Raise Money for an Animal Shelter

During an ailing economy, companion animals are hit especially hard when their owners feel that they can no longer afford to feed them or keep them due to foreclosures or loss of income. And many of these animals end up in shelters, already under many financial pressures themselves. With resources stretched thin, animal shelters in your area will always benefit from additional funds, something that you can definitely help with if you put your mind to it. Raising money for animal shelters is possible in numerous ways and this article explores some of the possibilities. Ultimately, choose the methods that resonate best with you and your own talents.

Steps

  1. Select a suitable animal shelter in your area. Keeping your choice local is important because it means that you can visit regularly, offer a helping hand if needed and find out exactly what would benefit the shelter most. Also, find out if it's okay for you to tell people that you're raising money directly for the animal shelter––they will want to know if anyone is planning to do this on their behalf, especially to ensure that you are upholding their reputation and can reassure people that all of your efforts are going toward the shelter. You might also be able to obtain information about the shelter to distribute as part of your fundraising.
  2. Talk to the animal shelter about what they're already doing to raise funds. It's important that you don't cut into what they're doing and that you offer something distinctive that won't leave people confused or fundraising weary.
  3. Formulate your fundraising mission. It's not enough to be enthused about the cause; you also need to know the cause inside out! Know as much as possible about how the shelter operates, the good things that it is doing to rescue, feed, care for and help animals that end up there. The more that you know, the more successful you will be in engaging others and convincing them that this is a worthy cause, inspiring them to support the shelter's work both now and perhaps in an ongoing manner.Aim to inspire both compassion and empathy when putting together your personal fundraising mission for the shelter.
  4. Decide on a suitable fundraising effort for the shelter. This will be a combination of what you're interested in doing as well as what is likely to work well in your locale. Take into account the season too––a lemonade stand is not likely to be popular in the middle of winter but a hot chocolate one might be! Some possible ideas include: A food or drink stand––be sure to comply with all local regulations on food service and obtain any licenses required, as well as maintaining excellent hygiene standards. Holding a bake sale is another option.Make crafts and sell them. There are lots of possibilities here––sell in a local craft market, at your workplace or educational institution, at special events like fairs and shows, online, through friends and family, etc. Choose something you're great at making and that isn't too costly to make in the first place.
  5. Hold an art exhibition. If you're good at drawing or painting, and perhaps if you have friends who are also good at these arts, set up a local exhibition to raise funds and hopefully sell the art as well as raise the profile of the local artists. Ask local galleries if they'd be willing to donate some space for the event, in the cause of the animals.
  6. If you run your own business, donate a percentage from each sale or service rendered direct to the animal shelter. Let people know you're doing this as it can encourage them to do the same too.
  7. Dog walking. This is a neat way to provide a useful service for animal lovers and to raise awareness of the shelter's efforts at the same time.
  8. Run a yard sale or a garage sale. All that old junk in your home could soon be someone else's treasure and more money for the animal shelter!
  9. Social networking fundraising. You could encourage people to make donations online through a secure donation source. Ways to encourage this include running a competition in which the prizes are donated to the shelter, sharing touching stories about and photos of animals at the shelter, asking for sponsorship for specific animals at the shelter, and perhaps helping an animal shelter to set up some social networking if it hasn't already done so, or offering to help out with existing networking efforts. Another possible approach includes making videos about the shelter and encouraging everyone to share it around, including a request for donations inside the video.
  10. Set up a pet food bank in your area. This is especially useful where there isn't one already in existence and might be something that you can do from your workplace, school or community center. You could also leave leaflets in the mailboxes along your street letting people in your area know that they can drop off pet food to your place at any time, and that it will be donated direct to the shelter. Obviously, before doing this effort, check with the shelter that it is something they'd appreciate.
  11. Offer to give talks about caring for animals, the animal shelter or anything else related in return for a small donation to the shelter. This can be an awareness-raising session useful for schools, senior centers, community centers, businesses, workplaces, etc., especially if you tailor the talk to specific topics of interest such as pet care, environmental issues and how pets keep people healthy, etc. This is a good way to improve your public speaking skills too!
  12. In similar vein to the previous suggestion, offer to run a class in something you're skilled at and charge fees for it. Donate your time and skills and send all of the fees raised to the animal shelter. And, if you have actual skills in relation to animals, such as grooming dogs or massaging cats, consider holding classes at the animal shelter itself if possible.
  13. Sell things online through auction sites to raise money. Donate all of your proceeds direct to the shelter. You can inform people that you're doing this and that you can send proof of the donation via email if anyone asks for it.
  14. Get donations for going on a long walk/run, long distance swim, mountain climb or similar physical effort. Ask for donations for milestones achieved along the way or get pledges for donations when you've finished the task.
  15. Partner up with a buddy or more. Some fundraising efforts will go much more smoothly and successfully if you have help. Team up with people who love the idea of raising money for the local animal shelter as much as you and really throw your weight into the fundraising effort together. Some ways you could possibly do this include:
    • Hold a community event. The sky's the limit for such an event, from barbecues to sporting matches on the local oval or rink. This can be a lot of organizational effort though and requires good marketing skills, so it's something that should be approached as a team, with each team member working to his or her strengths.
    • Ask local businesses for donations. This is easier when several of you are asking, so that you can cover more ground. The donations could be money, skills or in-kind. In particular, ask for ongoing sponsorships as well as one-off donations.
    • Auctions, raffles and bingo nights are best done as a team because they require a fair bit of effort and logistics. In each case, be sure to comply with local laws on running such events.
    • Set up a thrift store for the animal shelter. This will take a lot of effort and will require ongoing costs such as the shop premises, etc., but as a team it might be possible to get something running on a more permanent basis that doesn't cost much due to the generosity of everyone involved. A long-term project perhaps but a very worthy one that will not only raise money for the homeless animals but will also ensure that much-needed goods are redistributed within your local community.
    • Longer term fundraising ventures are often best done with a team, so that you can each contribute your efforts and skills over a period of time. For example, setting up corporate sponsorships and getting free help with marketing, public relations, etc. and anything requiring technical input from firms tend to be time-consuming efforts that will benefit from team input.
  16. Make it clear to customers where the money you raise is going. Provided you have the permission of the animal shelter, you could use banners, signs, logos etc. of the shelter to increase the impact of your fundraising. If people understand where the money is going, they're likely to spend more or to offer additional donations.
    • When approaching a potentially big donor, know something about the donor as well as about the shelter. This matters because you'll need to convince the donor of the reasons why you feel that they would make a good donor, and showing that you're aware of the donor's existing interests and philanthropic activities. Moreover, be sure to do this in person.
    • When asking for funds directly from people, don't engage them in long discussions. People are busy and short is always sweet. If they want more information, you can always send them details by email or refer them to the shelter's website.
  17. Market your fundraising. Find suitable ways to market the fundraising you're doing so that people are aware to turn up to events, join classes, send money, etc. Most importantly of all, focus on the cause rather than on the organization itself––always tell people about what is being done to help the animals and how things change for the better when donations are made. Here are just some of the ways to promote your fundraising efforts:
    • Advertise in the pet section of the local paper.
    • Spread the word through your social media contacts and ask them to pass it on. Concentrate principally on those in the local area.
    • Put flyers into people's mail boxes.
    • Hang up posters and similar signs where it's legal to do so in your local community.
    • Send emails around to friends and family and ask them to forward this information on to people they know in the area.
    • At work, place something on your electronic noticeboard, as well as sharing on any bulletin board people regularly check out.
    • Through word of mouth––tell people what you're doing whenever you have the opportunity.
  18. Donate the funds you've raised and publicize contributions. Try to capture the donation moment some way so that this can be shared online for donors to see the outcome for themselves. Often a photograph is a good option, with a small write-up about how much was raised, what the funds will be used for and how animals at the shelter have benefited. Share this via social media, email updates and similar. Donors like to know how they've made a difference and when you wish to seek more money later, they'll be more likely to donate again knowing the good they're contributing toward.
  19. Always send thank you notes to people who have helped you and made identifiable donations. For example, someone who gifts your cause $500 or a business that donates office equipment should definitely receive a thank you note and a shout-out on social media for their kindness. Beyond thank-yous, other great ways to recognize specific donations include certificates, plaques and a general thank-you from those working at the shelter.

Tips

  • Think of ways beyond money that you can help the shelter, such as making blankets for the animals, giving your time to help directly and sewing toys for the animals.
  • If buying or donating food for the animals, find out what sorts of animals are in the shelter first.
  • If holding a fundraising event, be very practical about everything that needs to be done. Events are usually a lot of work and require help from other people, so don't try to stretch yourself too thinly. Things to consider include the legality of the event's location and provision of things such as alcohol and food, timing the event so as not to clash with other major events in the same area, having enough people to run stalls/activities, etc., ensuring that people have easy access to the event (including parking space), setting out ways that make it easy to donate (such as collection tins, raffles, etc.).
  • For in-kind donations, create a wish list that can be placed online for business and other donors to see what the shelter needs.
  • Are you good at writing grant proposals? This can be another way to help out a cash-strapped shelter, especially if they don't have anyone with the time to request grants.

Warnings

  • Don't guilt people into donating. Not only will this result in small, or no, donations, but it'll leave a bitter impression in people's minds. Use positive messaging as much as possible to encourage people to see all the good that the shelter does.
  • Don't seek donations from any source that would compromise the shelter. For example, a place that tests chemicals on animals should not be a place you seek funding from.

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