Alley Cat Allies is one of my favorite organizations. Here is their purpose, straight from their website:

Alley Cat Allies advocates for the wholesale transformation of our nation’s animal control and shelter system – a system that most Americans may expect or falsely believe to be protective of all animals.

So how do they do this? By using the “Trap-Neuter-Return” method. What this means is that they neuter stray cats and return them back home. Instead of sticking feral cats in shelters, let them live their lives. I have a poster on my wall that has a picture of a cat and says “She’s not homeless. She’s lived outside for 6 years” (or something to that affect – the poster’s at home while I’m in college). I think this is a point that many people don’t consider. Cats can outdoors.

One of the reasons this organization is important to me is that about five years ago we had a large group of feral cats take over our yard. We fed them, but they also fed themselves. We didn’t fix any of the cats, and looking back, I wish I had known better. The population grew very quickly, and before long we had far too many cats than we had money to feed them with. This organization promotes fixing cats so others won’t have this problem. And it saves cats from being taken to shelters, where they may be killed because of people not using shelters as their main way to aquire companion animals.

Please take a look at their website and make a contribution.