Animal Welfare Professionals

My wife and I have been running our rescue for a couple years now with 100% of our financial contributions coming from our weekly paychecks. We have never really done any type of fundraising or grant work, so I figured I'd get on here and see if anyone had any helpful insight. We are located in Port Charlotte, Florida. Thank you in advance

#FundraisingandDevelopment

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Jeremy Miller
Vice president
Redwoods Rescue
FL
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If you read this thread, you will be able to see some of the best places to start applying for grants.  Many are "online" applications and not too daunting!  My advice to you in starting out is to accumulate all these documents in one place, both electronic versions and paper versions.  This will help make it much easier to apply as most sources want all or some of these documents:  IRS letter; board of directors list/background; current budget; latest 990 filing; statistics on # of animals you've rescued in last 2 years; a mission statement (I created a one-page overview of our organization with History, Mission, Finances, Governance: Statistics of our rescues).  There may be some other documents you need for some applications, but having these "ready to go" will help you A LOT!   Best of Success!!

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Bruce Thorsen
President of the Board
Purrfect Match Cat Adoptions Inc.
DBA Purrfect Match Cat Rescue
Millington, TN 38053
www.purrfectmatchcatrescue.org
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Watching for responses, as I'm here for the exact same reason on behalf of our rescue and shelter located id Bradley, South Carolina.  

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Janice Kenney
Volunteer / IT & Website
Four Paws Rescue and Shelter
SC
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I'm here with the exact same issue! Our rescue and shelter has always been self-funded with ocasional donations from friends and family. As we're all approaching ages 75-80 we realize this is unsustainable as (future) younger, paid staff will eventually need to take over! 

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Janice Kenney
Volunteer / IT & Website
Four Paws Rescue and Shelter
SC
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Hi,

I have experience writing grants in the human side of things (public health and healthcare). I would be willing to volunteer to help folks write grants - specifically around the data piece - what your organization will be tracking, how the data will be collected and how the data will be used to track improvement. Being able to show a robust evaluation and monitoring plan goes a long way with funders who want to make sure their dollars and resulting in measurable change. This is work I do as a paid consultant but I am a HUGE fan of all the work you folks do and would love to pay it forward!

Please feel free to reach out to me at Lisa@LisaLearyConsulting.com, or find out more information on my website: www.LisaLearyConsulting.com

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Lisa Leary
Independent Consultant
Lisa Leary Consulting, LLC
NH
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Lisa, this is an amazing offer. I honestly do not know where to start. This is all foreign verbiage to me. I'm not sure what information you would need in order to help us write anything up. I can give you a break down of what we are and what we do, followed by what we are looking for assistance with. Would that help?

we are a registered 501.c3 here in florida, we focus on bully breed dogs, birds ( mainly parrots) and non-venomous snakes.

we are looking for grants to help paid some of our very large vet bills as well as to help cover cost of preventatives. 
   Thank you for your help!

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Jeremy Miller
Vice president
Redwoods Rescue
FL
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-06-2026 03:24 PM
From: Lisa Leary
Subject: Grant help

Hi,

I have experience writing grants in the human side of things (public health and healthcare). I would be willing to volunteer to help folks write grants - specifically around the data piece - what your organization will be tracking, how the data will be collected and how the data will be used to track improvement. Being able to show a robust evaluation and monitoring plan goes a long way with funders who want to make sure their dollars and resulting in measurable change. This is work I do as a paid consultant but I am a HUGE fan of all the work you folks do and would love to pay it forward!

Please feel free to reach out to me at Lisa@LisaLearyConsulting.com, or find out more information on my website: www.LisaLearyConsulting.com

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Lisa Leary
Independent Consultant
Lisa Leary Consulting, LLC
NH
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Hi Jeremy,

We can learn together. Please reach out to me at Lisa@LisaLearyConsulting.com and we can set up a time to discuss.

Lisa

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Lisa Leary
Independent Consultant
Lisa Leary Consulting, LLC
NH
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-11-2026 12:28 PM
From: Jeremy Miller
Subject: Grant help

Lisa, this is an amazing offer. I honestly do not know where to start. This is all foreign verbiage to me. I'm not sure what information you would need in order to help us write anything up. I can give you a break down of what we are and what we do, followed by what we are looking for assistance with. Would that help?

we are a registered 501.c3 here in florida, we focus on bully breed dogs, birds ( mainly parrots) and non-venomous snakes.

we are looking for grants to help paid some of our very large vet bills as well as to help cover cost of preventatives. 
   Thank you for your help!

------------------------------
Jeremy Miller
Vice president
Redwoods Rescue
FL
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 07-06-2026 03:24 PM
From: Lisa Leary
Subject: Grant help

Hi,

I have experience writing grants in the human side of things (public health and healthcare). I would be willing to volunteer to help folks write grants - specifically around the data piece - what your organization will be tracking, how the data will be collected and how the data will be used to track improvement. Being able to show a robust evaluation and monitoring plan goes a long way with funders who want to make sure their dollars and resulting in measurable change. This is work I do as a paid consultant but I am a HUGE fan of all the work you folks do and would love to pay it forward!

Please feel free to reach out to me at Lisa@LisaLearyConsulting.com, or find out more information on my website: www.LisaLearyConsulting.com

------------------------------
Lisa Leary
Independent Consultant
Lisa Leary Consulting, LLC
NH
------------------------------

Prior to my current role in Development for my local SPCA, I was Director of Grant Writing for a human services organization (mental & behavioral health). The advice provided here thus far is solid. You will need much in the way of documentation (IRS Letter, 990, Current Budget, etc.), but your story and your reason for applying will be just as important. For those orgs making their first foray into the world of grant applications, it can be daunting, but there are a wealth of resources available. Although you can get a decent distance based only on the power of standard search engines, websites like Grantstation, Grantwatch and others can be instrumental in narrowing down the best opportunities for you to target. Although nearly every company under the sun (Walmart, TD Bank, PSEG) has a social responsibility clause and issues grants related to any number of causes, the easiest place to start for the inexperienced grant seeker would be to search for grants from Trusts and Foundations that serve your mission area and your state. Generally speaking, local Trusts and Foundations have fewer criteria to meet, offer smaller but still worthwhile amounts, and generally connect more intimately with the community they serve.  Quite frankly, there's much more to be learned, but if we're talking early-stage strategy, that's the best advice I can offer. 

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Dan Hodges
Development Coordinator
Montgomery County SPCA
PA
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Assuming GrantWatch and GrantStation are subscription based, are they worth the money in your opinion? 

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Samantha Singer
Volunteer grant writer
Big Bones Canine Rescue
CO
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-13-2026 05:31 AM
From: Dan Hodges
Subject: Grant help

Prior to my current role in Development for my local SPCA, I was Director of Grant Writing for a human services organization (mental & behavioral health). The advice provided here thus far is solid. You will need much in the way of documentation (IRS Letter, 990, Current Budget, etc.), but your story and your reason for applying will be just as important. For those orgs making their first foray into the world of grant applications, it can be daunting, but there are a wealth of resources available. Although you can get a decent distance based only on the power of standard search engines, websites like Grantstation, Grantwatch and others can be instrumental in narrowing down the best opportunities for you to target. Although nearly every company under the sun (Walmart, TD Bank, PSEG) has a social responsibility clause and issues grants related to any number of causes, the easiest place to start for the inexperienced grant seeker would be to search for grants from Trusts and Foundations that serve your mission area and your state. Generally speaking, local Trusts and Foundations have fewer criteria to meet, offer smaller but still worthwhile amounts, and generally connect more intimately with the community they serve.  Quite frankly, there's much more to be learned, but if we're talking early-stage strategy, that's the best advice I can offer. 

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Dan Hodges
Development Coordinator
Montgomery County SPCA
PA
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Rachel Rothman
Donor Relations Coordinator
Patty Baker Humane Society Naples
FL
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I'm a grant writer for a nonprofit animal shelter in Northeastern Minnesota, but I think I have resources that can help, no matter where you're located. 

My recommended grant hub is GrantWatch. It's much cheaper than Grant Station, and I find it more intuitive to use than Grant Station, Grant Gopher, or Charity How-To. I'd also highly recommend creating a profile on Candid to boost your visibility and trust with charitable organizations, and using Foundation Directory or Foundation Search to see what other organizations' experiences are with different funders. 

Please consider becoming a member of PetSmart Charities and Petco Love, and Walmart SparkGood. They are incredibly easy forms to fill out, and they're pretty generous with their funding. I've also had quite a bit of luck from our local grocery chain and Costco when it comes to pet food/cat litter/and even volunteer food donations.

Lastly, common information that's requested from organizations includes your nonprofit name (the subsequent DBA if applicable), IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter, yearly budgets, strategic planning, mission and vision statements, EIN, your shelter property value (if owned), number of employees, volunteers, foster families, organizational history and impact, board member information, asilomar reports, live-release rates, and projected budget for your prospective project(s), usually with linked items and a budget down to the penny. 

If you need more information or assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out. I hope this helps!

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Bailey Evans
Grant Writer
Animal Allies Humane Society
MN
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