Service Dog Team Sponsorship
and
Education Gifting Program
Questions and Answers
How did "Paws to Freedom" come about and why should I donate to it?
Read our story
What is Service Dog Team Sponsorship?
Some individuals, groups or corporations may choose to sponsor a Service Dog Team. The team refers to the person with a disability and their canine partner who is in training. Sponsoring a team can be partial or completely.
Partial scholarships include such things as:
- Providing one month or a designated number of months of training expenses
- Donation of funds for a team’s training equipment and/or needed equipment such as harnesses, vests, etc.
- Donation towards the dog’s veterinary care expense.
- Donation towards food for a month, or designated period of time.
Complete scholarships can be all of the above for the entire time that the team is in training. Or it can be a complete one of the components specific through their training, such as all equipment needed throughout their training, all veterinary care while the team is in training, or all food, supplements and toys needed while the dog is in training.
What about Training Program Sponsorship or Donations?
If you prefer to donate to the training program rather than just one team this provides a generous way to have the funds go to the greatest need. Donated funds or services for the training program would go towards such things as:
- Paws to Freedom Vests
- Veterinary fund for use by any team in need
- Donated equipment for training use of the program or a specific team in need
- Books and DVDs for the lending library
- Training Treats
- Donated or discounted training space
- Corporate sponsorship of training program expenses
- Filming equipment for use of observational training
- Sponsor a public access event
What is the Education Gifting Program?
The Education Gifting Program covers another large component of the Paws to Freedom Program. Our education ranges from the teaching of our teams, education for other owner-trainers of a service dog who are not in the Paws to Freedom Program, community education in schools, for groups, organizations, healthcare providers, family members and all community members interested in learning more about service dogs.
Donations to the Education Gifting Program would include funds and/or services towards the following needs:
- Printing of materials for the Team in Training Binders.
- A start up training kit for a team.
- Printing of educational materials for the community.
- Printing of materials for a community education seminar
- Printing of materials for an owner-training workshop.
- Training and/or Seminar space at discounted rate or donated.
- Equipment for viewing DVDs at seminars and trainings
- Services needed for the set up and teaching at seminars and workshops.
Is Paws To Freedom a non-profit and will my donation be tax deductible?
Yes! Paws to Freedom is a non-profit organization with 501(c) 3 status. Your donations are tax deductible. Upon your donation you will receive an appreciation letter documenting that your donation is tax deductible including our EIN of 20-5183780. Upon your request a copy of our determination letter will be provided.
How will I know the money is being spent as I intended?
If you specify how you want your donation to be spent, we will allocate it for that fund only. If you donate without a specified use of the funds, the funds will be spent on the greatest need of a team in the program, or otherwise towards the community education programs.
How do I know that the person's dog really is in training to be a Service Dog and that the person really has Disabilities?
All clients that enter the Paws to Freedom Service Dog Team Program have provided verification of their disability and need for a service dog.
What if I have something specific I want to donate that isn? listed here?
By all means, please do contact us. You may have something that can be used by the program or by a specific team. In some cases where the item is not needed by our program, we may know of a team already working who is in need.
What
is a real Service Dog? I thought there were just Guide Dogs?
There are many types of service dogs assisting people with disabilities.
To read about the different types of service dogs, read the assistance
dog pages on our site. Another very good source for this information
is The Delta Society.
Our Group would really like to contribute; however we don? have the funds at this time. What can we do?
You can sponsor a fundraiser! Or hold your own fundraiser for Paws to Freedom.
Contact us for more ideas!
We have several options for you to make your donations.
You can go to our donation page to donate through PayPal.
Or you can print out this document and mail your donation to us at
Paws to Freedom, Inc
P.O. Box 33846
Portland, OR 97216
