Why donations?

We deliberately ask for donations instead of having a fixed schedule of fees. There are several reasons for this. First and foremost, helping goats is, for us, a spiritual practice. We believe that "what goes around comes around", and we believe that by operating on a donation basis we are tapping in to a higher level of engagement for ourselves and the people we help. In fact, we believe that no entity that seeks to uplift people and purports to be of pure benefit to man or nature should ever charge people to do that, but should only receive from others based on their own valuation and generosity. Secondly, in the same sense that we have "no use for goats", and draw a distinction between loving them as pets and deriving any uneven benefits, we don't want our rescue activities to be in any way connected with a "business" of goats. Finally, some people truly can't afford to pay for our services. While we understand that by helping goats we are helping people, our first concern is to help goats, and we will not allow fees to stand between us and that.

What do we spend money on?

I'm sure you know that keeping a herd of 25 goats is a lot of work. We do all the labor ourselves. What we are looking for help with through donations are our out-of-pocket expenses. Some of these are listed below:

• Hay, COB and minerals
• Worming and other medications
• Fencing materials
• Fuel and maintenance for the tractors and the "goatmobile"
• Veterinary expenses
• Web hosting fees
• Shelters, supplies, maintenance, etc.

What is an appropriate donation?

We appreciate that operating on a donation basis makes it more difficult for the person who is benefiting from Goat Rescue services, whether they are receiving a goat or giving one up to us.

If we are taking in a pet goat from you, the first thing to understand is that it has no value to us. Since goats are regularly bought and sold, it can be tempting for you to think that your goat has some value... that we are getting something of value and you are giving up something of value. This could be true if we were operating some sort of business, but we are not. It could be true if you were willing to sell your pet goat for meat, but you are not. So the first thing to realize is that there is no transaction or exchange of value. There is only your need to re-home your pet and our willingness to help your goat.

When we take your goat in we have no assurance that we can find a home for it. In fact, since moving to Whidbey Island we have been woefully unable to find homes for goats. If we can find a safe and loving home there is no assurance of the donation we will receive, if any, from the people who take the goat in.

Even when people do give us a donation when we take their goat, although it may seem to them like a substantial amount, it rarely covers the expense of adding that goat to the herd. When we take in a goat we are committed to its well being for the rest of its life. The average goat costs about a dollar a day to keep and lives about 12 years, which means that it costs over $4,000 to keep a goat over its lifetime. If, for example you bring us a 5 year old goat then you are actually transferring a $2,500 burden from you to us.

When you drop your goat off and give us your donation -- $100 or whatever amount -- you may leave thinking that you have met your obligations. And in many ways you have: you have responsibly delivered your pet to a place where it will be cared for. But unless you have donated the full cost of keeping your pet safe and healthy for the rest of its life you have not really paid the true cost of the service we will very likely provide.

If you are receiving a pet goat (or more often two or three goats) from us, you might think that you are relieving us of the financial burden of that goat. What you are actually doing is creating an opening for us to take in another goat. The truth is that, much as we would like to reduce the number of goats we care for, in fact we never do that. Due to the great need to help goats, we always find ourselves at (or a little over) our capacity. The goats you receive have often been with us for a year or two at least. Even if we received a contribution of $100 when the goat was surrendered to us, that money was spent on that goat a long time ago. For the rest of the time we have paid for the upkeep of the goat out of our own pockets, providing a type of "buffer" that has saved the life of that goat and many of his or her companions until you came along to adopt. The benefit to you is that you can enjoy the good karma of adopting a rescued goat instead of purchasing one bred for sale, and you have a selection of these rescued goats from among a herd of them.

If you get some help from us from our web site or over the phone, whether in the form of advice or by helping you find a goat, or a home for your goat, in some other part of the country or the world, then we have done something of value, and we would like you to compensate us with a donation, to help us with our work and offset our telephone bill and web site maintenance costs.

Your donation can be in the form of money, sponsorship, useful or valuable items or, sometimes, volunteer help. We are not a non-profit organization, so your donations will not be tax deductible.

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Last Modified: 26-Sep-07