vonteego3 0 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 As my wife and my bank account can attest to, I've come up with a failed idea or two in my efforts to save every dog, cat, squirrel, and pigeon in the world. I thought up a new idea, stealing from a movie (which I've never seen, btw) for my inspiration.The Pay It Forward concept is fairly simple, so I don't think I need to elaborate. My idea is to pick up a handful of small denomination gift cards for pet stores... I prefer Petsmart, but I'm not married to that idea. I'm talking $5-$10 dollars, so enough to be noticed, but not enough for a divorce. I'm gonna place them randomly through a few local stores, taped to the back of dog food, treats, toys, whatever. To the gift card, I'm gonna attach a card that I'm working on with a short message about why it's there, a request to pay it forward, and a request to visit a webpage (nothing on it yet, but it'll be petspayitforward.blogspot.com). On the website, I'm gonna have a little mission statement, pet care information links, and links to donate to local shelters. Since I only thought the idea up this morning, I'm still early in the brainstorming stage; however, my ultimate goal is to get people to replicate the gift card placement and/or make a donation to a shelter. I'm posting this here for a few reasons. First, to get some feedback on the idea; secondly, to get recommendations on webpage content; and finally, to see if I can get a few pledges from some of the other animal people here to do the same thing in their local area. For anyone willing, I'll gladly put links to your shelters of choice on the page as well. Ultimately, I have big ideas for this... but I'm gonna need some help from my fellow animal people. Respond here, drop me a PM, or e-mail me at amoran2@gmail.com if you're interested. Link to post Share on other sites
speedz99 145 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 I'm not knocking your idea, just trying to understand it...you want to give people cash and hope that they'll turn around and give it to a shelter? Why not just give it right to a shelter? Link to post Share on other sites
runthemover 39 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 they don't write cnn articles about people who give 10 bucks to a shelter, speedz Link to post Share on other sites
speedz99 145 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 they don't write cnn articles about people who give 10 bucks to a shelter, speedzWell maybe they should, runthem. Link to post Share on other sites
runthemover 39 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Well maybe they should, runthem.where do you get off not calling me 'lady runthem'boy Link to post Share on other sites
chrozzo 19 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 i had dog last nightit was ok, tastes like chicken Link to post Share on other sites
vonteego3 0 Posted March 12, 2008 Author Share Posted March 12, 2008 I'm not knocking your idea, just trying to understand it...you want to give people cash and hope that they'll turn around and give it to a shelter? Why not just give it right to a shelter?No, the point is to inspire a few of those people to turn it around and make larger donations. If I put out 10 $5 cards and can inspire just 3 of them to make a donation or talk about it to friends willing to make donations, it's a success. Link to post Share on other sites
YonYonson 156 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Maybe I am being overly cynical, but I cannot see this idea taking off or working in any capacity.I am sure if the animals could understand your intentions they would be grateful.Edit: I assumed you were in this to make a profit of some kind. If not, then yes, your plan may inspire a few people. Link to post Share on other sites
vonteego3 0 Posted March 12, 2008 Author Share Posted March 12, 2008 Maybe I am being overly cynical, but I cannot see this idea taking off or working in any capacity.I am sure if the animals could understand your intentions they would be grateful.Edit: I assumed you were in this to make a profit of some kind. If not, then yes, your plan may inspire a few people.Was it something in my post, or just general cynicism? My only financial association is to seed it with additional gift cards whenever my paycheck allows. Link to post Share on other sites
runthemover 39 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Was it something in my post, or just general cynicism?I would guess that he just skimmed over your postI would say that it couldn't hurt to do it if it only costs you 25 bucks or whatever Link to post Share on other sites
speedz99 145 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 No, the point is to inspire a few of those people to turn it around and make larger donations. If I put out 10 $5 cards and can inspire just 3 of them to make a donation or talk about it to friends willing to make donations, it's a success.I love the idea. I really do. But it won't work.I feel bad saying that, but it's true. You might get a few of the people to get off their asses and make donations, but it almost definitely won't be more than the $5 you gave and it most likely won't get them to tell their friends to do the same. If I'm right (and I think I am), the amount donated will be less than what you could have just given yourself instead of giving the card money directly to a shelter. Plus it would be hard to track the program's success. You'd be better off just running a charitable event for an animal shelter in your area. Link to post Share on other sites
YonYonson 156 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Was it something in my post, or just general cynicism? My only financial association is to seed it with additional gift cards whenever my paycheck allows.I would be looking to profit off of my involvement. So I assumed you would as well. My mistake. Link to post Share on other sites
vonteego3 0 Posted March 12, 2008 Author Share Posted March 12, 2008 I love the idea. I really do. But it won't work.I feel bad saying that, but it's true. You might get a few of the people to get off their asses and make donations, but it almost definitely won't be more than the $5 you gave and it most likely won't get them to tell their friends to do the same. If I'm right (and I think I am), the amount donated will be less than what you could have just given yourself instead of giving the card money directly to a shelter. Plus it would be hard to track the program's success. You'd be better off just running a charitable event for an animal shelter in your area.I realize that the odds of it actually being effective aren't terribly strong. I think you may be underestimating the animal lover population a bit, though. For one, putting them in a store like petsmart leads away from the people that own dogs on chains that never get any attention, because those people buy Alpo at Wal-mart or the grocery store. Also, I'd estimate that 75% of my daily conversations revolve around my dogs... it's mind-blowing the number of people that wanna tell stories about their pets, or a show they saw on animal planet, or a story they heard about an animal on the news.And as far as people in general are concerned, I was inspired by this story I heard a few months ago about people at a Starbucks paying for someone else's coffee all day long... and you're not gonna find a more cynical group of people than in line at Starbucks.http://www.nbc6.net/news/14850129/detail.h...mi&psp=news Link to post Share on other sites
speedz99 145 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Maybe if you put something along the lines of, "We hope that this can be looked at as an advance for half of a tax-deductable $10 donation to your local shelter."I dunno. I give the extra $1 for shelters every time I go to PetSmart, but if I got something like that it's probably 50/50 for me making the effort to get down to a shelter unless I was already planning on going...or maybe if you included an envelope addressed to the shelter. Link to post Share on other sites
LongLiveYorke 38 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Boy that movie sucked. Like, a lot. Link to post Share on other sites
vonteego3 0 Posted March 12, 2008 Author Share Posted March 12, 2008 Maybe if you put something along the lines of, "We hope that this can be looked at as an advance for half of a tax-deductable $10 donation to your local shelter."I dunno. I give the extra $1 for shelters every time I go to PetSmart, but if I got something like that it's probably 50/50 for me making the effort to get down to a shelter unless I was already planning on going...or maybe if you included an envelope addressed to the shelter. This is where the website would come in... a handy place for people to click a link and make a small donation.Now I'm wondering if Petsmart has something set up (besides the $1 thing) to make donations... like some grocery stores have those little slips of paper that you can hand the cashier to add $5 or $10 to your bill to go to a Make-a-wish or whatever? I'll have to look in to that. Link to post Share on other sites
chrozzo 19 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 whats with all the serious discussion threads in OT today[] chrozzo approves Link to post Share on other sites
vonteego3 0 Posted March 12, 2008 Author Share Posted March 12, 2008 whats with all the serious discussion threads in OT today[] chrozzo approvesfeel free to not post in every single thread. Link to post Share on other sites
chrozzo 19 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 feel free to not post in every single thread.ok Link to post Share on other sites
Kaveros 0 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 I love the idea of helping animals in need, but I don't see how your idea will take off.I am playing in Jen Harmans Animal Lovers tourney on FTP. It is concepts like those that will take off. Link to post Share on other sites
ShakeZuma 585 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 I think its a great idea. I think the main thing you'd have to do is make it easy for people to make a donation at the store, like you said above. your best bet would be to check into PetSmart and see if they have anything set up already (which I'm sure they probably do), and if not, maybe try to contact their corporate office to see if you can set something up yourself. I would think they would support it feel free to not post in every single thread.hahaha Link to post Share on other sites
Kaveros 0 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 ok :D Every time chrozzo posts he makes me laugh. I <3 you chrozzo Link to post Share on other sites
Buckeye Hughes 0 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Vonteego, I think you know where I fit in on this one. Here's my 2 cents. Great idea. I think it will take off and I think you have really hit on something here. Doing it in stores like Petsmart will def hit the "target audience". I also know that you have no interest of some financial gain here. I think the general cynicism here comes from "non pet people" and in my experience these are the ones who will never come around to the line of thinking people like you and I have.I will certainly do anything I can to help you out. I'm sure our local shelter will help promote this too. Please let me know what I can do.For those of you who are not "dog people", I would like to issue you a challenge. Get the book "Dog Days" by Jon Katz. See how much fulfillment can come to one person by finding a companion who can be a lifetime friend. My mother has trained dogs for many years now, and I would say most of you would be amazed by the enrichment you can have with a great dog. Also, for chrozzo, I love you buddy but ease up a little. It is a bit refreshing when we have an OT thread that doesn't revolve around mindless dribble and post padding bs. Link to post Share on other sites
Fphillips 0 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 feel free to not post in every single thread.WTF? Link to post Share on other sites
Theraflu 1,035 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 :D How do you decide how many stupid, asinine, ridiculous smiley's you're going to put? Do you just keep clicking it until your finger gets tired? Until your ADD forces you to move the mouse? Until you get sick of typing /icon? Link to post Share on other sites
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