Charity History
From the very beginning, charity has been a vital part of Midwest FurFest and many other conventions. Since the first furry convention in 1989, our community has raised over $3 million for charitable organizations around the world.
Midwest FurFest is proud of our contributions, especially towards Chicagoland charities in particular. In our 20+ year history, Midwest FurFest has raised over half a million dollars for organizations benefiting humans and animals alike. Here are some recent highlights of our charity efforts throughout the years:
2023
$185,758
Live Like Roo
Live Like Roo grants emotional and financial support to families whose pet faces a cancer diagnosis. Applicants can receive grants for cancer care as well as a care package. The $185,758 raised at MFF 2023 helped Live Like Roo provide a record $57,000 in assistance in December 2023, surpassed a month later by another $60,576. Special funds are also in place to help families with hospice dogs, those hosting rescue and foster dogs, dogs from military and veteran families, those needing assistance for end-of-life care – even funds for cats!
2022
$110,271
The Street Dog Coalition
Midwest Furfest congoers raised $110,271 during MFF 2022 for The Street Dog Coalition, which helps care for the pets of Chicago’s unhoused population. Street Dog has placed most of this money into an interest-bearing CD for ongoing needs. Funds have also gone toward renting a new storage locker, and future plans call for purchasing tablets which will help Street Dog shift to electronic recordkeeping.
2021
$73,360
MCP Rescue + Outreach
Based in Chicago, Mission Compassion Paw has rescued hundreds of dogs since its 2016 founding and helps beyond the adoption process, supplying pet food donations to food pantries, and directing families to low cost spay and neuter services. 70% of MCP rescues are considered hard to adopt dogs such as pit bulls, seniors, special needs animals, and extreme medical cases.
2019
$112,352
Donation matched 100%
Felines & Canines
As a no-kill animal shelter, Felines & Canines is dedicated to providing a safe and loving shelter to abandoned, injured, abused and neglected animals until their permanent adoptive home is found. They also strengthen the human/animal relationship through counseling, education, and compassion.
After purchasing the property to expand in 2017, Felines & Canines built the “Hunter Stephenson Rescue Center.” As the first high-volume rescue and relocation facility of its kind (in the United States), it enabled Felines & Canines to save an additional 4,000 lives. In 2019, they introduced the “Puppy Palace” which was designed as a new standalone building to house and care for the most vulnerable of animals. In addition, as a winner of the ASPCA’s 2019 Henry Bergh Award, all donations raised were matched, dollar for dollar, by an anonymous donor.
2018
$92,794
SitStayRead
In 2018, more than 10,000 people gathered to talk anthropomorphics, cavort in fursuits and have a ball at Midwest FurFest. However, they also made sure that more than 2,600 children from struggling Chicago schools were given the opportunity to boost their reading skills with the unconditional love and attention of volunteer dogs.
Thanks to MFF con-goers, SitStayRead was able to expand its innovative elementary school literacy programs into kindergarten classrooms for the first time. Also, SitStayRead's end-of-year Keep Reading celebrations sent hundreds of students home with six new books apiece! SSR executive director, Mara O'Brien, says the $90,000+ donated at MFF 2018 made a serious difference:
"Thanks to the support of the MFF community...we added two new partner schools in two new neighborhoods for SitStayRead, bringing our total to 18 for this school year. Also, the new kindergarten program utilizes read-alouds, group discussion, and engaging activities to help kindergartners identify sight words and key details in a story. Small group visits with Dog Teams introduce the concept of having dogs in the classroom while practicing Dog Safety. Stories like this would not be possible without the support of Midwest FurFest."
2017
$85,000
C.R.I.S.P. (Chicagoland Rescue, Intervention, and Support Program)
Chicagoland Rescue Intervention and Support Program (“CRISP”) provides low or no-cost services to help Chicago pet owners keep their pets rather than surrendering them to the city shelter. If pets cannot be kept by their owners, then CRISP will network to help place them immediately with a rescue group or no-kill shelter to bypass the city shelter completely.
2016
$78,482
Felines & Canines
After settling into their new home in 2013, Felines & Canines had grown from adopting approximately 400 animals per year to 1,300 animals per year. They had an ambitious new plan: to build an additional facility in Alabama where they can rescue animals from local “high-kill shelters” and relocate them to Chicago, where demand for adoption was much higher.
F&C Director of Development, Kelly Thompson, said that the $78,482 raised at Midwest FurFest 2016 provided Felines & Canines with enough money to directly purchase the land to make this project possible. She further went on to explain the mission of this facility:
“Felines & Canines Hunter Stephenson Rescue Center is not only critical to saving dogs and cats across Northern Alabama - in our opinion, it's essential to the animal welfare community as a whole. What it comes down to is simple supply and demand. Many of our Southern states have far more friendly, social dogs and cats languishing at intake facilities than they have homes for, forcing them to euthanize these "unwanted" pets. At the same time, many northern states have more qualified adopters searching for their new dog or cat than they have friendly/social pets. This forces potential adopters to look elsewhere (like breeders and pet stores) to find their new companion.
Far too often, the biggest obstacle for the animals at open admission shelters is the lack of time and space. When too many animals are surrendered to these facilities, and not enough adopters are coming to alleviate the overcrowding, it leaves the intake facility with no choice other than to euthanize animals to open up space. By combining a large, safe housing facility, with a 2x per week national relocation program, the Rescue Center is able to consistently offer immediate relief to the overcrowded intake facilities, without becoming overcrowded ourselves. This not only drastically reduces the euthanasia of family pets, but it also fulfills the desire for adoptable animals in the Midwest.”
2015
$62,020
Save-A-Vet
Save-A-Vet takes Military & Law Enforcement working dogs deemed unsuitable for adoption by their agencies for a number of reasons including health, training and work history. They then place them on secured facilities owned by Save-A-Vet throughout the country and hire disabled veterans that meet their special criteria to live with and care for these other forgotten soldiers. They DO NOT take any animals from civilians. All Save-A-Vet dogs come directly from agencies ONLY.
2014
$31,445
Critter Camp Exotic Pet SAnctuary
Critter Camp is the only Exotic Pet Sanctuary operated solely by volunteers that accepts only small unadoptable unusual pets - no wildlife, cats or dogs or farm animals. They take in abused, abandoned and otherwise homeless small exotic pets.
2013
$28,000
One Tail at a Time
One Tail at a Time’s mission is to end pet homelessness by making pet ownership a joyful and accessible experience for all. They accomplish this by rescuing animals from overcrowded shelters, placing them in loving forever homes and providing support and resources to pet owners in need.
2012
$40,500
Felines & Canines
As a no-kill animal shelter, Felines & Canines is dedicated to providing a safe and loving shelter to abandoned, injured, abused and neglected animals until their permanent adoptive home is found. They strengthen the human/animal relationship through counseling, education, and compassion.
Felines, Inc. was such a hit at Midwest FurFest 2012 that our community more than doubled any previous year’s total donations. With this gift, enough funds were raised in a single weeknd to cover the outstanding renovation costs to build an entirely new facility. This enabled them to start adopting dogs in addition to cats, therefore becoming Felines & Canines.
2011
$19,574
Animal Education and Rescue
The purpose of Animal Education and Rescue, NFP is to help countless numbers of animals and people by bringing people and pets together through education, therapy, and rescue.
2010
$11,300
Castaway Pet Rescue
The mission and vision for Castaway Pet Rescue is to save dogs of all sizes and all breeds by placing them into loving, forever homes. They are an all-volunteer, foster home based, dog rescue organization based in northern Illinois. They do not have a physical shelter. Instead, they operate primarily through their foster homes, online databases and at adoption events/expos.
2009
$12,799
Kane Area Rehabilitation and Education for Wildlife
Kane Area Rehabilitation and Education for Wildlife is a not for profit wildlife rescue located in Saint Charles, Illinois since 1995. KARE for Wildlife does rescues, rehabilitates local wild animals, releases those who can be released and educates the public on our local wildlife.
2008
$15,000
Rainbow Animal Assisted Therapy
Rainbow Animal Assisted Therapy, the largest and oldest organization of its type in the Chicago metropolitan area, is a volunteer organization committed to using the capabilities and magic of dogs in therapeutic environments, especially with children.
2007
$15,193
Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation
Founded in 2003, Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation is dedicated to the care of injured and orphaned wildlife and educating the public about wildlife and wildlife-related issues.
2006
$13,048
Safe Haven Wildlife Refuge
Safe Haven Wildlife Refuge Center, Inc. was founded in 2000 in Marengo, IL, to serve the needs of wildlife displaced by habitat loss due to urbanization.
2005
$6,800
Wildlife in Need
Wildlife in Need was a small, volunteer-run rescue and rehabilitation center in Woodstock, IL. Funds provided by Midwest FurFest helped cover veterinary bills, enabled them to build new cages, and allowed them to stock up on food, formula, and medicine for incoming wildlife.
2004
$7,000
Furry Friends Foundation
The Furry Friends Foundation was an all-volunteer, no-kill animal shelter located in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood. They cared for many different types of dogs, cats, rabbits, and other animals. Animals that were hard to place because of their age, breed, or special needs are often placed on death row in some shelters, but not at Furry Friends. They especially focused on pit bull adoptions, and used extensive owner education and selection to find forever homes for these dogs.
2003
$6,500
2002
$6,088
2001
$6,800
Animals for Awareness
Animals for Awareness takes in exotic and wild animals that most dog and cat shelters aren’t equipped for or knowledgeable enough to deal with. With 4 exotic animal vets in our corner and hundreds of other resources, we educate ourselves and our volunteers thoroughly on every animal that enters our facility. If we can't house the critter safely and permanently, we find a good facility that can.
2000
$3,522
Wolf Park / Valley of the Kings Big Cat Sanctuary / Chicago House
Wolf Park is an educational research facility located in Battle Ground Indiana. Since 1972, they have studied wolves and other wild canids to learn more about their behavior and assist researchers in the wild. Each year they teach thousands of visitors about the importance of predators in the ecosystem. They assist researchers around the world with studies of subjects including cognition, behavioral, and comparative between wild and captive animals.
Valley of the Kings Big Cat Sanctuary
The Valley of the Kings is a private, non-profit, tax-exempt charity. They have a board of directors, with Jill E. Carnegie serving as their President and founder. Jill and her husband, Jim Tomasi, live in a modest farmhouse, with the animals they care for and love dearly.
Chicago House
Chicago House empowers persons living with or vulnerable to HIV/AIDS to lead healthy and dignified lives, through housing and compassionate, client-centered support services.