Big Cat Rescue Endowment Fund
at the
Community Foundation of Tampa Bay
with 33% match of your donations!
Why an Endowment Fund? One of the great challenges for sanctuaries is insuring the ability to meet the financial commitment required to care for the animals to the end of their life. Most big cats can live 20 years in 
the setting of a good sanctuary. Just the food, medical attention and enclosure maintenance for a tiger costs about $5,000/year. That does not include the labor and required overhead (electricity for the food freezers for instance). So, if we rescue a 10 year old tiger, we are making a $50,000 future commitment to support that cat for the next ten years. The total future commitment to support all of our cats is in the millions of dollars.
The best way to insure that we can meet that commitment is to build an Endowment Fund that is prudently invested and generates a steady, reliable stream of income to care for the cats. That steady stream of income is important because visitor count and current donations are subject to the economic cycle and can vary significantly.
Why Community Foundation? In March 2008 we set up the Big Cat Rescue Endowment Fund at the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay. The Community Foundation has an excellent, conservative record of investing with good bottom line returns after fees. Their organization is structured to make having an endowment fund financially efficient even when a nonprofit is starting out with modest amounts. They also have the ability to help create awareness of our fund within the donor community and to provide donors with different ways to structure their giving to maximize tax benefits. One example is a Charitable Gift Annuity where the donor makes a gift, receives a tax deduction now, but the income from the donation continues to go to the donor for their lifetime. Over 120 nonprofits have chosen the Community Foundation for their endowment fund. For more information you can visit their website at Community Foundation of Tampa Bay.
Matching Program. In addition to the benefits above, the Community Foundation has a very exciting Matching Program that is funded with millions of dollars donated by philanthropic individuals who wish to encourage nonproft efforts to build endowments. If we can raise $150,000 over three years for our fund, the Challenge Grant program will put in an extra $50,000, a 33% match! We are confident based on our current overall donation levels that we can reach that goal. You can help enormously by making your donation of any size to the endowment fund per the instructions below. The vast majority of our donations are small, and every donation, no matter what size, will help us achieve the goal and earn the match.
How to donate to the Endowment Fund:
Check. If you are donating by check, please make the check out to Community Foundation of Tampa Bay, put Big Cat Rescue in the memo line, and mail it to us at Big Cat Rescue, PO Box 340189, Tampa, FL 33694-0189.
Online. If you donate online, please send an email to finances@BigCatRescue.org referencing your donation and indicating you would like it to go to the Endowment Fund.
By Phone. If you donate by credit card over the phone, we need some written document, either email, letter or fax, confirming that you would like your donation applied to the Endowment Fund. The email address is finances@BigCatRescue.org, the fax is 813-885-4457, or the address is Big Cat Rescue, PO BOX 340189, Tampa, FL 33694-0189.
Making a Bequest to the Endowment Fund. If you are interested in remembering the cats in your estate planning, you can make a bequest in your will, codicil or trust to "Big Cat Rescue Endowment Fund at the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay, 12802 Easy Street, Tampa, FL 33625". Please include our address to avoid any possible confusion with other sanctuaries who may have similar names.
Questions? If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Howard Baskin, Advisory Board Chairman, at HBaskin@BigCatRescue.org or 813-889-7244.
THANK YOU FOR SECURING THE FUTURE OF THE CATS BY DONATING TO THE ENDOWMENT FUND!
Some of our Top Donors to the Fund
| CHALLENGE GRANT | |
| Reitzel Foundation | 25,000.00 |
| Lee Ebs Charitable Foundation | 10,000.00 |
| American Momentum Bank | 5,400.00 |
| USA Logistics | 5,000.00 |
| DeBartolo Family Foundation | 2,500.00 |
| Jaguar of Tampa | 2,450.00 |
| OSI Restaurant Partners | 2,000.00 |
| Anonymous | 2,000.00 |
| Saab of Tampa | 1,650.00 |
| Engel & Voelkers | 1,250.00 |
| Trico Foundation - Betsy Colville | 1,000.00 |
| Sole Riley | 1,000.00 |
| Meredith Bishop | 1,000.00 |
| Jane Orr | 1,000.00 |
| Anonymous | 1,000.00 |
| Kris Hungate | 750.00 |
| Candace Barbara | 750.00 |
| Andrea & Stephen Sloan | 675.00 |
| Boston's Gourmet Pizza | 555.00 |
| Claire Moores | 500.00 |
| and many more of our great supporters |
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Thank you for clicking on this link. It is only through your generosity that Big Cat Rescue can provide a permanent retirement home for so many formerly unwanted, abandoned and abused big cats. EXPLANATION OF CHOICES BELOW: VISA/MC allows you to make a donation on our secure Authorize.net site. MAKE A DONATION allows you to donate through PayPal. JUSTGIVE.ORG and NETWORK FOR GOOD are organizations that allow you to donate to us using your credit card if those are sites you are already comfortable with, but they cost us more in processing. If you would like to be a sustaining supporter helping to insure the long term viability of the sanctuary, please consider our convenient AUTOPAY feature that allows you to have us do a monthly debit to your bank account ($5 minimum) or credit card ($20 minimum). Thanks for your support of the cats!!
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Click in the Auto Pay icon above for more info on direct debit plans where your credit card or bank accounts can be charged automatically by Big Cat Rescue at an amount you predetermine.
Big Cat Rescue at 12802 Easy Street Tampa, FL 33625 or you can phone in a credit card donation to Honey at 813.920.4130 Now if you prefer you can make a donation with google . Please feel free to choose your own amount. |
You can send a check or money order payable to: