Right before Giving Tuesday in November 2019, the pictures began appearing in Facebook newsfeeds: Devastating wildfires were killing or displacing koalas, kangaroos, flying foxes and a host of other animals caught in the blazes. The heartbreaking reports of their suffering would go on for months as hot, dry weather and drought fueled the fires and made water scarce.

Into this hell-on-earth came volunteers from an organization called the International Fund for Animal Welfare. They sought out the survivors and transported them to shelters and animal hospitals, where they received food, water and medical attention. They even came in with a koala-sniffing dog, named Bear.

Bear's estimated cost is $500 a day, the IFAW says. The Allie Foundation's Giving Tuesday project was to raise at least $500, which it pledged to match. With the generous help of Facebook friends of the foundation's sponsor company, Cat-in-the-bag LLC, the foundation was able to send $1,047 to the IFAW for its efforts in Australia.

At Felius Cat Café in Omaha, Nebraska, you do just that – order your coffee or tea then settle in for a half-hour or hour session to visit their free-roaming cats. Buy more time if you'd like! Session fees go toward helping these homeless cats of Omaha.

Should you decide to adopt a cat or two, all the better!

In April 2019, The Allie Foundation donated $1,000 to the café for help with a TNR program they were establishing. That program began in September 2019.

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, of Cle Elum, Wa., received $1,000 in January 2019  for its campaign to expand its chimp house.

The sanctuary has rescued seven chimps so far. They had spent decades in small cages in the basement of a biomedical laboratory in Pennsylvania, with no sun or stimulation as they were subjected to hepatitis vaccine experiments. They were bred to obtain more chimps for more experiments, and the babies were taken from their mothers when
they were just infants.  These elderly apes have lived at the sanctuary now  for 10 years.

“It has been 10 years of good food, good friends, essential medical care, space to explore, things to do, and a sense of security they never had before,”  said Diana Goodrich, sanctuary co-director.  The chimp house expansion, which is being done in three phases, includes more space for staff;  a vet clinic; space for more chimps; a separate playroom; and an indoor-outdoor greenhouse, Goodrich said.

Soi dog, an international charity based in Thai works to shut down dog meat farms, where the dogs are kept in deplorable conditions and denied vet care.

After being sold, they are crammed into cages and taken to be killed, where they are tortured first because of the belief that the torture will make the meat more tender.

Prince was hanged by his neck for hours before rescuers found him. Soi Dog found a loving home for him on a ranch in California.

The animals suffer horribly. But Soi Dog also is working to change hearts and minds about eating dog meat. They run a large shelter in Thailand, where dogs and also cats await adoption. They place their animals in homes throughout the world.  They are making a big difference in a heartbreaking atrocity.  

The Allie Foundation donated $1,000 to Soi Dog in January 2018.

 
SCOOP, Inc., or Save Cats and Obliterate Overpopulation, Inc., was awarded $700  in 2017 after applying for a foundation grant.

 The group used the money to fund spaying and neutering for 10 cats through a program to help Cincinnati’s feral and stray cat population.

SCOOP also operates a sanctuary for special-needs cats.