Hi Rob,
Thank you for thinking of the smaller rescues. Smaller rescue's miss out on so much as a lot of the donations and grants are given via competitions, so for example, how many likes, or how many votes - there is no way a small rescue can compete with the shelters and big rescue's. Then there are the grants that require a larger amount of animals being cared for, donations of vaccines, monthly preventatives and such - again we don't qualify for that.
Rescues are an integral part of shelters, yet the shelters seem to reap the benefits and the small rescue's just continue to struggle on with all the costs, little support and time to do what is needed.
You could have your own verification process with who you actually want to help - and have rescue's/small shelters apply and then maybe do a donation on a rotating system, so have everyone in a list and then each month the next organization on the list gets whatever is raised.
Marketing I think is also a huge issue - maybe you could have a rescue/shelter of the month and during that month you promote them on your social media, ask your clients/employees and such to promote.
I find I have everyone claiming they want to help when posting on Facebook, but simple things like going to the rescue website and choosing a dog and sharing that dog is like asking someone to go to the moon and back - if I share the dog on FB, then people will share, but asking them to do something on their own is so difficult. So again the promoting of the rescue and dogs is not happening as much as it could/should/needed.
You could also maybe create a survey and post on here to see what the needs are - I think it is excellent that you are reaching out to have the best impact and again thank you for thinking of the smaller guys, you have you no idea how refreshing it is :)
Jen
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Jenny Cope - Fear Free Certified
President/Founder
Give a Dog a Home, German Shepherd Dog Rescue
501c3 Non- Profit Corp, Tax ID/EIN 27-5241306
State of Maine Shelter/Rescue Licence # F1463
State of Maine Registered Charity: CO11334
https://giveadogahome.rescuegroups.org/------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 08-26-2021 05:20 PM
From: Natalia Lebedeva
Subject: Advice for meaningful ways to donate/help animal rescues?
Hi Rob,
Such a great intention!
Are you only looking for shelters or would consider non-profits that adopt animals out of their foster homes? Majority are volunteer-run with small budgets and definitely would love helping hand with marketing.
What geographic area do you have in mind?
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Natalia Lebedeva
Original Message:
Sent: 08-25-2021 01:21 PM
From: Robert Yau
Subject: Advice for meaningful ways to donate/help animal rescues?
Hello:
I am the founder of a new startup in the pet space. (Not posting link to avoid self-promotion.) We want to find a meaningful way where we can support local shelters. Specifically, some of the less well-known ones. Any advice on how/where we can get more information? For example: is there a professional group for local shelters? And visibility on how effective their spend is?
We don't expect our donation will initially be big - but it may in the future. Our goal is to make an impact and also give visibility to the shelters that may not have a big marketing budget.
Any advice/info is appreciated.
Thanks,
Rob
#FundraisingandDevelopment
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Robert Yau
Sincere
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