After the heady success of what was to be our first fundraiser, Colleen and I agreed that we wanted to keep it going - and so, Special Horses was "born." We kept the site, and began designing our next fundraiser. We decided it should coincide with Rolex and the Kentucky Derby (so, just about a year ago), with the tag line, "They are all Winners." The hook - we would open up the site to entries, for a $10 donation, payable directly to one of four participating groups (True Innocents Equine Rescue in California, Heartland Horse Rescue in Florida, Sunkissed Acres in Georgia, and Equihab, in Maryland). The groups were chosen because of their stellar reputations, in addition to the fact that they needed assistance - they are all smaller groups, run almost single-handedly by one or two people.

The idea for this fundraiser: have people enter a photo of an equine, with a blurb about what made this horse a winner in their eyes. We hoped to promote the idea that every horse - while not necessarily an elite show jumper or top rated racehorse - was still a winner. Then they would encourage people to vote - at $5 a donation, directly to one of the four groups - and the equine amassing the most votes would win a prize basket. Each basket contained:

(1) a one-year premium membership to the Chronicle of the Horse Forums
(2) a $30 gift certificate from Dover Saddlery
(3) a fine art necklace (value $40) donated by Christina Harmon of Chrissi Lynn Designs
(4) a blinged browband (value $60) donated by Sheri Pederson
(5) a t shirt from the 501(c)3 organization

This contest raised over $2000 for the four groups!

But in the process, and in trying to tweak how to set up the contest, Colleen and I realized that since we were not 501(c)3 ourselves, it was a little problematic to set up the contest. Which is what started us thinking...