Donkey welfare
Save Our Asses
Azores & Portugal
Support vetted partners with veterinary care, food, hoof and dental care, rescue and rehoming, humane-care education, and individual donkey sponsorships.
Animals × Youth × Heritage
Rhode Island × Açores
Across communities. Across the Atlantic.
Save our .
↑ Type your own A, then press enter
We all carry something.
SOA Foundation is a Rhode Island–based nonprofit concept rooted in the Azorean community. SOA means Save Our — and the A changes with the cause.
- Save our Asses
- Humane donkey care through vetted partners in the Azores and Portugal.
- Save our Adolescents
- Resilience and belonging for young people, through qualified local partners.
- Save our Ancestry
- Azorean stories and cultural connection, preserved across generations.
One idea connects all three causes
For generations, donkeys carried the visible loads of island life. Today, people carry loads that are not always visible.
SOA exists to lighten both — while honoring the Azorean roots that connect our communities.
The foundation works across three fronts that most organizations keep separate: animal welfare on the islands, youth mental wellness here at home, and the cultural thread that runs between them. They belong together because they describe the same thing from three angles — a load, and who helps carry it.
Our belief is simple. No one — animal or person — should have to carry it alone.
What we support
Three causes. One promise to help carry the load.
Youth mental wellness
Save Our Adolescents
Rhode Island & SE Massachusetts
Fund awareness, resilience, belonging, and outdoor and animal-assisted programming through qualified community and mental-health partners.
Azorean heritage
Save Our Ancestry
Across the Atlantic
Preserve intergenerational stories through oral histories, youth experiences, artists, food, music, and exchanges between New England and the Azores.
Give
Help carry the load.
Your gift goes to three places: humane care for donkeys in the Azores, support for young people carrying invisible loads here at home, and the stories that connect the two.
What your gift supports
- Veterinary, hoof, and dental care for donkeys on the islands, through partners in the Azores and Portugal.
- Rescue, rehoming, and humane-care education for the animals still working the land.
- Resilience and belonging programming for young people, delivered by licensed local organizations.
- Oral histories, youth exchanges, and cultural work that keep Azorean stories alive on both sides of the Atlantic.
- The Long Table, the gathering where all three causes meet.
Every organization we fund works under a written agreement, and we publish what we funded and what it paid for.
How often
Amount
Choose an amount to continue.
Our 501(c)(3) application is pending, so gifts are not yet tax-deductible. We'll tell you the day that changes.
First-year activation
The Long Table turns the mission into an evening.
A communal Azorean-inspired dinner bringing together Rhode Island and Fall River–area families, Portuguese and Azorean businesses, artists, youth advocates, and animal-welfare supporters.
The evening tells three stories: a donkey from the islands, an Azorean family story that reaches both sides of the Atlantic, and a young person's story about an invisible load. Guests see exactly how proceeds support each pillar.
Ask about a table
Three stories.
One shared promise
to help carry the load. Rhode Island × Açores
One shared promise
to help carry the load. Rhode Island × Açores
- The evening
- Long tables, hydrangeas, and candlelight. Azorean food and music, shared the way it's meant to be — passed down the table.
- The stories
- Three, told between courses: a donkey from the islands, an Azorean family, and a young person carrying something you can't see.
- Taking part
- Seats, full tables, and sponsorships are available to families, businesses, and anyone who wants to help carry the load.
Take part
Five ways to join in — pick the one that sounds like you.
What's Your A?
Complete the blank and share what matters to you.
Save Our Asses
Sponsor a donkey and fund humane care on the islands.
The Load We Carry
Help young people name what they're carrying.
SOA Stories
Sit down with your avó and record one story before it's lost.
I Saved an Ass.
Wear it. It starts more conversations than a lapel pin.
What's your A?
Supporters finish the sentence themselves. Here's what people are saving.
Our commitments
Where the money goes, and who does the work.
Vetted partners
Every organization we fund is reviewed first and works under a written agreement. No money moves on a handshake.
Care from professionals
Mental-health services come from licensed, established organizations. SOA funds and connects — we don't diagnose or treat.
Published results
We report what we funded, what it paid for, and what happens next, so you can see your gift land.
Stories told with consent
No young person's or family's story is shared without their permission, and it stays theirs.
Board oversight
A board spanning animal welfare, youth mental health, the Azorean community, finance, and law governs the foundation.
Get in touch
We'd like to hear from you.
Whether you want to give, sponsor a table, bring your organization alongside ours, or record a story that shouldn't be lost — start here.
- hello@soafoundation.orgWe answer within two business days.
- Partnerships
- partners@soafoundation.orgAnimal-welfare organizations, youth and mental-health providers, and community groups.
- Based in
- Rhode Island & Southeastern MassachusettsWorking across the Atlantic with partners in the Azores and Portugal.
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