Frequently Asked Questions

What is EFA Artists Helping Animals?
How does EFA help animals?
What are the Membership Requirements for Team EFA ?
What are the Membership Terms for Team EFA ?
How do I join EFA?
Why should I join EFA?
What is the Monthly Challenge?
How do I enter the Monthly Challenge?
How do I advertise with EFA?
more questions here...

What is EFA Artists Helping Animals?

EFA Artists Helping Animals is a group of 600 independent artists, independent craftspeople, independent vintage suppliers, and independent art and craft suppliers that combine their efforts to provide charitable relief to animals.
EFA can be found as a Team on Etsy.com, an online marketplace for buying and selling handmade items. All members of EFA are also Etsy members

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How does EFA help animals?

Each month an animal charity is chosen from charities nominated by one or more EFA members to be the EFA Charity of the Month. Please check out our EFA Animal Charity of the Month to see who we are supporting this month as a group and past charities to which we have donated.
Many members of EFA donate 10 to 100 percent of their sales or profits to either the EFA Animal Charity of the Month and to other animal charities. To find EFA sellers on Etsy, search team efa

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What are the Membership Requirements for Team EFA ?

1. EFA is a diverse group with a common bond - working to help animals. Here are some examples of that work: animal volunteer work, animal foster work, providing permanent home for animals, creating habitat for animals, fund raising for animals, animal advocacy work, donating to animal charities, participating in EFA's Charity of the Month, crafting for the benefit of animals.

We'd love to get to know you better so when you submit your application, or renewal for membership, please write a few sentences about what your work with animals entails.

2. You must place the following in your shop announcement and/or profile.

Member of Etsy for Animals: http://efaartistshelpinganimals.org/
OR
Member of Etsy for Animals (EFA): Artists Helping Animals http://efaartistshelpinganimals.org/

Although only one shop per member can be listed in the EFA membership list, you may use this announcement in all your Etsy stores.

3. You must join the EFA Yahoo Groups list so that we can effectively communicate with all EFA members through email. This is where we post updates about our blog features as well as our Charity of the Month program and other related EFA news. By being on the EFA Groups list, you can also enjoy the benefits of being part of the EFA community.

4. In order to be able to promote Team EFA and its membership, consider tagging as many of your products with our team identity: team efa. Using this tag is the only way that we, Treasury makers, and shoppers alike, can find your items on Etsy. If you have an Etsy shop, we require that you have a minimum of one active listing tagged with 'team efa'. Just remember, untagged items will not be found in Team EFA searches !

What are the Membership Terms for Team EFA ?

1. EFA is 100% volunteer supported and thrives on trust and respect. Our volunteers put in a considerable amount of their time and effort into making EFA and its causes a success. We expect members to be polite and mature in their interactions with EFA volunteers. Abusive and threatening behavior will not be tolerated and could result in the termination of your relationship with EFA.

2. Although you are welcome to express your own personal opinions within the group, do so politely and please respect other EFA members' lifestyles, political views, spiritual beliefs, and dietary preferences.

3. We ask that you respond to convos and e-mails from EFA in a timely manner and within 5 days. Failure to communicate with us may result in removing you from the membership list. We reserve the right to make exceptions as appropriate in individual circumstances.

4. If you have a problem concerning your EFA membership, or if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to convo our Team Leader, Michele through her Etsy shop: Mvegan5.

How do I join EFA?

For more information on joining Team EFA, please contact Michele, EFA's Team Leader & membership director, through her Etsy store: Mvegan5

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Why should I join EFA?

You are an indiepreneur and love animals!

You want to help your animal charity of choice through the EFA Charity of the Month and EFA's other charitable activities.

You want to join a network of animal lovers to share skills, work on projects that help animals, and promote your shop!

What else? We asked some current members:

Nancy of NanjoDogz says:
Joining EFA is a fulfilling experience if you're an animal lover and a crafty person since you have the opportunity to combine both passions. It is rewarding to create the art that you love and use it to give back to the creatures of the world that we love so much. I'm not able to send money to all the charities I would like to, but I can either donate the pieces I make to animal charity, or give back a portion of what I make by selling them - it's the best of both worlds!

Jen of DragonRags says:
When I joined Etsy, seeking out EFA was one of the first things I did. As a broke animal person, it was a no-brainer! I don't have money, but I have skills to make things to raise money....so...why not make things to raise money for the animals? Other reasons to join: networking with other artists...networking with other animal rescue folks...support (I have found everyone to be so nice!)

Gena of Dogonwear says:
I joined EFA because of my love for animals. I liked the people right away and its a great place to network. It's also a very active team - there are always challenges,
charities, projects, and other activities going on. I make dog items and being an active EFA member has helped me to make many business connections I would not have made otherwise...and I have made good friends.

Renovia of EndlessWhimsy says:
I love cats, and have two, but since I can't adopt any more, I give a portion of my shop profits to a local shelter that needs help for their own cats (I also volunteer there). Being an EFA member has helped me gain exposure for both my charity and my business. It's also great to participate in a group that works to raise funds and awareness of animal charities all over the world.

Melissa of LissaLush says:
One day something made me want be more active with helping animals, and as silly as this sounds, it was actually the "Angel" commercial that the ASPCA has. The first time I saw it I was in tears and away to the computer I went to donate! After that, I wanted to do more on a personal level, so I started volunteering at The Tenth Life cat shelter. I had seen lots of posts about EFA in the forums, and I thought it was really cool that so many of the members gave to animal charities and that a new one was picked every month. After looking at shops, and the team page and seeing that it looked like a nice, easygoing team, I wanted to join! I have a disability so I'm not able to do as much as I'd like to, but I think one of the things that has helped me best handle my disability is my involvement in EFA. It has been a great support system for me. Sometimes it's harder than other times, but one of the great things about EFA is that one can choose their level of involvement and I'm able to do what I can handle (and sometimes a bit more!)

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What is the Monthly Challenge?

Every month EFA hosts a challenge for the month. Each month, the challenge has a different theme, chosen by vote from those suggested by the past month's challenge entrants.

All EFA members are invited to submit their challenge item, which will then be featured on the EFA Treasury/Challenge Blog throughout the month. Have fun while showing off your talent!

You can take a quick look at all the items that have been featured by viewing the EFA Shop favorites. All showcased items support animal charities.

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How do you enter the Monthly Challenge?

Please bear with us as we revamp the monthly challenge procedure! For now, we ask that you
list your challenge item in your shop, and convo LolaLynn on Etsy or email her at monthlychallenge-at-EFAArtistsHelpingAnimals-dot-org with a link to your listing.

As always, entries will be highlighted on this website during the month, and entries will be publicized in the EFA Challenge thread on the Etsy forums.

Note that:

- Only EFA members may participate. If you are not a member, join EFA!
- A portion of the proceeds of the item entered must be donated to an animal organization.

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How do I advertisde with EFA?