Animal Shelter Rakes In More Than $12,000 With Silly Pet 'Masterpieces'
The Wisconsin Humane Society is getting creative with their fundraising efforts.
The animal shelter was overwhelmed with responses this week when they offered pet owners drawings of their animals ― which were guaranteed to range from “timeless works of art” to pieces that would “at least make you laugh” ― completed by the organization’s volunteers.
“The catch? We’re a whole lot better at caring for animals than we are at drawing them,” the group quipped in its Facebook post.
WHS asked for a $15 donation to immortalize a pet in one of its masterpieces, and organizers were delighted when in just two days, more than $12,000 in donations had flooded the site.
“We were inspired by a similar campaign done by an animal welfare organization in Baltimore, BARCS,” Angela Speed, WHS vice president of communications, told HuffPost.
She said that of about 50 volunteers and staff who worked to respond to more than 700 submissions, a handful were professional artists, but most “probably got a ‘C’ in high school art class.”
The nonprofit group, which has worked to save animals since it was founded more than 140 years ago, operates five shelters in Wisconsin and matches homeless animals with new families via their adoption program. Many of the pets submitted to be drawn were adopted from WHS shelters, their owners said.
As WHS warned in its post, it would be luck of the draw whether donors would receive an artwork by one of their “extremely talented artists” or “someone who can’t draw their way out of a paper bag.”
Arguably, some of the worst drawings are the best. Here are some of the glorious pets and their portraits, courtesy of WHS.
Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
