This is free. It is not free to make.

Nothing on this site is behind a payment, and nothing on it is sold. There is no advertising, no sponsored guidance, and nothing here changes because of who paid for it. That is a deliberate choice about what this resource is for, and it is the reason it depends on people who read it.

The Animal Institute is a 100%-volunteer 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit animal protection organization. Nobody draws a salary. There is no institutional funding behind it and the budget is a shoestring, so the programs it runs are entirely dependent on small donations from individuals and from other organizations who value the grassroots community services it provides.

What donations pay for is unglamorous and real. Education and community outreach needs public speaking equipment, teaching aids, printed materials and event supplies. The technology behind this site needs cloud services — the expert technical work itself is donated by volunteers and partners. Every dollar goes to those program needs.

Ways to give

PayPal (opens in a new tab) takes a one-off or recurring gift by card or PayPal balance.

Facebook (opens in a new tab) accepts donations through the Donate button at the top right of the Animal Institute page.

By check, through the mail. [Contact}(/contact) us and ask for the mailing address.

If you would rather not give money

Use the site, and send it to somebody who needs it. A neighbour who knows that a fledgling on the ground is usually fine, or that a fox under a shed in spring is a family that will leave on its own, is worth a great deal to the animals near them. That costs nothing and it is genuinely the thing that helps most.

Donations to the Animal Institute are tax-deductible in the United States to the extent the law allows. The Animal Institute can confirm its EIN and send a receipt.