FAQ
What is The Bow Wow Buddies Foundation Inc.?
It’s a non-profit dedicated to improving the lives and health of dogs everywhere, through supporting foster and re-homing programs, spay and neuter efforts, disaster assistance, canine cancer research, animal welfare education and shelter improvements.
What is the foundation’s connection to Camp Bow Wow®?
Camp Bow Wow, the premier U.S. franchiser of doggy day and overnight camps, was started by entrepreneur and dog lover Heidi Flammang in 2000. The company began franchising in 2003 and has since sold more than 200 franchises and has about 60 open camps in the United States and Canada.
Camp Bow Wow has always championed cause-based marketing efforts, urging our franchisees to give back to the community and the pups by fostering dogs in need of homes and holding fundraisers for local rescues and canine causes.
With her for-profit business a success, Heidi has now brought that same passion for the pups to the non-profit sphere by creating The Bow Wow Buddies® Foundation in 2007.
How old is the foundation?
The foundation had its first Board of Directors meeting on Sept. 11, 2007.
Is the foundation a 501©3 non-profit corporation?
Our 501©3 paperwork has been filed with the Internal Revenue Service, and we are currently awaiting approval of our status.
What does that mean?
Until we have our 501©3 status confirmed by the IRS, donations to the foundation are not tax-deductible.
What are some of the foundation’s projects?
We are funding the Bow Wow Buddies Cancer Biology Scholar at Colorado State University’s Animal Cancer Center, at a cost of $50,000 annually for five years. To read about CSU’s amazing efforts, check out http://www.csuanimalcancercenter.org/wbswebpage.cfm?pagetextid=Facility.
We have also partnered with Morris Animal Foundation’s Cure Canine Cancer Campaign. For more information on that, click here: http://www.curecaninecancer.org.
We are supporting animal welfare workers in parts of Greece where dogs are suffering. To date, we have brought home 17 dogs from Greece, finding them great forever families in the United States and putting a face on the fact that dogs are dogs throughout the world and have the same simple needs. We have also provided funding for several key projects in Greece, including a water well at the shelter on the island of Samos and an animal welfare advertising campaign in Ioannina.
We plan to create and support educational programs on animal welfare; continue to fund efforts to fight canine cancer; support spaying and neutering clinics; host dog wellness days; and work to help our friends in Greece improve conditions in shelters there.
Why Greece?
Unlike the United States, Greece has no humane society or other large group that cares for stray, neglected, abused and homeless companion animals. Instead, small groups of hardworking people spend their lives trying to make things better. Once we saw the problem firsthand in July, and realized how hard these people were working, we couldn’t turn our backs and walk away.
Why Canine Cancer?
Cancer kills one in four dogs. Many of us know somebody who has been through this heartbreaking situation, including several folks involved in the foundation.
Additionally, the research we’re supporting at CSU may be applicable to some human cancers, including pediatric cancer.
What foster/re-homing programs do you support?
Camp Bow Wow currently has 200 franchisees and almost 60 open camps. Most of our camps are actively fostering pups in partnership with their local humane societies or rescue organizations. Since beginning these programs in 2003, our camps have found forever families for more than 1,000 dogs.
The foundation is supporting these vital efforts to help one dog at a time, through public relations efforts. Additionally, we plan to initiate a small grant program that will help our franchisees raise awareness and funds for the pups and shelters they support.
How can I be a Buddie?
There are several ways to help support the foundation’s worthy causes.
Direct donations are always welcome, although not yet tax-deductible.
If you live in the Boulder area and have a furry family member, please consider taking your pup to Camp Bow Wow Boulder. All of the profits from that camp go to benefit the foundation, so booking days there would not only provide exercise and fun for your pup but would also benefit countless other canines worldwide.
One easy way to contribute is to remember us when you’re shopping online. Simply go to www.bign.com/bowwowbuddies, and then click on the “Big N Marketplace.” That will send you to a list of links for just about every big box retailer, stores where many of you likely spend money already. If you access the retail sites this way, a percentage of each sale will go to benefit the foundation and there will be no extra charge to you.
Now, we’ve also got an easy way to give while simply doing the Internet searches you do countless times each day. Just go to www.goodsearch.com, choose The Bow Wow Buddies Foundation as your charity, then search away just as you would on Yahoo or Google. This search engine donates a substantial part of its advertising revenue to the cause you select. You can also shop at many well-known online retailers by clicking the GoodShop tab from your search pages, with a percentage of your purchase going to the cause and no extra charge to you. Even more fun, you can click on the “amount raised” button to find out how much people are giving!
We have also created a host of corporate sponsorship opportunities, as a way for dog-related companies to partner with the foundation and Camp Bow Wow. In this way, corporations can support common canine causes and also get their names in front of a customer list that numbers more than 40,000 and is growing fast as Camp Bow Wow opens new camps at the rate of one per week. For more information on these opportunities, please call us at 720-259-2926.
Finally, if you are looking for a four-legged furry addition to the family, please start with those most in need of the loving home you can provide. Most Camp Bow Wow locations partner with local shelters to foster adoptable pups. Or, you might consider a Greekie. We plan to bring up to 35 new sweeties from Greece to America this year, all of them seeking a better life with the right family.