaller donations each year instead, they may not even be getting a tax benefit at all.
I recently had a client sell their business, which resulted in millions of dollars in capital gains. They were able to make a substantial contribution to their DAF (estimating it would be enough to fund their donations for the next 10-15 years) and they were able to cut their tax bill by about $40k. Not only that, but they donated appreciated stock with over a 2,000% gain that they did not have to pay taxes on.
A donor advised fund can certainly be a great tool for tax planning, but that isn’t the only thing I love about it. It is also extremely easy to give and track because the financial institution holding the DAF does all the administration. When I want to donate, I can do it in a matter of minutes by logging into my account and searching for the organization I want to donate to. The organization will receive a check and a letter from my DAF. I can customize the letter by adding a note for where I want the funds allocated. The financial institution tracks everything for me. I can see information about my DAF contributions as well as my grants to charities and even when the checks were cashed.
I am so happy I have such an easy and tax-efficient way to give to my favorite cause, CATS!
Interested in expanding your philanthropic giving by setting up your own DAF? Contact our director of philanthropy at aleader@catcaresociety.org for help or connect with your financial institution or tax advisor! And, find more ways to give on our website.
A woman full of life, love and light, another Cat Care Society supporter, Leanne Emm passed away this past March.
A fourth generation Colorado native, Leanne was known for her sense of adventure, intellect and devotion. With decades of public service, she held roles in city and county government, going on to lead as the deputy commissioner of the Colorado Department of Education. When she wasn’t working, Leanne loved fitness, river rafting, watercolor paintings and napping in the sun with her cats (four of them adopted from CCS!).
Leanne served on CCS’ board of directors in 2017, and after retiring from her career in 2018, stepped into a larger, critical role as interim executive director. “It had been a turbulent couple of years for CCS, and Leanne was such a positive, steadying influence,” remembers Clyde Dawson, another long-time board member. “And what a sense of humor! As it turned out, one of the most important contributions she made to CCS was organizing and conducting the search for a permanent ED. She was an avid whitewater rafter and had been looking forward to river-running nearly full time in retirement. She also remained a strong supporter of the organization.”
Clyde recalls Leanne as a tremendous asset to CCS — “exceptionally intelligent, with a keen grasp of finances and management issues of all sorts, as well as warm and engaging,” he said. “I think she won us all over when she wrote in her board application that one reason she was interested in board service was that it would give her an excuse to come into the shelter more often and play with the cats!”
Leanne’s daughter Charlotte says that her mother loved cats her whole life, that they were a really grounding thing for her. “She just loved all animals, and cats were her favorites — that and baby goats and horses!” she said. “She loved CCS and seeing how happy people were when they got to bring a cat home.”
Leanne’s last update in the summer 2018 Cat Care Quarterly oozed her warm, bright personality and gratitude. For everything that she brought to our organization and the world, we’re grateful for her, too.
A long-time Cat Care Society supporter and leader, Gail Tinianow, passed away this spring, leaving behind a commitment to cats and a love for travel.
A child of Air Force parents, Gail was born in New York and lived in various parts of the U.S. and Spain. Early in her career, Gail worked for the federal government in Washington, D.C., and eventually earned a degree in business administration from Arapahoe Community College. She and her husband Marty married in 1985; she retired in 2006. Marty shared that Gail’s love of cats was extensive.
Her retirement marked the start of a 10-year dedication to Cat Care Society, when she began looking for volunteer opportunities. Jane Dorsey interviewed Gail to work in Cajun’s Closet, Cat Care’s thrift shop, in 2008. In 2011, she joined the board of directors to help ensure the financial success of CCS. Over the next several years, she would go on to hold roles of secretary, vice president, and president. In those days, CCS had a working board, recalled Ken Dobrovolny, so Gail was hands-on in the day-to-day operations of the shelter “and ran a tight ship.”
Jane Dorsey recalls Gail’s enjoyment of the Santa Paws Festival and the role she played in the planning committee. “I remember her bringing detailed records of everything from the prior year and challenged us to make it even better,” she said. “She was so enthusiastic about everything she took on, and that made it fun to work with her.”
Gail also generously donated a trip to her timeshare in Hawaii for the Tails of the Painted Cats auction more than once. “She was so excited when she came up with the idea of pairing a trip with a Hawaiian-themed sculpture,” Jane said. “Artist and volunteer Pat Lickly created the Hawaiian cat, and we had fresh flower leis made for Gail and the high bidder that night. She loved that event and whole-heartedly supported it.”
In the winter 2016 Cat Care Quarterly as board president, Gail wrote: “Our first order of business in the new year entails recruitment of an executive director. Your board has been running the Society since 2011, and I’m happy to report that we are now financially strong enough to fill this position. I’m simply honored to be at the helm of this great organization and cannot express enough appreciation for our amazing donors, volunteers and staff.”
Gail eventually stepped back from the board in 2018, but we will remember her for many, many more years to come.
Copyright © 2024 Cat Care Society. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy
The Cat Care Society is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Our tax identification number is 84-0869447.
