In our last installment on the Japan disaster, we described our process for figuring out what to do, and outlined some of the challenging issues. Now, for a slice of the solution.
Sometimes the best connection is a direct one. Our colleagues in Japan told us they could rescue more of these animals if they could fund their immediate shelter and eventual foster care. One of them had an emergency-specific, non-profit already established through which we could direct the funds to help in the effort, effectively creating a direct channel to partner with these pet professionals. The deal is simple: they do the work, we pay for the dog food (and cat food, cost of medical care, etc.). With these out-of-pocket costs covered more families are happy to serve as foster families until they can live with their real families, or be adopted into new ones if necessary. Now, that's a solution we can get behind.
But how to get the money over there? You use a bank right? Well, sure, but there's a challenge there too. We want the money to actually get there reasonably intact. Most banks we talked to would be happy to help us convert the currency alright, and they'd be happy to transfer it, too; dinging the balance for every single donation and for each step of the way, which added up like crazy and was too much for us. It wasn't until we found some community-minded folks at Comerica Bank who got it. By working with some aggregation techniques and partnering with us on the rest of the process, we're able to achieve efficiencies here too. Excellent.
So, who else is involved? In Japan, the project is aptly called Emergency Animal Rescue HP. They didn't focus on creative naming, rather they focused on quickly assembling expertise for this specific, targeted effort. It's a collection of our veterinary industry friends who span the gamut from doctors to technicians to admins on the computer finding the animals' families.
Some of the folks are being borrowed from other organizations: Japan SPCA, Japan Animal Welfare Society, Japan Pet Care Association and Japan Veterinary Medical Association. Plus, there's also lots of individual volunteers. Combined, the source of people power is great for us because it means we can keep our donations deal very specific: They do the work, we cover out-of-pocket.
The money goes to food and medical care for the animals so their foster families don't have to do anything but provide love and attention. Overall, it's a direct project between industry colleagues about as high a bang-for-your-buck as we can make it.
If you want to join us in this effort -- which we're calling the Stand By You project -- we invite you to do so. You can drop a check made to Stand By You by our office or take it straight to the Menlo Park Comerica branch, or use the Paypal option (which charges about 2%, but is indeed convenient).
It's doing our part and making sure our efforts are efficient, direct and high-impact. BTW, the two dogs in the original video? Last we heard, they're doing just fine. And their powerful message was heard loud and clear! Join us!
