Winter Campaign
Donate to Polga’s Fund & win an animal portrait
Welcome to Polga’s Fund website
A work in progress as it’s currently under construction, but I’m very excited about it and it will be a one stop place for everything Polga’s Fund: the work, the transparent accounts, plus some interesting / educational content, will all appear in early 2026.
Win a Cat or Dog portrait during our Fundraiser
Really good news here at Polga’s Fund – I’ve teamed up with a brilliant Bulgarian wildlife artist, Mariana Bankova, who will paint a cat or dog bust portrait for the winner of this fundraiser. Here’s some examples of her work, and you can see more on her website: marianabird.com .
Details of the fundraiser are after the next few paragraphs, explaining why it’s necessary . . . if you don’t want to read about it, just scroll down to the pink text below.
Examples of Mariana’s beautiful work
Success stories on the website
Currently you can see some stories of successful rescues and rehomings of abandoned animals but when I founded Polga’s Fund my sole intention was to only neuter and since I started in 2014 I’ve neutered 816 cats and dogs, funded entirely by donations and fundraising initiatives – that’s prevented suffering in literally thousands of puppies and kittens.Â
Yes, I’ve picked up rescues along the way – I can’t look away if I see them – but mostly these are funded by just me or by specific fundraisers – the pressure to neuter is too great to divert funds to other needs.Â
The story, ‘A Neutering Trip’ describes a pretty typical day for me and is written by 13 year old, animal mad, Sanna, who accompanied me on 4th December 2025, to see first hand what is involved. I love her story and it really shows some of what my work involves.
Why a fundraiser is necessary
Right now my work here in Bulgaria is reaching a standstill because Polga’s Fund is £1000 overspent but winter is here which always makes life harder for cats and dogs. The aims of this fundraiser are to resolve the overspend, to vaccinate 31 rescued, rehomed dogs against rabies (an annual, legal requirement here, otherwise these animals can be seized), to try to get some money into the coffers for the tough, winter months ahead and to hopefully increase the number of regular monthly donors.
Globally times are tough for everyone and I’ve seen some monthly donors disappear this year, which I understand completely but it means I don’t receive enough money now to even pay for the food deliveries to the strays, the street cats and dogs which I’ve neutered and returned to the streets when it was safe to do so and to the poor people who cannot otherwise feed their beloved pets.
Despite being out of the country for the best part of a year, for personal reasons, I’ve still managed to neuter 36 cats and dogs in 2025 and I’ve continued, from afar, to fund all the monthly food deliveries.
How to win an original portraitÂ
of your (or a friend’s) cat or dog
Every donation of £10 gets you a ticket in the draw, to be held on 30th December; £20 gets you 2 tickets, £30 gets you 3 etc etc.. Â
Simply donate, citing the reference ‘Portix’ to either:
PayPal (make sure you choose ‘Family & Friends’ to avoid charges)Â
Or you can donate directly into the Polga’s Fund bank account.
(Revolut wouldn’t let me call it Polga’s Fund, insisting it can only be in my name but it is for Polga’s Fund use only).
Donating through Revolut:
Payments in sterling only please; I convert donations to BGN within the app, to avoid bank charges.
Sandra Lois Ellis   04-29-09   03764257
Revolut LtdÂ
30 South Colonnade,Â
E14 5HX,Â
London,Â
United Kingdom
Once you’ve donated…Â
please get in touch with me
After donating, please email me at polgasfund@gmail.com so I can send you your ticket numbers. The winner will be announced on here and also notified by email. The winner will need to email some photos of a single pet, by 3rd January and I’ll bring the portrait to the UK personally, on 20th January 2026.
Regular monthly donors will all get a free ticket for the draw.
If you would like to become a monthly donor, please set up your SO to the Revolut account with the reference ‘Polga’ and notify me by email that you’ve done that, so I can give you your unique donor number.Â
Good luck and thank you so much for supporting Polga’s Fund.
