The Parrot Posse

We hope to gain more members through our presence on Facebook and our ongoing missions, and to continue to fundraise so we can provide more help. We also will be seeking additional relationships with parrot supply companies, and manufacturers, so we can stretch our donated dollars by buying at wholesale prices, as we already do with several companies. We hope to partner when we can with companies, which is how during the hurricanes of September 2017, we were able to partner with a parrot food manufacturer to deliver 5,000 pounds of food to hungry parrots in TX and FL. We have asked those law enforcement and animal control agencies we assist with seized parrots to let others in their field know about us, and our willingness to provide the often expensive and sometimes hard to find supplies these birds require, as well as expert advice on their care if requested.

We have increased our donations steadily for the past five years and as a (501)(c)(3), and eligible for matching donations from employers as well as, obviously, being tax-deductible. We continue to have successful fundraisers and both regular and new donors. Each new and successful '"mission" raises our profile in the parrot welfare community as more people see that their donations to our group are used wisely, and all income and expenses are documented regularly, not just annually, and proven with receipts and invoices. We are also operating with virtually no overhead, no expenses, no administrative fees, no salaries, only a few filing fees required by the state, and some shipping costs for our raffle and auction items. This way, virtually every donated dollar is used for mission purposes. In order to be able to respond instantly in emergencies, especially law enforcement seizures, we always keep some funds in reserve. We are also now searching for grant sources, though most are geared towards dogs and cats, not parrots.

As our D12 category indicates, we are an organization that raises funds and disburses them, so our metrics are easily determined by funds raised, and supplies donated. It is less easy to determine if law enforcement agencies are hearing about us and seizing more parrots from dire conditions, but we do seem to work with more of these every year, so while this is not easily measured, we are spending more each year on these missions and it would seem word is getting out. This past year saw. sizable jump in donations, but as with every charity out there, we see 2020 as a year of great demands for our services, but also fewer donations.

We have grown from six friends chipping in to buy a blind bird out of a bad situation to a group of over four thousand people that raised over fifty thousand dollars in 2017, and used those funds to buy twice that value of supplies that we sent to bird groups and law enforcement agencies from ME to FL, to CA and OR and points in between. We have helped provide food, toys, and caging for 1000s of birds seized by law enforcement as their cases worked their way through the courts, and we have helped 1000s more in parrot re-homing groups and sanctuaries. We have also helped some individuals dealing with unexpected hard times, so they could keep their birds rather than surrender them to an already crowded parrot welfare facility. We are also all advocates for more education about living with parrots and working to reduce the numbers of parrots needing help, but since parrots are so long-lived, our aging population will keep parrot welfare organizations full for the foreseeable future.