May 24, 2018
Categories: Uncategorized, Budgets and Financial Development

Maybe you’ve been looking for dog harnesses. Or crates. Or you really need cat beds. But how are you supposed to pay for all of that on the tight budget of an animal shelter or rescue organization?

Amazon Wish List!

Placing an Amazon Wish List on your website or sharing it on social media is a simple way to receive donations and — more importantly — get the items you really need.

And it’s really easy. Amazon Prime has an estimated 80 million subscribers at the ready to donate to your organization. With billing information already stored, and a shipping address already to go, it’s simple to send some cat toys and dog food to a shelter in need.

Just look at this conversation on Twitter. Kentucky Humane Society was in desperate need of canned dog food. With one simple tweet, people from around the country logged onto their Amazon account and sent KHS food!

Kentucky Humane Society, however, quickly learned that its list was not up-to-date and didn’t include any canned dog food. It’s important to keep your list updated. Some items may no longer be available, or maybe you received a large donation of cat litter, so that is no longer needed (for now).

Setting up a Wish List can take a little bit of time, but once you get going, it’s easy to maintain. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Hover over Accounts and Lists > Your Lists > Create List (it’s probably best to use the Amazon account associated with your organization)
  2. Under This list is for select You. Select Wish List and be sure to make your list public. Be sure to include your organization’s name in the list name.
  3. Once you create the list, you will want to edit it. Change List is for to an organization. When you do this, you have the chance to include your website. Be sure to add a description and mailing address. (Amazon doesn’t have “official” lists for organizations, so be as thorough as possible).
  4. Now it’s time to make your list! Browse on Amazon as you normally would, but instead of adding to your cart, click the Add to List dropdown menu and select which list you want to add to.
  5. After you have completed your list, it’s important to view and edit. This is where you change quantities and add notes. Under each item, is Add comment, quantity & priority. Select this and add the quantity and priority of each item. It’s also nice to include a comment about each item, explaining why the item is needed and how it will be used.

It’s that simple! If you have questions, check out the Wish List help page. And if you need help getting a list going, check out these robust lists from Social Tees Animal Rescue and Cat Town.