We are a small sanctuary providing lifetime care for cats in CO - 90% are incontinent. We are planning to add a foster care and adoption component as living in a group setting is not ideal. However, finding fosters or adopters in rural Colorado for incontinent cats is difficult.
Our board is committed to admitting only those cats we can afford to care for over a lifetime, which means we are now looking at requiring a sizable donation at intake - something I am not really comfortable with although it makes sense. There is little funding available for lifetime care, but if we are going to #savethemall, sanctuaries/lifetime care orgs will play an important role and need to find a way to pay for the costs - a catch22.
We hope adding foster and foster-to-adopt will reduce our population in group living and find other homes for some. Meanwhile, funding remains an issue. Due to a fire that was a total loss of our house and sanctuary, our self-funding is not going to work long term.
Any ideas? We live rural CO in the mountains where services and volunteers are scarce, which adds to the problem.
Thanks,
LuAnn Pierce
Colorado Companion Animal Sanctuary
#FundraisingandDevelopment