Animal Welfare Professionals

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Fundraising and donations

  • 1.  Fundraising and donations

    Posted 03-26-2024 09:52 AM

    What are some ways your group has been successful with fundraising and donations this year? It seems like most rescues are hurting. I know we are. Just wanted to see what other groups are doing successfully. :)


    #FundraisingandDevelopment

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    Michele Futch
    President
    N FL Rescue Inc
    FL
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  • 2.  RE: Fundraising and donations

    Posted 03-26-2024 10:27 AM

    We have found donation drives to be a great resource for donations/fundraising.  Gyms, schools, libraries, etc. We always request canned food, toys, towels, blankets. 



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    Whitney Hollingsworth
    Southern Pines Animal Shelter
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  • 3.  RE: Fundraising and donations

    Posted 03-27-2024 01:43 AM

    Hi, Michele.  You are right that every nickel is harder to win! Our on line campaigns are still generating recent, but we aren't always reaching goals and they need a lot of shepherding.  So, we continue our approximately monthly  in person fundraisers that are actually more friend-raisers,  and focus hard on developing relationships with our friends and donors, old and new.  The fundraisers have small financial goals (upcoming bowling event is $4000, a wine tasting at a winery is $2000, etc), it's really about a monthly touch-base with donors and friends so they are ready for our bigger pleas.   As a relatively small group with a budget of around $250k, we still take a very hands on approach to development and try to follow the rules to connect with your people three times for each donation.  Be it an event, a newsletter, an emailed update, or a personal call for the big donors.  Development is a slow process that is invaluable.  Fundraisers are only one piece of development.  



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    Diane Metz
    Volunteer
    Orange Street Cats, Inc.
    NY
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  • 4.  RE: Fundraising and donations

    Posted 03-27-2024 06:00 AM

    Thank you so much for the feedback. Any and all help, is appreciated. We are struggling here.



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    Michele Futch
    President
    N FL Rescue Inc
    FL
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  • 5.  RE: Fundraising and donations

    Posted 03-28-2024 10:31 AM

    Donations are definitely going down in all sectors. It can be really challenging, so you're not alone. We do four appeal letters each year to our mailing list, and make sure to feature a heartwarming story about an animal and lots of pictures. We also have a fee-waived adoption event and vendor fair in the summer, and this year are having a concert and dance party in the fall with a local band. We also do one-off events like Cat Trivia and Cat Yoga (we are a cats-only operation). It all depends on how much money you're looking to raise, but with some ingenuity and a good team, there are ways. If you don't have a big team I'd try the appeal letter (maybe you're already doing that?) And always share many many pics of the animals...that's what the people want to see! 



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    Meghan Randolph
    Development and Communications Coordinator
    Madison Cat Project
    WI
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  • 6.  RE: Fundraising and donations

    Posted 03-29-2024 03:26 AM

    Hi Meghan, I'm with a cat rescue as well (Eden Animal Haven in Missouri). We tried our first direct mail appeal in December and got very little response. The mailer followed the guidelines of a Best Friends webinar, featuring a single adorable kitten and an upbeat story.  I used our mailing list of people already affiliated with our rescue as donors, adopters, fosters, or volunteers. In the process of figuring out how to do a mailing, I learned that you can obtain a list of addresses from USPS  for specific zip codes. I'm curious how you and others put together a mailing list? Is it better to use known contacts or try a "cold call"?



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    Pamela Adelmann
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  • 7.  RE: Fundraising and donations

    Posted 03-29-2024 07:40 AM

    I'm the volunteer President of the Board of Purrfect Match Cat Rescue based in West Tennessee.  We're a smaller non-profit with a $250K budget.  In 2022 our board created a Fund Development Strategic Plan with the goal to expand our revenue sources from primarily FaceBook posts seeking small/medium contributions to a more well-rounded fund raising program.  Our plan is to institute ONE new avenue of revenue each of the next 5 years.  In 2023 we focused on grants.  We received 7 grants from foundations across the US totaling over $60K in NEW REVENUE.   We will continue seeking grants in 2024.  Our 2024 focus is expanding our social media presence.  We qualified for Google Ads for Non Profits and get $10k a month to create campaigns on Google. Our Facebook and website are connected to these campaigns.  In addition, we are starting an Instagram presence and it is connected to our FaceBook posts.  In 2025 we will continue both of these programs and add corporate fund raising and Donor Advised funds locally.  In 2026 we will add Planned Giving as by then we hope to have greatly expanded our donor base that will give us more opportunity to promote bequests and gifts of stock/IRA contributions.  As a totally volunteer-driven organization, we feel that we can handle one new program a year and still continue to strengthen the ones we have put in place in past years.   We purposely DO NOT do any special events as we don't have the volunteer bandwith it takes and the ROI is usually not enough for the time and expense they take to be successful.



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    Bruce Thorsen
    President, Board of Directors
    Purrfect Match Cat Rescue
    Millington TN
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  • 8.  RE: Fundraising and donations

    Posted 09-22-2024 03:22 PM

    That sounds like a very well thought out approach Bruce. I had not heard about the Google Ads program so will be looking into that. Our most stable source of funding is a "per animal" sponsorship or plea. It is definitely getting harder. 



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    Pauline Haas-Vaughn
    Director
    Cherished Tails Senior Sanctuary
    AZ
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  • 9.  RE: Fundraising and donations

    Posted 09-23-2024 05:29 AM

    We looked into the Google ads grants and were accepted. We decided to bow out because of the feed back we got from a dozen or so other cat rescues. For us small rescues, the Google ads grants brought not donations, but more cats. These shelters stated that they became the "drop off point" from unwanted cats, even if you were not accepting new inflow. We are more a hospice than a true rescue and don't accept the sick or disabled cats from other than our TNR partners and local animal services. We decided the few donations that might come in was not worth the trouble. I hope this helps.



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    Buck Hamilton
    Chief Cat Wrangler
    Mandarin's Retreat
    TX
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  • 10.  RE: Fundraising and donations

    Posted 09-23-2024 05:34 AM
    Wow!  That's good information to know.  We don't need more intake, as we and all our other local rescues and shelters are overflowing now.
    Sent from my iPad

    On Sep 23, 2024, at 8:30 AM, Buck Hamilton via Maddie's Pet Forum <Mail@maddiesfund.org> wrote:

    
    We looked into the Google ads grants and were accepted. We decided to bow out because of the feed back we got from a dozen or so other cat rescues... -posted to the "Animal Welfare Professionals" community





  • 11.  RE: Fundraising and donations

    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous
    Posted 09-23-2024 11:57 AM
    This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

    Wow! That's good to know. All our shelters and rescues are overflowing now, and don't need more intake.  So, I wonder why the original poster was so successful?




  • 12.  RE: Fundraising and donations

    Posted 09-24-2024 04:31 AM

    This is why we decided not to pursue Google Ads. Every time we do any PR event (such as being featured on a local news station recently), we receive many more requests to take in cats and no apparent increase in donations or adoptions. It's common that even when I wear one of our t-shirts out in public , someone approaches me about cats that need help. 



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    Pamela Adelmann
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