With just over 10 days left until Racing for Rescues, we’re bringing back the mini-challenge: a 10-day burst of fundraising for cats and dogs who need a second chance. In addition to the overall fundraising awards, the mini-challenge awards will be announced out at the 5K race/fun walk on May 7. (Can’t join us in-person or need to leave early? That’s OK! We have a virtual event for remote participants, and anyone can win these prizes, present at the park or not.)

Ready? Here are the details for the challenge, which runs from April 26 to May 5 (ending at 5:00 p.m. Eastern on May 5):

Before we send a cat or dog to their forever home, we place a tiny microchip (about the size of a grain of rice) under their skin. These chips are 100% safe for animals and contain their owner’s contact information (as well as our own). If a pet gets lost, anyone who finds them can bring them to a vet’s office or shelter to have their microchip scanned, revealing contact info and allowing for a quick reunion. Sure, tags on collars help, too, but sometimes pets get loose when they aren’t wearing their collars or the collar may also come off in their course of the animal running stray. Microchips are the best way to ensure pets get home as quickly as possible! At just $8 per microchip, this is a small price to pay for life-long security for the animals in our care.

Let’s trade chips for chips! We need microchips and you need chocolate chips! We’ll give $50 e-gift cards (good for online orders or in-store) to Insomnia Cookies (cookies! cookie cakes! ice cream! vegan and gluten-free options!) to:

  1. the fundraiser who receives the highest number of gifts $8.00 or more April 26 – May 5 (NOT the largest amount of funds, but the largest number of individual gifts), and
  2. one fundraiser who receives a gift of $8 or more April 26 – May 5, who will be randomly-drawn from among all who receive a gift of $8 or more in that timeframe (so each person who snags just one $8+ gift has a shot to win).

And YES! These prizes (which will be emailed for your convenience) are in addition to our other fundraising prizes up for grabs and all who raise money during the mini-challenge are eligible to win the main fundraising competition prizes, too. Learn more about those prize packages and how to win them by clicking HERE.

The Fine Print:

  1. Eligible contributions must be made directly to your fundraising page or must be in the form of a check or cash with an indication that the money is for your fundraiser.
  2. Eligible contributions include gifts of $8.00 or more per donor. For example, if two of your neighbors donate $8 each to your fundraiser, both will count for the challenge; if your mother donates $8 three times, only one gift will count for the challenge.
  3. All online donations must be received by 5:00 p.m. Eastern on Friday, May 5. All checks and cash must be received by Second Chance (address below) by 5:00 p.m. Eastern on Friday, May 5. You’re welcome to add these funds as an offline donation if you have a JustGiving page so your total is accurate, but the checks/cash must be received by our organization to count towards the competition.

The How-to:

  1. If you haven’t already taken this step, register to run or walk in-person or remotely and select the option for “Yes, I would like to help raise more money for animals in need!” when asked about fundraising.
  2. We’ll email you all the info you need to create your fundraiser, or if you’d like to set up right away, you can create a Facebook or JustGiving fundraiser. While you don’t have to edit your page from its pre-set defaults to begin receiving donations, sharing your story–and photos–with your family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers will get them to donate more!
  3. Ask others to support you. You can share your fundraiser’s link with everyone you know! You can email or text the link or post it on your social media pages.
  4. If you win a prize, we’ll contact you the week of May 8 to ensure that we send the e-gift card to the correct email address (be it your own or someone you’d like to gift it to, if you’d like).