In a world where you can be anything, be kind.
About “Kindness for Kitties e.V.”:
Kindness for Kitties e.V. is an animal welfare association, founded in Bochum, in May 2024.
In accordance with our motto “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”, we want to show empathy and compassion towards animals, especially to those animals that we as humans have domesticated and made dependent on us. We have made it our mission to reduce the suffering of the countless stray cats worldwide and to support those people who, despite political, economic and social obstacles, fight for the protection and welfare of these animals every day with unparalleled dedication. We can only achieve this goal by working together. We therefore ask all animal lovers to support us in our endeavors. We believe that it is important to practice animal welfare beyond the borders of countries and continents and to take responsibility together as humans to save innocent animals from suffering and violence.
We want to support animal rescuers worldwide through fundraising, promotional events and through spreading awareness for the daily struggles of stray cats, animal welfare organizations and private cat rescuers. Our work is entirely non-profit. For those looking to donate, we promise to make sure that the rescuers we support are trustworthy and that all donations that get passed on to them will be used for the care and treatment of rescued cats, as well as TNVR programs.
We have set up an online portal, where Rescuers can register and upload their cats for fundraising. Donations can come through our fundraisers on betterplace.org, or can go directly towards Kindness for Kitties e.V. and be entered as external donations on betterplace.org. This way, you can always see the current progress for all of the kitties listed on our site. The donations are transferred to our Rescuers in regular intervals using WISE. Adittionally, we are preparing to acquire the permit in accordance with §11 of the German Animal Welfare Law to be able to support the rescuers in finding suitable adopters in Germany and arranging everything needed for the travel and adoption process.
Hi, I’m Zoe. I am the creator of this website and one of the founders of “Kindness for Kitties e.V.”. I live in Germany, where, until recently, I worked full-time as a physician at the hospital. I have always been an animal-lover and especially a cat-lover, so when I had finished university, I adopted two cats through a rescue organization from Spain. (They now live a happy and spoiled life with plenty of treats and an ever-growing cat climbing paradise.) I am a strong advocate for adoption, as I believe that there are many amazing animals in need of a good home in this world already.
I started this project in an effort to help raise awareness for the reality of stray cats and the work of rescuers all over the world, after I found a community of cat rescuers on instagram. These kind-hearted individuals were doing their best to provide care for sick or injured stray cats and to help abandoned cats. Many of these rescuers have far exceeded what they can do with their own funds and are using Instagram to collect donations to be able to keep providing treatment to those cats in need.
It warms my heart to see people care so deeply for animals that rely on us, but at the same time it also breaks my heart to see the suffering these stray animals had to endure and the abuse that has happened to some of them. It compelled me to do more than just donate. I wanted to become a part of something bigger and to do the best that I can.
How can you support Kindness for Kitties e.V.?
Become a Member of Kindness for Kitties e.V.
The membership fee is just 25€/ year (which can be paid yearly of every 6 months) and helps us keep the association running and growing. We have a lot of plans for the future that we would love to bring into action. Having more members to help and/ or more funds helps us to do even more for stray cats in need.
You can use our online membership sign up, or print the membership application form, fill it our and send it to us via Email or by regular mail.
Follow our Instagram account and interact with our posts, to help us reach more animal-lovers
In todays age, social media is a powerful tool to reach likeminded people and gain support. We currently mostly use Instagram to promote our project. Instagram is where we inform our followers about upcoming promotions and where we try to gain new donors. It is also where most of our Rescuers are active to inform their followers about the cats in their care and look for help through donations.
Donate for our Rescuers via betterplace.org or directly to our associations bank account
Of course, our main objective to help cats in need, is to collect donations that fund neutering surgeries, vaccinations, other medical treatment and help cover the cost of food (for both stray cat colonies and cats who have been taken in and are being cared for by the rescuers in their homes), litter and preventative care. We try to take advantage of any communal help or veterinary discounts and we do our best to keep fees (from betterplace or WISE) as low as possible, in order to maximize the effectiveness of your donations. Most donations come in via betterplace.org, where you automatically recieve a donation receipt, so that you can then claim the donations on your tax report.
Support us by buying from our Etsy shop (where all profits go towards the association) or buying on amazon through our associate program (where we would get a small commission from your purchase)
We are always trying to find new ways to gain support and reach new people. We have sold handmade products and artworks in person at our charity event and thought: Why not create an online shop, to be able to sell to cat lovers across all of Germany? You get a lovely handcrafted product and we have a different stream of income for our association. We initially set up a display page for those items on kindnessforkitties.com, but soon realized that advertising on an already established website would be much more promising.
We have officially registered a small business to be able to sell via etsy and hope that more people will find out about Kindness for Kitties e.V. and hopefully support us through buying our Products. Apart from the art prints, all of the items (including the origianl artworks) have already been produced. The photos that you see on etsy were made with the help of a professional product photographer, who donated his time and effort to us. The cost of materials has been covered by teh person making the items (for most things) or membership fees (for the t-shirts), so apart from the shipping cost and the small etsy fee, everything alse will be going towards Kindness for Kitties e.V. and to our Rescuers. The goal is not to actually make a profit in a business sense, since all of the money gained will be donated to the association.
A similar thought process led us to decide to try the amazon associate program. Many influencers use affiliate links, to promote products and recieve commision from sales. We intend to recommend items, that are useful for pet owners and will use the commision from sales made through our affiliate links, to fund more promotions and further support our Rescuers. We are also happy for recommendations of products, that you think we should add to our recommendation list. this way, your online shopping can help stray cats in need without much extra effort.