About us | About us

About Us

About us

Our story

Waldo’s Friends is a not-for-profit organisation that runs an online store and collection of resources designed to create awareness and raise funds for animal rescue through ethically produced goods. 50% of all profits are donated to animal rescue shelters.

The idea for Waldo’s Friends was born when my partner and I adopted our first cat and dog in late 2017. It was around the same time that a few of our friends adopted their own special buddies from animal rescue shelters. Within the span of one year, we came to know and love seven animals – all found or abandoned – from local shelters full of great people doing exceptional work. Sadly, not all animals left behind by selfish owners get this lucky, and most of these shelter workers operate on frightfully low budgets – often through community volunteers and fundraisers.

The good news is that more of us care now than ever before, and we care not just for the animals we live with and love, but also those that are struggling in the wild. Waldo’s Friends is a project designed to bring together the two worlds of animal rescue and environmentally sustainable business practises.

And to this end, we hope that for every unsustainably produced product out there – there are thousands more that are ethically sourced, are carbon neutral, and give back to the shelters who protect and serve our furry friends.

Waldo, Salsa and their humans!

Meet the creatures behind Waldo’s Friends

Superpower

can cuddle two animals while juggling work and negotiating lunch

Will usually be found

at the laptop, with Salsa shoving her butt in her face because she forgot to feed her

Sasha

Founder/ Resident super duper crazy cat-dog lady
Superpower

can whip your marketing into shape while smiling that 1.21 GigaWatts smile

Will usually be found

being brilliant with content, with a pretty damn delicious looking latte by her side.

Mimi

Content Chief/ Gifted cheerleader & Insta Bingo Queen
Superpower

can talk to dogs. Like really talk to them, and bring their vibes into the world

Will usually be found

Juggling between shelter fundraisers, training dogs, and being an exceptional makeup artist – with a never-say-die attitude.

Stef

Committee Member and Fundraising Partner/ Mother of Huskies
Superpower

can deconstruct world affairs while enjoying a good cat meme

Will usually be found

wrangling great product out of literally anyone, with Waldo loyally parked at his feet.

Prashant

Committee Member and Tech Advisor/ Kitty Litter and Dog Patch Manager
Superpower

can help anyone block out the noise and focus on the real stuff, with not a single ‘well, actually’

Will usually be found

Will usually be found: programming across three screens while planning which home improvement project she’ll workshop over the weekend.

Diana

Committee Member and Tech Advisor/ Jedi Master for young padawans everywhere
Superpower

can teach anyone how to do engineering things, while juggling a baby and a highly suss old cat

Will usually be found

Will usually be found: making magic with code, while dealing with Sasha’s 1 million and 10 questions on Slack.

Luke

Special Projects Advisor/ New pet human dad and veteran cat dad
Superpower

can whip up editorial plans in seconds – complete with stunning photography and words that feed your soul

Will usually be found

Will usually be found: travelling the world and photographing it all, or bushwalking the Blue Mountains with her doggo sidekicks.

Jo

Committee Member and Editorial Advisor / Career zen master
Superpower

stalking each other, herding each other, grade A zoomies

Will usually be found

trying to get under whichever piece of furniture the humans are sitting on, sleeping and occasionally making everyone squeal by cuddling each other.

Waldo & Salsa

Waldo: Name Partner/ Vibe Coordinator Salsa: Silent Partner / Food Supervisor

Our values

Be genuine

We value transparency in everything – whether it’s about how we got our products or about why we’re doing the things we do for animal rescue awareness.

Work together

We want to work with anyone interested in making ethical products to support important causes, and anyone who’s keen to use our platform for promoting awareness.

Learn new things

We love learning new things and if you have a suggestion or contribution about how we can do something better, we’re ready for it! We want to learn more as we grow.

Cultivate interests

Nothing happens if we stand still and as we do more and share more, we want to cultivate new interests – that will ultimately enrich our platform and community.