My Nonprofit Reviews

Note that almost all the glowing reviews here are by people who volunteer or are on the board for Merlin’s, and three out of four adopter / prospective adopter reviews are negative?
It SHOULD BE all about getting needy cats into good homes. But with Merlin’s staff’s ways of interacting with prospective adopters, It’s not.
If you make adoption too much harder than just buying a cat or kitten, it does not help foster animals in need of good forever homes. But that appears to be exactly what Merlin’s does.
If you're considering donating (or adopting) from this organization or another:
* Look at their adoption application form; does it seem overly intrusive?
* Reach out to Merlin’s and any other place and ask them:
* How many cats they get into forever homes per week, month, or year?
* What is their approval rate / rejection ratio of prospective adopters?
* How many cats are in their care?
* How long does the average cat is in their care before it gets adopted?
* Look at their responses to negative reviews, both on this site and on others.
* Decide if the number of animals they put into loving homes is worth your sponsorship.
Or… pretend to be a prospective adoptee. See how long it takes to fill out the application. Put at least one thing that is not 100% perfect on the form, submit it, and then see how they treat you.
There are SO MANY OTHER BETTER organizations to donate to. Ones that are getting cats into good forever homes, not keeping them in foster care forever. I can attest that Ninth Life Rescue, Animal Advocates, and Rescue and Relax, all near Pittsburgh, are much more willing to WORK with adoptees to remedy any shortcomings in the home and GET CATS INTO FOREVER HOMES.
In contrast, the Merlin’s organization seems to look for the tiniest reasons NOT to get animals adopted, rather than working WITH (possibly less than perfect) prospective adoptees / homes. They seem totally uninterested in proactively discussing and addressing any of what the Merlin's staff perceives as shortcomings of the home, adopter, etc. prior to releasing the cats.
I adopted two wonderful young cats from one of those OTHER organizations. The cats will be healthy, happy and loved in their new forever home. And the other charity got $450 from me to help them continue to do great work.
As mentioned by another reviewer, it is SUPPOSED to be all about the cats... but apparently not for cats held by Merlin's. I hope they can do better for the cats in their care, or prove me wrong with statistics / numbers, as suggested above. I also hope, if they respond to this review, they can reply without being condescending.

More Feedback