YT Raffle & Donations

[adobie]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new here. Nice to see such a sweet group of people who love yorkies as much as I do!

I have an observation and a question re: your raffle. You have a list of Yorkie Rescues that you consider good rescues. Yet, for 3 years in a row you have donated the proceeds from your raffle to the same rescue. Why? Are other rescues not equally valuable? Why should UYR benefit over and over again, while the other rescues sit and drool and dream about what they could do with that amount of money?

How do you decide who the recipient will be each year? Do you have a vote? Do you draw names from a hat? Is there an application process? Has someone at YT decided that UYR is the only group that deserves your help?

Would it not be more fair to spread the good will of yorkietalkers to help other rescues, big or small, who are equally deserving by choosing a new rescue each year?

Fact is, UYR, has a large group of donors, including Citibank, who donate on a regular basis. There are many states that they don't cover and most of their fosters are in FL. Many smaller rescues are not so lucky. They work within their own states, rarely have any money, so have to turn away dogs because of a lack of finances. If you really want the best for all Yorkies, please reconsider who will benefit from next year's raffle.

I think it's something to think about as a group who love yorkies!
Thanks for reading.
Jack

[Izzy Princess]

Hi Jack and thank you for posting and joining YT. You make valid points and unfortunately I can't help with the answers so hopefully Admin or others will chime in.

What other rescues can you recommend? I'm sure that we as donors to the raffles would like to see other rescues that would benefit but for me I would have no clue as to which ones.

[Nancy1999]

I, for one, only want to donate to a rescue that has been thoroughly checked out. There are many rescues out there, and pretty much anyone can start up a rescue, a fancy web page, a U-Tube, and it looks like it's legitimate, but where's the money really going? Is it going to make someone's house payment or is it going to help a dog?. How are the dogs chosen for the program? Dogs that have the best chance at living a good life and finding a good home, or are dogs chosen that will fatten the income of the founder? Con artists seem like the most caring people in the world, but they have to, otherwise they would never succeed at being con artists. That's why I like National organizations, instead of private individual organizations.

Welcome to YorkieTalk!

[jencar98]

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

I, for one, only want to donate to a rescue that has been thoroughly checked out. There are many rescues out there, and pretty much anyone can start up a rescue, a fancy web page, a U-Tube, and it looks like it's legitimate, but where's the money really going? Is it going to make someone's house payment or is it going to help a dog?. How are the dogs chosen for the program? Dogs that have the best chance at living a good life and finding a good home, or are dogs chosen that will fatten the income of the founder? Con artists seem like the most caring people in the world, but they have to, otherwise they would never succeed at being con artists. That's why I like National organizations, instead of private individual organizations.

Welcome to YorkieTalk!

I understand what you're pointing out, but also think that with some national organizations they become so big and get bogged down with almost too big an organization.

I prefer charities with all of the donation $$ going to the cause. Too often with larger groups the money goes to pay salaries of the admin, frivolous expenses and for advertising dollars.

With our rescue no one is paid or profits monetarily in any way. Actually it costs me (by my choice) to be a part of our rescue.

Our rescue has benefited greatly from our association with YT, and I'm grateful. However if the "powers that control" determine another rescue other than the national yorkie rescue will benefit from future raffles, etc. I'm not going to complain.

Perhaps because UYR is a national organization and YT is basically worlwide, the admin here feels the donation is more evenly (fairly) distributed.

I will say this, I've contacted UYR in the past about yorkies I've been made aware of that needed rescued and never even received a response of any kind . Is that because they are just too big to bother?

Since becoming involved with OKYR, I don't know of any yorkie, we've turned away.

[admin]

Welcome to YorkieTalk, adobie!

Thank you for your feedback, we appreciate it. We have checked out United Yorkie Rescue as thoroughly as we can, they are an established non-profit Yorkie rescue group that is national and we have gotten great feedback from Yorkie owners who have gotten a Yorkie from UYR. We believe in their integrity. YorkieTalk has no affiliation with UYR besides our annual fundraiser. No owner(s) or moderators of YorkieTalk has ever been paid by, employed by, or worked for UYR directly. YorkieTalk does not want to have a conflict of interest when it comes to fundraising.

As we post details of the raffle, we clearly state that the raffle will be for United Yorkie Rescue. YorkieTalk Members may or may not want to participate in this fundraiser, that is completely their choice.

YorkieTalk members are always free to donate to whatever cause they may choose to, whether it be an individual person or a rescue group or any charity. We urge all members to do their homework first to make sure that their money goes to a worthy and good cause.

When UYR receives a dollar in donations, 91 cents of that donation goes directly to vet costs, the other 9 cents goes towards postage and insurance. UYR has spent over $450,000 in vet costs for rescued Yorkies since 2002 and have rescued 1296 Yorkies thus far. These facts are directly from Mary Sullenberger, the president of UYR, and their financial status can be viewed at Guidestar.org, which is the non-profit organization that monitors other non-profit organizations. We are not aware of how other rescue groups may use their funds, but we believe that UYR's goals and financial usage is appropriate and very fair. We appreciate the fact that they have zero employees and that the majority of the money is spent towards medical care for Yorkies.

We have chosen to partner with UYR as our annual fundraising effort. As YorkieTalk absolutely makes no money by holding these raffles and fundraisers, our whole goal is to help rescued Yorkies on a national scale, which we believe that UYR can help best in that regard. There are many fine Yorkie rescue groups out there, we have chosen to partner with UYR. We have seen a few rescue groups either have financial problems and have scandals, which is unfortunate. We would hate to see any of our fundraising efforts go to waste.

As of October 2008, we have raised over $6,000 for United Yorkie Rescue in the past few years.

Here is a message from UYR:

Here is a message from United Yorkie Rescue, which YorkieTalk is doing a raffle fundraiser for:

Where the Money Goes

When you buy a raffle ticket from YorkieTalk here’s where your hard earned and kindly given money goes. YorkieTalk gives 100 percent directly to United Yorkie Rescue, a national Yorkshire Terrier rescue group based in Ohio. YorkieTalk absorbs the Paypal costs, and other costs, and sends every cent to UYR.

At United Yorkie Rescue, we keep our costs very low. We have no employees and offer no benefits to their members. Of every $10 UYR takes in $9.10 goes directly to rescue and treat their pups. Every dog has a veterinary exam, is altered when necessary, and updated on all vaccinations while being fostered in a member’s home. UYR also pays for major procedures, like orthopedic surgery and dentals, before they are adopted to screened applicants.

United Yorkie Rescue also takes care of the Yorkies that can’t be adopted for one reason or another. At this time, there are seven pups in private foster homes living out their lives as loved members of that home with UYR covering their medical treatments.

Check around and see if you can find any others groups like United Yorkie Rescue where the money you give goes to the cause you are interested in being a part of through your contribution.

The pups at UYR and the members of both organizations thank you for helping us help our cherished breed, the Yorkshire Terrier.

For more information, go to GuideStar nonprofit reports and Forms 990 for donors, grantmakers and businesses, a clearinghouse for non-profits.

Here are some common things UYR does and their costs:

$12.00 - Rabies Shot
$30.00 - Pull fee most shelters
$20.00 - Urinalysis
$20.00 - Fungal Culture
$25.50 - Heartworm Test
$30.00 - Exam
$52.20 - 1 year supply of Heartguard (so $5 provides a month of heartworm protection)
$125.00 - Neuter
$165.00 - Spay

[admin]

Members are able to donate to whatever organization they would like to. We chose to support United Yorkie Rescue, other people may choose to support other rescues, including yours, which is completely fine. We have always allowed YT Donating Members to have links to whatever rescue groups they are involved with.

Again, we have no financial interest in UYR, we do not make money from our raffles at all, and we have no affiliation with UYR other than we have done an annual fundraiser for them for the past three years.

If you have any questions, please let us know.