Why People Donate to SAVE THE FROGS!

Introduction

My number one rule of fundraising is that “Fundraising is critical to mission success”. Since 2008 I have helped raise more than $1,800,000 for worldwide amphibian conservation efforts. As most of SAVE THE FROGS! funding comes via donations from individuals (rather than the government, corporations or foundations), it is important to know what actually motivates people to donate. I can think of a multitude of reasons people should donate to SAVE THE FROGS!. For instance:

• Your donation funds efforts that protect amphibian habitat and make our environment cleaner, healthier, and more beautiful.
• Your donation helps SAVE THE FROGS! staff and volunteers educate thousands of people about amphibians, in a time when the schools and universities are severely lacking in terms of environmental education.
• Donating fulfills a general human desire to do good, and thus makes you feel good.
• Donating provides you a potential tax deduction, ensuring that more of your hard earned money gets used for environmental protection and less goes to governmental waste.

But why do people actually donate to SAVE THE FROGS!?

Read on to find out!

Whenever someone donates to SAVE THE FROGS! online, I always get an email notification. I usually reply to thank the donor and to ask new donors what inspired them to donate. I get some interesting replies as you can imagine, so I created this webpage on which to put some of my favorites…

Frog art courtesy of Raikoumoon

Why People Donate

“It was actually my son Sidney — he chose SAVE THE FROGS! as a nonprofit to support for his 6th birthday. In other words, I put out an envelope at his party and asked the guests to bring food and donations instead of presents. So we get good food at the party, happy people supporting a good cause, and less crap at my house!”
— Erica S.

Frog art by Michele Hamill.

“Hello Dr. Kerry, Thanks for contacting me and letting me confess you my weird story. To be honest, I’m not a frog lover, neither I’ve been interested in their lives. I am mostly a cat guy. My motivation comes from the memory of a childhood small cruelty act.I think I was around 8 when I saw a small olive frog on the ground. Then, I started throwing small stones at him, till I injured him – I believe I didn’t kill him. But he didn’t run away and kept on looking at me, making me immediately regretting for torturing this little creature. Somehow this incident stuck into the back of my mind and all my life (now I’m 43) I have a kind of guilt towards the species of frogs. If you’d asked me why I don’t have the same guilt towards the hundreds of chicken and pigs that I’ve eaten, I have no answer for you. 

Last week, after reading something about frogs, got a memory of this old matter and had a flash “if it is still disturbing you, why you don’t do something for frogs,as a compensation?”. So I made a little googling, found you, got convinced that your work is genuine and here I am! As far as I know, here in Greece there are no frog protection groups or movements. Probably they are not considered endangered spices. The biggest ecological problem in this country is deforestation. At least we don’t eat frogs here (apart from a small region called Ioannina) and we don’t dissect them in classrooms.

All the best for you, your projects and also have merry holidays!
— Gerasimos M., Engineer, Larymna, Greece”

Frog Art by Christine Marsh – 2011 SAVE THE FROGS! Art Contest

Frog Art from India

“My 11 year old daughter loves frogs, and wanted to donate to your organization instead of receiving an Easter gift this year. She has started an organization at her school called Frogwatch where they look for frogs on the playground and make sure the frogs aren’t harmed by children. She really enjoyed watching the video class on your website about humane alternatives to frog dissection, since she enters middle school next year and has been concerned about it. We are loving exploring your great website!”
— Riannon C.

The Lichtle family in action saving frogs in California, raising funds and educating the community about amphibians.

“I had a dream the night before that had frogs in it. So I thought perhaps they are in need of some help. (You probably haven’t have heard that before as a reason someone has donated LOL!) ?
— Helen”

Googly Eyes Frog Art

“Hi Kerry! I donated because I believe what you’ve got going is great for the planet. I’m a nature lover and I want to persevere the natural beauty in the world. I’m a photographer in Pennsylvania. I recently had a art fair I was in and decided that half of my profits would go towards a worthy organization to persevere nature and the places I love to take photos at. After a few days of research, SAVE THE FROGS! seemed like a great organization to donate to. Thank you for all that you do. Planet Earth thanks you too!
-Ron H.”

“Dear I-25 Northbound Frog,
My heart absolutely broke when I accidentally hit you while you were trying to cross the freeway. I’m so sorry; I did not see you until it was too late. I wish I could tell you your passing was not in vain. I’m making this donation in your memory, hoping it will help in the conservation of your family and cousins.
Rest in peace, I-25 Northbound Frog. <3
Love,
Danielle”

Frog Art at the SAVE THE FROGS! Education Center in Berkeley

“Hi Kerry,
I always donate 10% of my commission and I have my clients choose where the donation goes. My client is very passionate about SAVE THE FROGS! so he named you for the donation in his honor after closing on the purchase of his first home! I read up up your organization — very cool work you’re doing!”
— Jessica Luginbill, Realtor

Young SAVE THE FROGS! supporters sporting their Rainbow Frog Shirts

“Hi, I have an 85 yr old mother who LOVES frogs. I am a frequent traveler out of John Wayne airport and always admire your big sign by the arrival escalator. Seemed like an obvious gift choice.
Thank you for what you do.
Dawn F.”

SAVE THE FROGS! Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger and David Lorentzen enjoying the cloud forest during the 2021 SAVE THE FROGS! Costa Rica Ecotour.

“Hi Kerry, There was recently a frog birth in my complex in Malibu, I had to watch as over the course of a month tons of little baby frogs were squashed under uncaring human feet. We take their environment then we show no respect. One of the frogs managed to make it to my balcony and I became attached to little Frogger. My cat ate the poor thing this past week 🙁 I was heartbroken. A friend recommended donating to save other frogs, and the idea was born! I hope you are fighting the good fight for these wonderful creatures!
Thanks, Jessica G.”

“Hi Kerry,
We had a frog living in a railroad tie step that comes down to our house. I was replacing the ties and knew the little guy lived there. Sure enough, when I got to his tie he was waiting, so I set him aside, turned to do something and went back to work, picking up the tie and tipping it up end over end to move it. I realized then that he was not in the spot I put him in. My guess is he jumped back into his home and when I tipped it up he got trapped inside. I haven’t seen him since. I wanted to find a new frog native to New York, now that I’m done with the construction, but figured really the best thing I could do would be to donate to your organization. I don’t know if my “karma” is back in synch, but these days anything we can do to support environmental causes is meaningful.
Best, Tom A.”

“Hi Kerry. I’m actually a trader. I actually donated because I made myself a promise to make more charitable donations to random organizations when I have large wins. I believe in giving. I picked to donate to SAVE THE FROGS! not only because I think it’s a cool cause but because I recently made money on trading a meme token called PEPE that’s logo is a cartoon frog. I picked a few different frog charities and SAVE THE FROGS! was one of them.”
– Mandy R.

Frog habitat in the steps

“I was reading a Twitter thread on bad charities and someone brought you up as a counterpoint!”
— Ian M.

“Hi,
Our sons donate part of their allowance money once they have saved up to $20 to a charity of their choice. Reece is 6 and LOVES frogs and “doesn’t want them to die”. He loves to read books and see pictures of them. He especially likes Red eyed tree frogs as he has a stuffed animal named “Patrick”. We googled where to donate to frogs and you popped up! Thanks for all you do to make the world a better place!
– Katia and Reece”

“Kerry,
Our second grade teacher loves frogs and regularly uses them in her teaching (life cycle, how they help ecosystems, classroom activities -art music relaxation). Because of her love of frogs we wanted to donate to a charity that would mean something to her (her room is covered in frogs). The students donated the money so that we could honor her during teacher appreciation week.
Sincerely,
Tess S.”

Art based on Litoria jungguy photograph by SAVE THE FROGS! Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger.

“Hello! We are actually two zookeepers running an animal comedy podcast who use some of our earnings for conservation! We love all animals and we are using the platform to educate adults about all species but having a bit of fun at the same time. We are definitely NSFW or children.
We get support through Patreon and each month we donate to a different conservation organization of our Patron’s choosing! We determine the value by the number of Reviews we received that month on iTunes. This previous month the patrons were very inspired by our recent episode about the Surinam frog plus April was National Frog Month! So your organization seemed perfect. We also randomly make donations throughout the year and hold fundraisers or auctions for wildlife!
You can see some of the places we have donated to previously on our website at https://www.keeperchatpodcast.com/conservation and we will be adding a button for your website soon! We also send our Patron’s conservation gifts we purchase from organizations online stores so we will probably go shopping on your site soon too!!
Thanks for all you do,
Flora & Fauna”

“I have always loved frogs, and as a child I was lucky enough to live near a creek so I could hear them every night throughout summer and fall. We used to catch them and let them them go (after naming them of course, lol), and they are such amazing creatures. I know how important they are to both their own local ecosystems and the world at large, and have wanted to donate to a frog based group for some time, but it just kept slipping my mind. After living in a city for several years we are once again in an area with a small stream and you can hear a lot of frogs. Unfortunately, the other night while taking out the recycling my husband and I noticed one that had been hit by a car in our parking lot. After moving its body to the grass and washing our hands I immediately began searching for a charity that supports frog conservation efforts. Yours was the one that inspired me the most. Thank you for all that you do!”
— Margie W.

Emily Moskal with some abstract frog art

“Hi Kerry,

I first heard of Save The Frogs a year or two ago when your wonderful spokesman (whose name I forgot!) came and gave a talk to us volunteers at Lindsay Wildlife Experience in Walnut Creek, CA. I enjoyed his inspiring talk and learned a lot too. But what triggered this particular donation was an incident I was a part of a few weeks ago. I was on a walk on a beautiful little nature trail between neighborhoods that has a small creek running through it. I came upon a woman and her three small kids at a pond in the creek. The oldest boy had a big pool skimming net and was scooping up anything he could get with it looking for tadpoles. I am all for kids carefully catching and looking at tadpoles as long as they put them right back. It’s how they learn. But these kids were taking all that they could catch, tadpoles, tiny fish and “sea snails” as the little kid called them and putting them in jars to take home. He was grabbing them in his fists and dropping them on the ground.  I was very upset by this and way too nicely tried to convince them that taking them home was not a good idea and they should put them back in the water. But the oldest kid, probably four or five years old, wanted to take the froggies home to show Dad. I tried to tell him that they would really like to stay in their home eating baby mosquitos and he could bring daddy there to see them. I didn’t want to upset the kid, it wasn’t my place, and the mom was oblivious and pretty much ignored me. So off they went home with ten tadpoles that I know didn’t have a chance at becoming frogs. I was really mad at myself for being too polite and not saving those frogs somehow. I went home and wrote on NextDoor about the importance of leaving frogs alone. So I have learned my lesson. Speak up! I don’t have to be nasty, but I do need to have my voice heard when it comes to wild animal welfare. So this donation is atonement. Thanks for being there and for all that you do.” – Jennifer C.

Strawberry Poison Dart Frog Art by Frank Beifus

A School Fundraiser

“Hi! My donation was the last step of a senior project I had to complete for my ELA class last semester! The goal was to raise money/items/volunteer for a cause that you care about. What I ended up doing was sewing frog plushies and raising money by selling them.

I love frogs very much and it breaks my heart that amphibian populations are on the decline across the world. I think it would be good to mention I got an A on the project! I did a bit of research about different conservation efforts and chose yours since it seemed to be the best I could find. Thank you for your curiosity!”
— Kia Blysniuk

Frog art by Александра  Шуст, Russia, 2020 SAVE THE FROGS! Art Contest