About Fabulous Felines

Merry Stubblefield started Fabulous Felines in 2006, with the support of friends and family. She had been working with a local feral colony, providing food, vet care, and other assistance for several years, and started the charity to help with raising funds, getting volunteers, and engaging the community.

The effort has grown quickly, and although our work with ferals remains a central focus, we have expanded our efforts to include education and community outreach. We also have discovered an overwhelming need for rescue, education, and assistance in our community, and do our best to help those who come our way. In 2007, we started a foster house to assist in our rescue efforts. In addition, we have been blessed with a small but dedicated number of volunteers, without whom, our growth would not have been possible. For more on our activities, see our Projects page.

We are a strict no-kill organization. This not only means we do not kill any rescued animal, but also means we will spend what it takes to restore sick and injured animals to health - we will not euthanize any cat for a treatable illness. We also spay/neuter and microchip all animals that pass through our system.

This no-kill commitment is central to our organization, and derives from a decades long commitment to non-violence and animal rights. Merry Stubblefield is an attorney who has specialized in animal rights law from her early training at Vermont Law School, and we take our obligation to the welfare of all animals seriously. Not only do we provide veterinary care to all animals, but also we oppose the practice of trapping and removing nursing mothers from feral colonies, as this leaves their kittens at risk of a brutal death from starvation or dehydration.

Financial Information

Because of these commitments, our expenses are high, and we depend upon the support of our community. For these reasons we believe we owe everyone a full disclosure of how we spend the money you donate to our organization. For a summary of expenditures by category, see a pdf we have prepared. Some of the high-points of this document:

Our average expenses from 2006 through 2010 are around $17,700 per year. This is supported by periodic fundraisers, and the generosity of our donors.
We are an extremely low-overhead organization. We have no salaried positions - all work is done on a volunteer basis. For this reason, 92% of the money ($81,537 over this period) we spend goes to direct animal services: Care and feeding of rescued cats, veterinary costs, rescue and adoption expenses, and maintenance of our foster house.
We spend 5% (less than $850 per year!) on business expenses. This primarily covers office supplies, printing, software, postage, and fundraising.
The remaining expenses (2%, or a total of $1,814 since we were founded) have gone to government fees and licenses, and the unavoidable legal expenses of running a 501(c)(3). Most of these were setup expenses coming in the first year we were established. We have kept these low by relying on volunteer help for accounting, filing required IRS forms, web site and printed material design, etc.

We hope you will agree that the money you donate to Fabulous Felines is well spent, and will continue to support us! Please donate now, or see our Support page for other opportunities to help.