Donate & Support

What Happens to your Donation?

Your donation – no matter the size – can make a real impact. Here’s how we put contributions to good use:

Education Programs

Your support helps us create and distribute educational materials to schools, camps, and communities. For example, we design kid-friendly brochures about tick safety, we send “Lyme lime” awareness flyers to local clinics, and we develop online resources (like this website!). Donations help cover printing costs, website maintenance, and development of new content. We also do educational talks at schools – your donation might fund the gas for us to get there, or the props and visual aids we use to teach.

Tick Safety Kits

We assemble and give out tick kits at events – these include things like fine-tipped tweezers, a magnifier, tick identification cards, and mini bottles of repellent. With donations, we can offer these kits for free or low cost to families, scouts, hikers – anyone who needs them. A kit given to a child could prevent an illness – that’s huge!

Community Events & Workshops

We host events like our annual “Tick Talk Walkathon” and free community workshops on prevention. Donations help us rent venues, buy supplies (like that giant lime green tent you’ll see at our events!), and provide refreshments. We also sometimes need to pay for insurance or permits – the not-so-fun stuff that is essential to run events.

Youth Leadership Training

As a teen-led initiative, we want to train other young people to be health educators and advocates. Donations may fund a small scholarship for a teen project, or pay for training materials for our youth ambassador program. We want to empower the next generation of tick-borne disease advocates, and your support can literally create young leaders.

Outreach & Kits for Patients

We prepare “care packages” for people currently battling tick-borne illnesses (things like a soft blanket, a get-well card, list of resources, maybe some ginger tea for nausea). It’s our way of showing compassion and solidarity. Donations make these care packages possible. We also maintain an online support forum – funds help keep that running ad-free and safely moderated.

Operational Transparency

We are committed to transparency. That means we’ll gladly show you where the money goes. We have minimal overhead. There are no fancy offices (our HQ is basically Sofia’s family kitchen table, a laptop, and this web-page). This is a labor of love, so you can be assured your donation isn’t lining any pockets, it’s going right into our programs. We will publish an annual report and budget summary so you can see how funds are allocated.

Ways to Give

One-Time Donation

Every dollar helps. You can donate online via our secure portal (credit card, PayPal, etc.), or mail a check if you prefer (address on our Contact page). Think about it this way: the cost of one movie ticket could print 50 tick safety pamphlets for local schools. 🏫🎒

Monthly Giving

Consider becoming a Lime Green Monthly Donor. Even $10 or $20 a month (the cost of a couple of lattes) provides steady support we can count on. Monthly donors are like the backbone of our efforts – knowing we have that regular support means we can plan bigger projects. Plus, as a monthly donor, you’ll get special updates and a little welcome gift (we have cute Tick Borne Inc. lime-green stickers to send you as a thank you).

In Honor or Memory

If you want to honor someone who’s been affected by a tick-borne disease, you can make a donation in their name. We can acknowledge this on our site or privately to the family – however you prefer. It’s a meaningful way to create something positive in the face of illness.

Corporate Matching

Check if your employer does donation matching. A 5-minute form could double your impact if your company matches charitable gifts.

Other Ways

Not everyone can give money – and that’s okay! You can support us by volunteering (see the next section), spreading the word on social media, or even donating supplies (like maybe you own a print shop and can donate printing, etc.). We’re grateful for support in any form.

Gratitude

We truly appreciate every contribution. We like to shout out our donors (with permission of course) because you deserve recognition as part of this fight. Major donors (above a certain amount) will be acknowledged on our website and at events (unless you prefer to remain anonymous). But even if you give $5, know that in our hearts we are giving you a giant thank-you hug. 🤗

Transparency Note

Tick Borne Inc. is entirely non-profit – Sofia (our founder) doesn’t get a salary, nor do our volunteers. If one day we grow to have staff, we’ll be open about that. For now, donations go to program costs and some basic admin like maintaining our website domain and buying stamps to mail materials. Our board oversees the finances diligently. We want you to feel 100% confident that your generosity is respected and used wisely.

Call to Action

Ready to help? Click the “Donate Now” button at the top of the page to make a secure online donation. Or if you prefer old-school, mail a check to the address found in our Contact Us page.

Tick-borne diseases are on the rise, but with your help, so is awareness and prevention. Together, let’s equip more people with knowledge, protect more kids playing outside, and support those who are in the battle of recovery.

From the bottom of our hearts (and on behalf of everyone who will benefit from your kindness),

Thank You💚

for supporting Tick Borne Inc.! Your gift truly makes a difference.