Get involved
Give, volunteer, or join
Three different things, and nobody expects you to do all of them. Most people start with one.
Give
Small and recurring beats large and once
We are seeking public charity status, which depends on support from many people rather than a few. Small recurring gifts genuinely count for more here than their size suggests.
Give
Money raised goes to shelters. Small recurring gifts are the most useful kind — they let us tell a shelter what to expect instead of surprising them.
Work a show
The adoption table needs people who can talk to strangers all day and answer the same six questions cheerfully. It is the single most useful shift we have.
Come and meet them
Turn up to a show, meet the cats on the adoption table, and bring someone who has been thinking about it. Adoptions are the point of the day.
Online giving is being set up and will appear here shortly.
Until then, get in touch and the Treasurer will tell you how to give directly.
Golden Sierra Cat Club is a volunteer-run animal welfare organization. Our application for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status is pending with the IRS, classified under Animal Protection and Welfare. Until that application is approved, contributions to the organization cannot be treated as tax-deductible charitable donations.
Volunteer
What we actually need hands for
Each of these says how much time it really takes. “Help out sometime” recruits nobody; a specific Saturday is something a person can decide.
Adoption table
A few hours on a show day
Stand with the shelter cats and talk to visitors. You will answer the same six questions all day and one of those conversations ends with a cat going home. No experience needed — you shadow someone the first time.
Show day, everything else
One or two weekends a year
Setup, teardown, hospitality, clerking, directing lost people to the right ring. Unglamorous and completely necessary — the show is what funds the grants.
Fundraising
Occasional, mostly off-site
Raffles, bake sales, and asking local businesses for donations. Suits people who would rather organise than stand about, and it is what the grant budget is made of.
Writing and reviewing guides
From home, at your own pace
Our care guides are a program, not a blog. If you know a subject well — nutrition, grooming, senior cats — write one. If you have clinical training, review what is already published.
Membership
Joining the club
Membership is how GSCC governs itself — members elect the board and vote on what the organization does. It is not a subscription to the programs, which are open to everyone.
- Who can join
- Membership is open to anyone interested in furthering the Club’s objectives. You need a current member in good standing to sponsor your application, and the Board approves it. Applicants under eighteen also need a parent or guardian’s written consent.
- Dues
- Individual $25 a year, Household $15 for a second person at the same address, Junior $10 for members under eighteen. Payable on or before the first day of the fiscal year, which runs January to December.
- Dues are not refundable or prorated
- Joining in November costs the same as joining in January. If an application is not approved, dues submitted with it are refunded in full.
- Voting and holding office
- Reserved for members in active good standing: dues paid, not under suspension, and actually taking part — helping run a show, coming to meetings, pitching in on fundraising. The Board decides whether that participation test is met.
- Letting it lapse
- Dues unpaid thirty days after they fall due make a membership inactive, after written notice from the Treasurer. Coming back afterwards means applying again rather than simply paying up.
- Dues are support, not a fee for services
- Membership money goes into the same programs as donations. Nothing about the work is reserved for members — the guides are free and the help is offered to anyone who asks.
How to apply
An application needs a current member to sponsor it, so the usual route is to come to a meeting first and meet people. Meetings are monthly, guests are welcome, and the Secretary will tell you when the next one is.