King of Beast Donors $10,000 and up
You may wonder sometimes is committing yourself to such daunting tasks as trying to "save the world" guarantees that you will change the lives of those you seek to help:
It does not.
But it is guaranteed to change yours.
These are some of the people that we are deeply indebted to for their dedication, donations and moral support. We have over 20,000 of you to thank and can't name everyone here, but we do appreciate all that you do for the animals. What's more is that each one of these people, by giving of themselves, has become a better person.
Welcome to the Catter Wall where our donors are etched in virtual stone.
Help the cats and become a Catter-Wall-er!
2007 donors
Louise Schmidt surprised us with a rather unusual gift amount of $19,214.19.00
The Reitzel Foundation donated $30,000.00 Thank you Bud and Heather Reitzel for your compassion for the cats.
Cyrus and Joanne Spurlino donated $20,000.00 to help out the lions, tigers and other big cats at Big Cat Rescue.
In May Janice
Heckert and Caleb Carr were the top two donors to help
us rescue
the four tigers, TJ, Bella, Trucha and Modnic. They each
donated $5,000.00 as soon as the plea for help went out and because of
their quick response we were able to respond immediately. As mentioned
in other editions of this paper, and perhaps elsewhere here, there were
a lot of people who made generous donations to save these cats and we
thank them for that.
Our relationship with Caleb Carr goes back a year or more when he first became a big donor to Big Cat Rescue. He had contacted us about his desire to save tigers and cougars especially, but he has a fondness for all of the wild cat species. So much so that he let the cat out of the bag by telling us that there will be a cameo appearance by a feline in one of his upcoming books.
Caleb is a celebrated American novelist, screenwriter and a military historian. Some of his books include The Alienist, The Angel of Darkness, Casing the Promised Land, Killing Time, The Italian Secretary, and the nonfiction books The Devil Soldier and The Lessons of Terror. Many of his novels are set in Victorian times; The Italian Secretary was an authorized Sherlock Holmes mystery and I bought this on CD to listen to on my iPod. It was great and I can’t wait to read some of his other works.
We are fortunate to have a politically minded supporter like Caleb Carr who can wield the power of the pen. After helping us to save the tigers he wanted to do more and donated another $10,000.00 to re-furbishing the pools for all of the cats. His legacy will include more than ink on paper; it will include lives saved, lives enriched and a change in the way people think about animals.
Janice Heckert also gave another $500.00 earlier in the year.
Teasdale Worldwide
Dear Malcolm,
As I sit here this morning looking at the fantastic print ad that you just completed for this year’s Fur Ball, I could not help but stop and reflect on how much we have benefited from and enjoyed the relationship with your firm that began just two short years ago. And as I thought about this I just felt it was time to add a written note to the many times we have thanked you verbally.
When it comes to the “bottom line”, the most clearly measurable
benefit I can point to is the substantial amount of your firm’s
time that has been devoted to our annual fund raising gala, the “Fur
Ball”. The two events you have assisted us with have each
netted almost twice as much as the one we held the year before you were
involved. This has allowed us in 2005 to fund the rescue of three
cougar cubs whose mother was shot by a hunter, and in 2006 to raise a
significant portion of the funding for the wall we are currently building
to protect the cats from intruders.
The benefits of this work have gone far beyond the Fur Ball net proceeds though. Your firm has brought on board print and television media support that we could not have obtained on our own. You have then crafted the message for those media and our radio ads in a way that has dramatically increased general awareness of the sanctuary.
The metrics I watch for overall performance at the sanctuary all reflect the quality of this work. In the two years that your firm has assisted us with our marketing strategy and implementation, the number of annual visitors to the sanctuary has doubled. Since the tour revenue is our largest single source of support for the cats, this has had a dramatic impact on our financial condition. It has allowed us to build bigger cages, buy a more expensive but much better food product, and set aside funds for much needed capital projects. The increased awareness and visitor count has also dramatically impacted donations. In 2006 our donations were up 57% from the prior year.
Moving away from the financial results of your work for a moment, I would just like express how much we have enjoyed the process of working with you and your staff. You took the time to understand our mission, our needs and our market. And what was particularly enjoyable and meaningful for us was the way you have involved us in the process and made us feel like you were truly our partners in a joint effort to achieve the results we needed, both in terms of the message we wanted to convey and the financial results that were so critical to achieve. On behalf of all of our staff, our volunteers, and most importantly our close to 140 big cats whom you have helped us rescue and support, Carole and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
For the cats,
Howard Baskin
Advisory Board Chairman
813-889-7244
HBaskin@BigCatRescue.org
Lee Ebs generously donated $10,000.00 in his continuing support of Big Cat Rescue.
2006 donors
The Reitzel Foundation donated $30,000.00 Thank you Bud and Heather Reitzel for your compassion for the cats.
Birdies for Tampa Bay Charities $11,504
Cyrus and Joanne Spurlino donated $10,000.00 to help out the lions, tigers and other big cats at Big Cat Rescue.
2005 donors
Candace Barbara donated $10,500.00 to help the cats and was a major supporter at this year's Fur Ball.
Anonymous $14,500.00 from long time donors.
2004 donors
When The Brown Pelican Fund disbanded in 2004 they donated 15,000.00 to Big Cat Rescue to ensure that animals would benefit from their years of hard work. Thank you SO much!
An anonymous foundation donated 10,000.00 this year to complete food prep and 3750.00 to the Catter-wall project. They have been loyal supporters of Big Cat Rescue for many years and we thank them for their generosity!
Our very own Diane Roger has donated more than $12,000.00 to take care of the cats and is responsible for keeping our 25,000 member mailing list up to date. She also tracks all of the 150+ cats medical care in ISIS and provides drinks for the volunteers and all manner of hoses, heaters, etc. around the sanctuary.
2003 or prior years
| Dr. John and Sherrod West
$20,000!!! |
Jacqueline Norris
$22,500.00!! |
Richard and Debbie Boensch
$10,000.00! |
| Dori Rath &
NELCO $10,000.00 |
Gasparilla Charity Horse Show
$7,000.00 |
Jaguar of Tampa and Rob Elder
$6,000.00 |
Want to make a difference? Here's how: