Animal Welfare Professionals

Hi my name is Gini  and I volunteer at the OC Shelter and I also volunteer with Carma that takes in medical needs dogs and cats.  I have friends who run small rescues and would love to help them raise funds for their medical expenses.  They take in a lot of senior dogs  with medical needs.  I would love any advice or suggestions on how to help.  I have never written  grant but have been doing research on grant writing.  Thank you.
#FundraisingandDevelopment

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Gini Moncur
Dog volunteer
OC Animal Shelter
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Hi Gini! 

First and foremost, thank you for helping their rescue! What we at my rescue try and do at least once a month (usually 2-3, but life is busy), is run 1 virtual fundraiser, like See's Candy or Scentsy, where people all over can order from, one event with adoptable animals at a local business to support community involvement (this also helps our animals with socialization and exposure to new people), and one restaurant fundraiser. A Panda Express near you will likely run a fundraiser where folks can just mention what they're there for and a portion will be donated from each sale. 

Good luck!

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Riley Morris
President
Almost Eden Rescue
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Hiya! Make sure you are utilizing facebook fundraising! Do not make it a sad story like "this dog will d!e if you do not donate" We recently raised money for a momma dog to get out of the shelter I said "While I LOVE momma dog Mila and her five CHUNKY babies she cannot live with me!! Mila has the wonderful chance to say adios to Sweet Home Alabama and live her life as a jersey girl with her pups!! If you have a car you might know how expensive gas is and New Jersey is farrrrrr! Help us get her OUTTA HEREEE!!!!!" Another simple fundraising is getting local breweries to do a donation night. If they have an outside area bring some adoptable pets and part of the beer sales can go to the shelter!! If you are doing this for the animal shelter and not a private rescue make sure they can accept monetary donations and it actually goes to them! DOwn here ours just goes into a general fund so the police department could use it instead of city shelter!

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Rachel Aune
Board Member
Friends of Mobile animal shelter
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Hi Gini,

Growing your network of donors and supporters on social media, email, donor lists, etc. as others have suggested is going to be your most effective route.  These are people in your community who you can regularly connect with and who will feel connected to the animals that you're serving. Storytelling and photos are incredibly effective at building those connections and helping to get fundraising for medical care.

There are some grant agencies out there that provide medical support, but the application process tends to be very specific, complex, and competitive.  If you're interested in seeing any additional grant support or other medical support items, check out this thread for a list of funders and resources.

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Jeff Okazaki
Humane Society of Jefferson County
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Our foster based rescue takes in many dogs from Detroit Animal Care and Control who currently doesn't have an in house vet. We take in many pricy emergency medical cases and are also looking for help to cover these costs. The last dog we brought into our rescue has a vet bill of over $9,000. Many rescues won't or can't take these cases. We're looking for ideas to help these animals. 

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Carol Bronson
Volunteer Grant Writer
Hearts of Hope Dog Rescue
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