As we promised when setting up Mav’s Friends, we are destined to change our approach a great deal as we learn about the rescue world. We originally thought there would be tons of people who found us organically through Google and other searches. Well, this did not work, so we have morphed into searching for rescues we can help. We think this actually might be an interesting charitable model going forward.
We conduct a number of searches to find rescues who need help, and it is in many ways easier than screening people who are asking for assistance. Through various website postings and social media, we can see both who needs help and who we are in a position to help out. Thus far, we have found that dogs that get national attention or are covered in the news have a line of people looking to donate money and adopt. We do see a lot of need though from local rescues who can’t afford a treatment for a new rescue, might need to spay or neuter a group of dogs they just took in, or may need money to cover food for the next month. We have been interested to see which rescues seem to get help and what costs are involved to help with different needs.
We could see potentially changing Mav’s Friends mission to proactively finding rescue situations as opposed to allowing people to contact us. While just a thought at the moment, we have met incredible people in our initial efforts and it may be a way to maximize value of the donations we receive. For instance, beyond cases of injured dogs, we have also seen posts from individuals who have found abandoned animals that they are willing to foster but that cannot afford the veterinary treatment the dog needs-this is a great use of funds in our opinion. We want to try to help find a way to solve all these problems long term so as always we are just in the idea stage.