Millions of dollars a year are funneled into animal shelters that may or may not have good spending habits. Where does all this money come from? Taxes and donations from the kind hearted animal lovers like all of you reading this. What if there was an additional way to fund these shelters and rescues so that they had more funds to care for the animals so less animals would have to be euthanized? As a business person and an environmentally conscience citizen I have a few ideas but no funds to implement them with the shelter I work with. The following are a few business ideas that will bring income into a shelter and also help the community, some even reduce landfills.:
Art and Craft store - tons of people throw away scraps of things like office supplies, left over building materials, old clothes, broken lamps, picture frames, old jewelry, anything that has parts that can be used in crafts (even electronic mother board chips!) If you opened a space for people to donate these things they can be cleaned up organized (by volunteers) and sold as craft items, additionally the place could offer craft classes or craft kits for even more income.
Plant store - When I go to estate sales I always see tons of overgrown potted plants all over people's yards. If you have such a yard like my mom you understand what I mean. If someone could open a plant store people could either clean up their plants and break them down into half or less when they are over grown and donate the excess plants to sell at the store, or they could bring the whole plant to the store and buy more pots and soil and maybe the store could even have a potting class to teach people about proper care for plants and when to re-pot. People could also donate extra pots and planting supplies like the plastic pots that plants come in when you buy them from Home Depot or other stores (donate instead of throwing away). People could also dry seeds from fruits and veggies that they eat at home and either donate the seeds or have an active seed exchange at the store. Additionally, in an outdoor area people could donate compost items and the store could cultivate the compost and when ready sell it back to the customers as rich soil. Customers could bring their own recyclable bags and self scoop what they want to buy.
Animal boarding - Even if your shelter doesn't have a space to do large scale boarding your fosters could volunteer/commission to do boarding. They could take as many as they are willing to commit to and the earned income from the boarding would go back to the shelter.
Animal grooming - If you have a groomer that is willing to volunteer their time a well groomed animal will always be adopted faster than a stinky un-groomed one. Groomers may even be willing to give a percentage of a groom price back to a shelter in exchange for new client referrals. Just partner with a groomer and when adopting out an animal pass a flier about the groom shop along to the new adopter and then when they book an appointment your shelter gets commission. Or your shelter could open a grooming salon. Having been a groomer for 26 years let me tell you it is an extremely profitable business. You could also ask your local groomer if you could have a fundraising dog wash once a month on a day they are normally closed. You provide the volunteers and shampoo and then either get all or a commission of the profits depending on the agreement with the groomer.
Veterinary practice - In California you do not have to be a Veterinarian to own a Vet practice. You can own the business side of a practice and you get a Vet to partner with you to own the medicine side of the practice. This way your shelter gets half the income, you get at cost rates for the veterinary needs of your rescue animals, and you don't have to scramble around last minute for emergency visits. If your shelter already has a Veterinarian on staff like City and County shelters they could expand the Vet practice by hiring an additional Vet or two to allow appointments from the public. This allows income from clients as opposed to just bills from shelter animals. They could even offer a low cost spay and neuter clinic. This would ideally reduce the number of animals being abandon in the shelter if the community had a place that could spay or neuter their pets for under $100. They might even find a new furry friend at the shelter while they wait for their pet to be spayed/neutered. Low cost spay and neuter clinics tend to make money with their "extras" list. When you drop off your pet at a clinic like this they ask if you want blood testing, vaccines, deworming, nail trims, ear cleaning, fecals, ect. These extra "tech" tasks is what brings in the big bucks to make up for the low cost of the spay and neuter. Your shelter could also partner with a veterinarian and you could offer to run a vaccine (and deworm and nail trim) clinic once or twice a month out of their office in an exchange for a percentage of the profits or a discount on Vet practices. You provide the personnel and the vaccines and supplies to run the clinic and everyone wins and money is made.
Thrift store - This is an idea that a lot of non-profits have. It is a great idea and there are endless donations but if you also offer pick up and drop off of large items or large amount of items you will sell a lot more and intake a lot more. I also recommend putting a donation jars out for any of these business ideas because that always bring in donations as well. A lot of people don't know this but thrift stores can be branded in many different ways depending on who you want to attract as clients. If you want to attract a more affluent crowd you would call it a "second hand boutique" If you want to sell as much as you can you call it a "thrift store" but be prepared for a lot of theft in that instance. Thrift stores can also be focal. For instance you don't have to accept everything, you could accept only used pet items for instance and be a second hand pet store. This brings in income and also goodies for the animals in the shelter to use. Or you could be a "recycled fashion" clothing store; this bodes well when situated next to a school. Second hand kitchen and bath stores are very trendy right now and sell everything you would find in a kitchen, bathroom, plus odds and ends used as decoration such as vases, and doilies. Some even sell floating islands or standing cabinets that could be used in a kitchen or bath. There are also building supply excess stores where contractors dump new extras from job sites, or things they have pulled out of job sites that are still usable. This does limit your client demographic to lower end contractors trying to get a good deal, and DIY people who can't afford or don't want brand new building supplies. In this case it is good to contract with a few contractors so that they give you a list of items they need and when those items get donated you call them to come buy them this provides you with a consistent income.
I hope that these ideas help other shelters make money and save more animal lives. I am business consultant and I am willing to offer my services if it will help animal lives. So if you have the funds and want to start any of these ideas but need help let me know. Happy fundraising everyone!
#AccesstoCare#FundraisingandDevelopment#OrganizationalManagement------------------------------
April Cannizzaro
CEO
San Diego Last Chance Ranch
CA
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