The Unique Partnerships of Small Businesses and Cat People
Born out of a need to help cats in distress, Mission Meow focuses on helping nonprofit organizations create meaningful change for felines. By partnering with small business owners, this game changer helps dreams come true, not only for cat communities, but business owners, too.
Analysis by Dr. Karen Shaw Becker
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STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- Sally Williams started Mission Meow to create meaningful change for cats in need
- Nominated for a Healthy Pets Game Changer Award by Karen S., Sally has big dreams for Mission Meow, which will translate to better lives for cats throughout the U.S.
- During its first month of operation, Mission Meow gave $10,000 to Catsbury Park in Asbury Park, New Jersey to help fund a building expansion
- Mission Meow is always open for new businesses, large or small, to partner with to increase its ability to help feline-centric nonprofits
- Sally wants business partners to also feel the joy of giving that comes with being a nonprofit and helping other nonprofits achieve their own goals to help cats in need
We call them "Game Changers" — the exemplary, hardworking individuals who have gone the extra mile to promote animal welfare all around the world. Every week, we feature a special Game Changer, so if you know someone in your community who deserves this award, nominate them and help us get the word out about the magnificent work they do! Click Here to Nominate a Game Changer Today!
Sally Williams started Mission Meow to create meaningful change for cats in need. As a lifelong animal lover, she’s journeyed from cat sitter to cat behaviorist, to starting the nonprofit Brodie Fund, dedicated to helping pet owners pay for cancer treatment.
After making the decision to step away from the pet cancer world to regroup, Sally was drawn back to the cat-centered nonprofit world, this time with her sights set even higher.
“I really missed the nonprofit world. I missed my community. I missed my cat people,” she said. “And I also recognized that my experience wasn't unique, that rescue, shelters, TNR [trap, neuter, return] groups, these organizations were struggling and needed to be lifted up. And that's basically how Mission Meow was born, out of a need.”
In just a couple of months, Sally turned an idea in her head into reality. “We got nonprofit status and we hit the ground running. We gave our first grant in October [2022] for $10,000. So this dream was a reality very quickly.” Nominated for a Healthy Pets Game Changer Award by Karen S., Sally has big dreams for Mission Meow, which will translate to better lives for cats throughout the U.S.
Making Meaningful Change for Cats in Need
Sally realized that she could make a bigger impact by providing funding to struggling nonprofits in the cat community. “In a nutshell, we make dreams come true for small feline-centric nonprofits. That's what we want to do. So our focus is helping small organizations.”
To do this, they’ve moved beyond traditional fundraising and events to business crowdfunding, which ensures they have a solid foundation to contribute sizeable grants to nonprofits in need on a quarterly basis. She explains:
“The foundation of our organization is our business partners, who sign on to be annual donors. We structure it so they're only donating quarterly. So we're not asking them to donate every month, but that builds this foundation … Some of the smaller businesses do different things. They give a percentage of sales, they pick a product that the proceeds go to us, some host events.
We have a behaviorist who was doing mini sessions and the proceeds of the mini session come to us … the easiest way to explain a number to you is if we have 50 businesses who land on an average of a $200 donation, some giving more, some giving less, we've just raised $10,000 — before we've had an individual donation or sold a T-shirt or gotten a grant.”
During its first month of operation, Mission Meow gave $10,000 to Catsbury Park in Asbury Park, New Jersey. “[They] had downsized during the pandemic and quickly outgrew their space, and they have an opportunity to expand in the building. And we were able to give $10,000 toward that expansion,” Sally said.
Mission Meow Is Filled With Joy
Mission Meow is always open for new businesses, large or small, to partner with to increase its ability to help feline-centric nonprofits:
“If you're a business owner and you're interested in becoming a partner, it's very simple. You go to our website, which is missionmeow.org, and up at the top, you're going to see business partners. Just click on that and a window will open up and you fill out some information. And then we have a conversation and I explain everything about what it means to be a business partner, emphasis on partnership.
This is not just a transactional thing. We have a business partners perks package. We have a blogger that's dedicated to blogging for our businesses. We vet all the nonprofits for you so you don't have to do that. So that's really important for me to express to everybody. And they should know ahead of time, it's not a huge ask. You can be a small business and be contributing to Mission Meow.”
Sally wants business partners to also feel the joy of giving that comes with being a nonprofit and helping other nonprofits achieve their own goals to help cats in need. “Mission Meow is filled with joy. I mean, the giving that we do, it's so big, but it doesn't cost a lot to do it because it's a group coming together.”
Being able to give back to the cat community she’s so passionate about is what drives Sally to keep dreaming of bigger goals:
“Imagine being able to give a check, a very sizable check, to a small organization to make a dream come true … We're talking about … expansion or I imagine a rescue has a wonderful outdoor space, but they don't have the money for a catio. Imagine being able to build a catio.
Or a TNR group, we could buy them a van. I mean, these are things that, they're so small, they may not have the bandwidth to fundraise for things like that … And these groups, they need it so much … that joy of giving, I think it's contagious personally.”
‘Anything Is Possible’
With the creation of Mission Meow, Sally is proof that, as she says, “anything is possible.” She’s already envisioning giving out two grants a month:
“Now they can have this grant and have this dream come true. To me, it's contagious, it's infectious. You do this once and people see that and now more business partners sign on. Now we're going to be giving our second grant. More people see that, more people sign on. So all of that just means anything is possible for Mission Meow.
But I believe that is true for anybody out there right now that's thinking, ‘I had an idea for a nonprofit.’ It's possible. You can make this dream come true. If you have a passion for it, anything is possible.”
Whether you’re part of a business looking to contribute or a nonprofit in need of funding, you can find out more at Missionmeow.org.1
Sources and References
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