Born in Australia. Built to help animals around the world.
Help My Mates is currently being developed as an animal welfare, conservation and education initiative.
Our mission
"To inspire the next generation to love, understand and protect animals, while making it simple for people to directly support trusted animal charities around the world."
Learn about animals. Love animals. Help animals.
Animals around the world need our help — and most people genuinely want to give it. The problem isn't generosity. It's knowing where to start, which organisations to trust, and how to make your support count.
Help My Mates is being built to solve that. One donation. You choose your mates. You choose the split. We want to make helping animals as simple, transparent and engaging as possible.
We're at the very beginning of this journey — and we're building it openly, honestly, and with the community.
Educate
Teach young children about animals, welfare, habitats and conservation through characters, videos, games, apps and activities. Build the next generation of animal lovers.
Connect
Connect families and donors with vetted grassroots animal organisations around the world. Every organisation we list is personally verified and has agreed to participate.
Fund
Let people make one contribution and choose how their support is divided across animals, shelters and habitats. You choose your mates. You choose the split.
Meet the founder
Help My Mates was founded by Thomas Gosewinkel with a simple idea: make helping animals easier, more engaging and more transparent.
Thomas is personally funding the first A$500 and contributing his time to take Help My Mates from an idea into a real global animal community.
The long-term goal is ambitious: create A$10 million of positive impact for animals, habitats and the organisations protecting them over the next 10 years.
But Help My Mates isn't intended to be Thomas's story alone. The goal is to build a community of Founding Mates, volunteers, animal organisations, families and businesses who can say: 'I helped build this.'
It Started With CHF 20
Help My Mates began with 20 Swiss francs.
In Switzerland in 2022, founder Thomas shared an idea for making it easier for people to help animals.
There was no website. No organisation. No donation platform. Just an idea.
A woman who heard the idea handed Thomas CHF 20 specifically to help the animals.
Thomas never recorded her name, but she became Donor #001.
That CHF 20 proved something important: someone believed in the idea enough to give.
The idea was then put aside for four years.
In September 2026, Thomas finally brought Help My Mates to life, committing A$500 of founder/startup funding and his first 100 hours of work to building the project.
Important: The A$500 is NOT an animal donation. It is founder/startup funding used to build Help My Mates. The founder's 100 hours are donated time, not money donated to animals. The first animal donation remains the CHF 20 from Donor #001.
"We may never know the name of Donor #001. But we'll never forget where Help My Mates started."
From CHF 20 to A$10 Million of Impact
A$10 million is a long-term 10-year goal — not money already raised. We're at the very beginning of this journey.
Become a Founding Mate
Thomas has put in the first A$500 and his time. Now we're looking for the first 100 people who want to help build Help My Mates.
You don't need to give thousands of dollars to become part of the beginning. Help in a meaningful way and you can become one of our Founding Mates.
"I was there at the beginning."
Become a Founding MateWhat we stand for
Our goal
Build a model where operating costs are supported separately, allowing as much public support as possible to reach the animal organisations people choose.
Full transparency
We're committed to publishing clear, honest reporting on where support goes — once real verified data exists.
Verified partners
Every organisation we work with will be personally vetted and agreed to participate before being listed.
Australian-born, global
We start with Australian animals and grow to support animal organisations and habitats around the world.
How your donation works
You choose your split
Use our slider tool to decide what percentage of your donation goes to each of the causes you care about.
You donate securely
Your payment is processed securely via Stripe. We accept all major cards.
Support reaches the causes
We are building the distribution model to maximise how much support reaches trusted animal organisations. Our founding charity partners are currently being selected.
We report honestly
Once real verified data exists, we will publish clear impact reports. Until then, we show zero rather than invented numbers.
Ready to help your mates?
Join us at the beginning. Every bit of support — money, time, skills or connections — helps build something real.
Become a Founding Mate