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Post by Sarah on Feb 8, 2005 15:46:30 GMT -5
Since I'm stuck at home I figure what better time that to figure out fundraising for the rescue for this year. Problem is I have NO idea what to do that will work as I never did any type of fundraising prior to this so I am clueless as to what works well and what isn't worth trying.
Currently we have car magnets for sale (pictured on our website), do used cell phone recycling, have Ebay auctions, are part of the Country Supply Care program, do Food Lion shop and share, have a car donation program, and are working with an art for horses program. We are also working on getting a calander together for 2006 with photos that the kids school art program has drawn specifically for us to use. We also plan to take 6 and make greeting type cards and use another as a Tshirt design. We also do flea markets, bake sales, and car washes during spring/summer/fall.
My question is what good fundraising opportunities are out there? What good ideas do you have? Anyone want a non paying job as a "director of fundraising?"
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Post by linda on Feb 8, 2005 16:55:52 GMT -5
How about selling "shares" of some of the animals? There is a lot of benefit of owning a "share". You don't have to clean up after the animal, pay to feed it, curry it, pay the vet bills, etc. You could send the share holder a picture and occassional e-mail updates or whatever. One of the mustang ranches sells "shares" of some of their horses. People come and want to see "their" horse, pitch in for extra expenses, etc. I know that I have bought shares in about 3 rescue horses so far. Actually, you could just post the updates and the pictures on your website. People could check up on "their" horses that way. My latest shared horse has just been retired to a permanent home. Pictures were posted just last week and everyone is so pleased by how good Joey looks now and how fat he is getting (he was a very skinny boy.) It is pretty unbelievable how attached we all are to "our" horse. We all pitched in between $5 and $20 to purchase the horse and take care of him until he was well enough to go to this retirement home. Check out the stories on Joey--looks like you have lots of time on your hands  nhrexracers.proboards2.com/index.cgiLinda |
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Post by Sarah on Feb 8, 2005 17:36:47 GMT -5
We have something similar to that in a "sponsorship" program for some of the sanctuary horses and a hybrid. So far I have had nobody interested in that idea either  I probably ought to talk to the designer who developed my site and see if there is another way to work the "available for sponsorship" animals in to the search feature without going looking for the link to them. However I don't want them coming up in the adoptable search as I don't want to constantly field emails/calls for them either... |
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Post by Mary Ann on Feb 8, 2005 17:48:40 GMT -5
I'm wondering if you ever got that e-mail I sent you about fundraising ideas. It was drawn pretty much from what rescues in our area do, plus a couple of links. The rescue close to me is relatively small, but they do good work, and the lady that runs it is wonderful. You can tell her I referred you to her, if you like. I know this is a constant struggle for them, too. I suppose in these times where employers are demanding more and more of employees, and where disposable income seems scarce, it's hard to come up with donations.  |
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Post by Jenni on Feb 8, 2005 18:58:01 GMT -5
A variation on your calendar idea... the county animal shelter here had a calendar contest where people sent in their favorite picture of their pets with a $5 entry fee. If they won they got a free calendar, if not they just donated the money. My SIL sent in a pic of their Husky when she was a pup and she was selected for "Miss November" so guess what we all got for x-mas from the nephews? That's 7 extra calendars sold right there! I think they charged $5 per calendar.
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Post by Frosty M on Feb 8, 2005 20:08:21 GMT -5
knows how to write grant proposals and wrote gramts for local, county, state, regional, and federal money.
Invite all the rich people you know to be on your board of directors and get them to hit up their rich friends for money.
Set up a film contest. Charge a small fee to enter. Award a free animal to the best original short on Animal Rescues.
Go to your local schools and give talks about rescuing animals.
(I don't suppose this would bring in money but it would be nice!).
Have a horse show and get local businesses to sponsor classes.
Sell advertising in the programs.
That's all I can think of right now. You are already doing a wonderful job. Kudos!
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Post by Cally on Feb 8, 2005 20:41:01 GMT -5
I was looking on another horse therapy website, and they did a photo contest. Each entry cost $2 (although you could charge $5, I think that's a good round #). The winner of the photo contest got 20% of all of the entry fees, and the therapy group got the rest.
I'm sure you could do some version of that? Between everyone here on Equifriends, SM, we're members of SEVERAL bulletin boards. I'm sure you would get lots of interest!
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Post by Chrisnstar on Feb 8, 2005 23:41:17 GMT -5
Sarah, FrostyM has some really good suggestions...
A guy I know has a big cat sanctuary and he was really getting in trouble financially and was practically out on the street with half a dozen tigers, some mountain lions and other big cats.
He met up with a financial advisor who donated his time and rounded up some people with money to help. They set up a board, created a 501c3 organization (I know you've done that already), gave the sanctuary a cool name, Cedar Cove Feline Park, and set Bill up as the director.
They held fund raisers, got someone to donate 10 acres to him, got donations of material and labor to build fantastic cages, exercise yards and other thigns the cats needed and even set up an education center where school kids can come, hear a lecture and see slides and films, and then visit the cats from a safe distance.
It's all very professional now and has become quite an asset to the area.
chris
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Post by Sarah on Feb 9, 2005 11:09:26 GMT -5
I've got a grantwriter (writes grants for the NY state police)...a lawyer on my board (free legal work), we do speeches at the local schools and do speeches for 4H groups.
The photo contest idea is a good one as well as the film contest and I'll run those by the board and see if that will work. This is a little dinky redneck community that sees no purpose in what we do and does not support us in any way shape or form so help from this area is very limited. My lawyer did send out a mass mailing to all the lawyers in a 2 state area and got $125 in donations out of 100 letters sent out.
We are going to do some bigger fundraisers later in the year like an auction (auction company is doing it free of charge), a poker run, a cook off, and other stuff like that. We have also given consideration to hosting a couple of shows during the summer but have to get approval from the fair committie who owns the land the show facility for the county sets on.
I did email the lady you sent me the name of Maryann and she never responded to me. I figure she is as busy as we are and just didn't have time...
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Post by Mary Ann on Feb 9, 2005 13:28:21 GMT -5
I'm so sorry she didn't respond; animals would be better off if people would network.  And it could be she feels like she's spinning her wheels. It's tough times for rescues, I know.... |
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Post by denise on Feb 10, 2005 12:06:08 GMT -5
do you have a sticker where to mail it? I have one I would be willing to donate for you. Have you thought about adding toner/printer cartridges? Most of the places that do the recycling have postage paid labels and I bet quite a few of the people on both boards that work in smaller companies, at home, etc. could mail them off for you if you provided the mailing labels. I have accumulated five or six of them in my office that I have been meaning to donate and haven't. I would be willing to send them off on your behalf if you go down that road and send me the labels.
Maybe you could solicit some of the smaller companies in your area that would normally just throw the cartridges away that they would use the mailers you provide to mail the cartridges/cellphones, etc. for you.
What about boxtops? Are they only for school or would they maybe consider letting you in on that program since they do send out cash.
Have you thought about an auction? The therapeutic riding program in our area has a big fund raising auction/dinner every year. Maybe you could do something like that at your farm and make it a chili feed instead of a sit down dinner instead. It could/would be a lot of work but it might pay off. GL.
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Post by Sarah on Feb 10, 2005 14:51:17 GMT -5
Denise, We are working with CKA Associates www.cashforcritters.com/ and the "Cash for Critters" program for the recycling and can also do the printer cartridges as well as the cell phones. UPS lables can be downloaded from the site for shipping and we are of course listed as Lost Fantasy Stables & Animal Rescue Inc. for the program so anyone who might like to donate from home can do so that way instead of sending them to us for us to send in. I think the boxtops are pretty much just for schools but it might be something to look into. |
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Post by denise on Feb 14, 2005 16:13:26 GMT -5
Sarah - I have bookmarked the website and I will continue to accumulate cartridges and send them in on your behalf. I don't have ten pounds worth yet but I can bug family to accumulate them. My family already does labels and boxtops for me as I used to be the coordinator at the lutheran school my kids went to. I have a couple of friends who have small businesses and I will ask them to accumulate for me also. I much prefer to recycle than throw away and I really like to do it for a good cause!
If I can think of any other ideas, I will let you know. GL.
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