Great Cats of Indiana, Mike's Home, Could use our Help

LINK


Just got email and looks like they could use some help. Nice comment about LSU fans.

Please Note: We sent this notice at the end of last week, but our software failed, and then somehow managed to consume itself. Because of that we didn’t know how many notices, if any were sent out. Please accept our apology if you received this notice twice. Thanks !

Happy New Year! I hope everyone’s holidays were safe and enjoyable!

On behalf of all of the animals that call our facility home, we want to thank everyone for their contributions and support over the past year. Enclosed is our tax information for those that need it for record keeping and tax purposes. All donations to Great Cats of Indiana are tax deductible (in most situations). We are recognized by the IRS as a nonprofit 501-C-3 organization. (Determination letter available on request) We are also recognized by the Indiana department of Revenue as a nonprofit organization.
Our Federal Tax ID is 35-2151870 Our Indiana State Tax ID is 0117822337
IRS guidelines require that you have a receipt for any single donations of $250 dollars or more. Generally, your cancelled check, online acknowledgement, or credit card receipt satisfies this requirement. If you would like a separate donation receipt from us, please drop us a note and we will get one out to you. In your note please tell us when and how the donation was made so we can find it.
In kind donations made to our facility need to be valued by the donor according to the IRS. If your tax situation requires a statement from us describing your in-kind donation, just ask and we will provide it.
Donations that are initiated, set up or dated in 2010 qualify for a use as a donation made in 2010. We can help you with this if needed, just let us know and we will help you maximize your deduction. For those of you that have emailed asking about end of year, and last minute donations, we will be “batching out” our year on Friday, January 14th. Donations received on or before that date will post in our records as a 2010 donation.
2010 was a challenging year for us. The bad economy effecting donor support, some operational changes here, and an aging compound (aging animals as well) all made for a pretty tight year. Some consulting work, and some outside contracting opportunities made up the shortfall and got us through, but kept us really busy as well. Seems like we worked twice as hard and ended up getting less. I realize this is the way it is nowadays in the United States, but this year was the first year it hit us this hard.
Despite the longer days, there is still nothing like working around big cats all day, and I still can’t see myself doing anything else. Having a group of such beautiful animals consider you their friend is a feeling that is really hard to explain, but it makes all the stress and frustration at times worth it. There is no place else I would rather be.
We are planning for 2011 and will be updating our website and our marketing programs to adjust to the economy, addressing some of our specific projects etc. Check our website frequently, as our plans and changes will be posted there as soon as they are finalized. We are excited about the direction we want to take our facility, and are optimistic about our future.
To all of the friends we have made at LSU, and throughout the country, please do stop in and say hi when you are in the area. We didn’t make it to Baton Rouge this year, but hope to next year. In the meantime, I enjoy hearing about our boy down there, so please keep me up to date!
Thank you again to all of you that have been supportive of the work we are trying to do here. This is truly a labor of love for us, and we really appreciate everyone’s kind words and support.
Your support allows us to keep “doing what we do” for these animals, so you are an important part of our team. We wouldn’t be able to do our work here without your ongoing support.

Sincerely,
Rob Craig, Executive Director, Great Cats of Indiana