Save the Lives of Domestic Pigeons & Doves

Every day, together, we are courageously rescuing the Niagra Falls-like flow of injured, lost, and/or abandonded pigeons and doves who need help with our heroic teaspoons.

Pictured above is Sasha, a pigeon racing survivor who on June 20th, suffered a debilitating crash landing. She tucked herself into the partial shelter of an open backyard shed and waited helplessly for her fate. Luckily the homeowner noticed her, found Palomacy and called for someone to come get her. The volunteer who took the call asked she be brought indoors to safety from predators until help could be coordinated but the caller declined. So our Care Director Jill dropped everything to go get her (knowing how quickly cats, rats, hawks, ravens, raccoons, coyotes, etc. are attracted to an injured pigeon) and Sasha is now safe and slowly recovering. She's well enough to self-feed now and has a happy future ahead. 

Thousands of domestic Homer pigeons are bred and used for pigeon racing and "dove releases" but many, sometimes half, don't make it home. The majority of those are taken by predators or die unnoticed but even so, good Samaritans still find hundreds who can be helped. Sometimes they are injured, too hurt to even stand up. Often they are emaciated, so skinny they can't fly any more (starvation burns through their muscles). Most are dehydrated. They are domestic birds- not wild- and they can't survive on their own. With your support, Palomacy is helping as many as we can. We provide vet care, fostering and rehoming to the birds rescued in the San Francisco Bay Area and our amazing network of fellow rescuers and volunteers collaborate via our expertly moderated, 23K member, online Help Group and phone line to save many more from all over the country and beyond. (Photo #2)

With an average of 2K page views per day, our ever growing www.PigeonRescue.org website, featuring hundreds of bird-centering articles and stories, leverages our collective experience and expertise to help all who want to learn.

Three weeks ago, for Pigeon Appreciation Day on June 13th, Palomacy participated in a demonstration in support of pigeon protections at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo #3)

Last week, Palomacy volunteers raced to catch 11 domestic Fantail pigeons that were abandoned under an overpass in Fremont CA. So far, nine have been rescued and the volunteers are still trying to catch the last two. The overwhelmed local shelter can't help because the aviary that we created for them a couple years back was destroyed by a falling tree in this winter's storms (no birds were harmed) so we are scrambling, over full as we are, to figure out emergency foster placements for them. (Photos #4 & 5).

Every day, with your help, we are rescuing and rehoming vulnerable pigeons and doves. Next week, starting at 6 AM PT on Wednesday, July 12th, GlobalGiving will be giving out $400K in bonus match funds (while they last). The higher your donation, the higher the match (up to $1K per person, $3K per project). Please mark your calendar and set your alarm to take advantage of this important special bonus match opportunity. You can see our progress on the leaderboard here and detailed terms here. We'll send out a reminder too. (Phhoto #6)

We couldn't do any of this without your support.

THANK YOU!

WE ARE SO GRATEFUL FOR YOU!

                           .                       

Dear Reader,  

You are a Palomacy donor and so it is you making everything we do possible. 

Palomacy Pigeon and Dove Adoptions rescues birds by the grace of our donors. We don’t charge for our services, though we do ask for donations because the services we provide aren’t free. We employ two (very) full-time staff to coordinate more than 100 highly effective, skilled volunteers to assist every step of the way as we save hundreds of birds and educate thousands of people every year. (See What Is All This Palomacy, Anyway?) Our vet bills alone average $8K a month. Palomacy bills will be at least $250K this year—but that only coves the expenses we pay for! Our work is largely subsidized by the incredible generosity of our volunteers who donate not only so much time and labor (and blood and sweat and tears) but who also cover the in-kind costs for everything from gas and tolls to foster-cage buying, aviary building, bird food, pigeon pants, and so much more. 

Palomacy’s donors and volunteers provide the foundation for everything we are able to do, for every plea we answer, and every life we help.

We have two big shifts to tell you about. Both are how we will stay aloft to continue doing this unique, important work ever better.

The first is a paradigm shift from scarcity to abundance. Instead of trying so hard (and unsuccessfully) to limit the number of birds we rescue to fit within our funding, we are going to increase our funding to better fit the need. We need more and we're going to ask for more. We are already doing everything we can to prevent a bird from needing rescue. And we are doing everything we can to build up the capacity of fellow rescuers, shelters and sanctuaries so that they can help more pigeons and doves. But, when a bird is referred to us and the options are we say no and they go unhelped or we say yes and seek more money, we are going to say yes. And going forward, we're going to do so without the anguish we have been putting ourselves through. Turning a bird away without a placement is no option at all.

And, as a long-time supporter of Palomacy, I know that you will appreciate this exciting news: On March 2nd, 2023, Palomacy Pigeon and Dove Adoptions, after being fiscally sponsored for 15 years (three by Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue & twelve with Community Initiatives), is now the independent nonprofit public charity that we have long aspired to be! THANK YOU FOR LIFTING US ALL THE WAY UP!

What’s New, Changing and Staying the Same with Palomacy Now?

What’s staying the same:

Palomacy’s mission is unchanged and our passion for this work has only been strengthened by the progress we are seeing! Our purpose is saving lives by closing the deadly gap in the animal welfare community that for too long has endangered and abandoned domestic pigeons and doves. Palomacy provides advocacy, education, rescue, coaching, referrals, veterinary care, foster and forever homes. Our programmatic work isn’t changing. Staying the same are our:

+ Purpose, people, programs and practices!

+ Website at www.PigeonRescue.org including all of our articles and stories (updates needed have been made)

+ GlobalGiving donor platform (all changes were made internally, no donor action required)

+ Our social media (@PigeonDiplomacy for Instagram and Twitter) and our Palomacy Help Group and Facebook Fan Page are the same

What’s changing: 

Our administrative processes have changed. We have spun off from being a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives (CI) and are now, as our own nonprofit, tax exempt public charity, taking over, with the professional support of virtual bookkeepping firm Good Steward Financial Company, the accounting, payroll, benefits, and tax reporting responsibilities CI had fulfilled. Checks and invoices can now be made out directly to Palomacy and sent to our same PO Box 24585, SF CA 94124.

+ Palomacy donations will no longer incur a 10% fiscal sponsorship fee

+ Employer matching plans need to be updated, changing our name by removing Community Initiatives/CI and switching to our EIN: 87-2836252, Palomacy Pigeon and Dove Adoptions

+ If your estate plan makes a bequest to Palomacy, you’ll need to update it the same way, removing Community Initiatives/CI from our name and switching to our EIN: 87-2836252, Palomacy Pigeon and Dove Adoptions

+ If you want a free and easy way to write or update your legal will, you can use FreeWill.com and if you want to direct a planned gift to help the birds, all the info you need to include is: Palomacy Pigeon and Dove Adoptions, EIN: 87-2836252, PO Box 24585, San Francisco, CA 94124


What’s new:

As an independent nonprofit, we are able utilize resources that we previously could not access through our fiscal sponsor’s status. For example, we:

+ Qualify for Facebook and Instagram fundraisers (no fees!)

+ Qualify for TechSoup, Google for Nonprofits, etc.

+ Qualify for nonprofit US Postal Services (thank you, Heather)

+ Can receive money as a PayPal Charity low fee account

+ Can receive money as a Venmo Charity low fee account

+ Expand our range of potential grant and donor sources

In the past month, Palomacy urgently needed $18K to clear our 2022 revenue shortfall. Five extremely generous and fast-acting emergency donors ransomed us from our debt while our ongoing supporters covered about $17K for the current monthly expenses. Then our biggest donor, Craig Newmark, invested $25K in Palomacy’s future, supporting our launch as an independent, nonprofit public charity. So, we are funded through the end of this month and we need your donations for April and beyond. Your support is always generous, And we need you more than ever. Please give now.

Every day, we are challenged to help the birds and people who depend on us. We are able to be here, doing this wholesome work, thanks to you.

Links:

• A Life Worth Saving: Moose's Story
• Freedom Thanks You