How to launch a successful dog shelter fundraiser
Nonprofit dog shelters and rescue organizations rely on fundraising to help them support and care for stray dogs, rehabilitate abused and neglected dogs, and to eventually help find them a forever home with a family or owner that will love them and give them the care they need.
Nearly six million dogs and cats entered shelters and rescues last year, according to the ASPCA. But the length of time dogs, especially larger dogs, are spending in shelters before they are adopted has increased, putting many organizations under constant strain. Shelters rely on financial support from fundraising to help with the costs of running the shelter, of improving the health of the animals in their care such as being neutered or treated for fleas, and with funding vital adoption and rehoming services.
Nonprofit shelters and organisations will often run their own fundraisers and may use online platforms like GoFundMe help to make the fundraising process much simpler. Crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe also help members of the community to support the shelter through their own fundraising efforts.
In this guide, we’ll look at how to plan your own fundraiser to support an animal shelter or a dog shelter, how to create strong, compelling storytelling, the different donation strategies you can use and how to raise awareness of your fundraiser through community outreach.
How to raise funds for nonprofit dog shelters?
What are the first steps to planning a dog shelter fundraiser?
Firstly, define your mission and your financial goals. Be clear with potential new donors what you are fundraising for and how much money you want to raise, whether it’s for the dog shelter’s ongoing operational costs, medical treatment for the animals in your care, or to fund an adoption drive. Be transparent about how much money you want to raise and exactly how the funds will be spent.
Help identify any immediate and long-term funding needs for the dog shelter. State whether you’re fundraising for something short-term such as helping with an emergency situation like a flood that has suspended operations or to repair a building that’s been damaged by a storm. If you’re working towards a long-term goal for the shelter, like a plan to expand into a new building or improve the medical facilities that are already available, give donors a timeline of what you hope to achieve and by when.
Next assemble a small volunteer team or advisory group to help plan the scale and timeline of the fundraiser, how to best reach out to the local community, organize online and in-person fundraising events, and promote the fundraiser.
How can you tell a compelling story to inspire donations?
Help inspire donations by using real life rescue stories from the dog shelter that show how it has helped animals in the area, whether they were rescued from the streets or from poor living situations. Detail how the shelter gave the dog vital medical care, much needed love and attention, and managed to find the dog a forever home. Use before and after pictures showing how happy the pooches were after the shelter looked after them.
When telling donors about how the shelter has helped all the animals in its care, make your story as emotionally engaging as possible. When writing about rescue stories describe how the shelter found the dog, what kind of a state the poor animal was in, whether they were too scared to be around humans or their fur was matted and needed extra care or if they were suffering with fleas and showing signs of distress.
Then describe how the shelter helped the dog transform into a happy animal and provide pictures or videos of them running around panting and looking happy and clean. Detail the difference you’ve seen in their behaviour since you took them in and how happy the staff were to be able to help make the dog’s life better.
What fundraising platforms and tools can help reach your audience?
Digital fundraising platforms such as GoFundMe can help you reach your desired audience and potential new donors for your fundraising efforts. It’s quick and easy to share the link to your GoFundMe across a range of digital platforms from social media accounts to the shelter’s website, and in online marketing materials and newsletters.
Using a crowdfunding platform also makes the process of donating to the shelter through your fundraising page nice and simple for people visiting the site, and you can track how much money you’re raising in real time.
Crowdfunding platforms like Just Giving and GoFundMe are also great places for you to document your fundraising efforts though posting updates, pictures, and videos from fundraising events or to show the progress of a project. You’re also able to be clear and specific about what the money is being raised for and how it is being spent. And with GoFundme you’re able to start collecting money as soon as it is donated instead of waiting until the fundraising goal has been met.
Some platforms like GoFundMePro, which is designed for nonprofits, integrate campaign management tools such as personalizing your donation forms and collecting data on your donors all in one place. It also integrates a range of fundraising tools from email marketing to donation matching, CRMs and recurring payments, to help your nonprofit reach its goal.
What outreach strategies can help you get more visibility?
You can help to get more visibility for your fundraiser by reaching out to your local community in a number of different ways. Speak to local businesses and see if they would be happy to include information about your shelter’s fundraiser either on their website or in their stores.
They may be able to have flyers on the countertop or a poster on the wall informing customers of the shelter’s work and how people can donate or volunteer. They also may be able to match any donations that you get up to a certain amount or be willing to collaborate with the shelter by helping to sponsor adoption days.
You can use social media platforms effectively to help boost awareness of your fundraising efforts by making engaging Instagram reels or posting Facebook stories or TikTok videos about your hard work and of dogs that have been rescued and helped by the shelter. Ask your followers and community to share your posts to their own networks to help engage new donors.
Contact community newspapers or local bloggers who are interested in covering fundraising efforts in the area. This is a great way to get coverage of your hard work and spread the word about the challenges the shelter is facing and why it needs help from the wider community. Be sure to ask the newspaper or bloggers to include a link to the fundraiser and to the dog shelter’s website in their online coverage.
Hosting online and in-person fundraising events are still an integral part of outreach work, too. Help raise awareness of the shelter’s needs through adoption days or meet-and-greets where members of the public can meet the dogs they may be able to take home, or host a traditional in-person fundraiser like a bake sale or a car wash. Online fundraisers like an auction or a virtual donation drive will help raise money and awareness of your cause, too.
How to raise money for a stray animal care nonprofit?
Stray animal care nonprofits work hard to help animals without a home that may have been born on the streets or left there to fend for themselves by neglectful owners. They will often run trap-neuter-return (TNR) programs to help manage the number of strays on the streets and provide them with food and medical care.
What types of donation drives can support stray animal care?
Monthly giving programs: Set up monthly giving programmes where supporters can sign up to donate a monthly financial gift. This allows stray animal nonprofits to quantify how much money they will receive through donations every month and plan how to spend the money accordingly.
Amazon wish lists and supply drives: Virtual donation drives can be incredibly effective. Set up an Amazon wish list and place anything your organization needs on it from dog and cat food to toys, dog beds, accessories, medical supplies, and even uniforms and safety equipment for staff and volunteers. These lists or dedicated supply drives make it easy for donors to support a shelter by buying specific items on the list, which they then get sent directly to the organization.
Emergency medical campaigns: Treating a stray animal that is seriously injured or has become extremely sick still costs money but stray animal care nonprofits can run fundraisers to raise money to cover the veterinary costs to help treat the animals and get them back into good health.
How can partnerships increase reach and resources?
Local and commercial partnerships can help to increase a stray animal care nonprofit’s reach and resources through donations of both services and goods.
In-kind services: Vets donate their time and medical expertise to help assess and treat strays in need of minor medical help such as de-worming, de-fleeing, and dental checks to help organizations in return for free promotion of the veterinary’s office to the non-profit’s supporters.
Partnering with pet brands: Shelters can also partner with pet food brands and local pet stores to receive food and toy donations to feed the animals in their care. The pet food brands and local pet stores are also able to show their customers that they work in collaboration with animal shelters. It’s a win win.
Corporate matching programs: People who want to donate to the dog shelter can also see if it is if their employer is part of a corporate matching programme. These programmes instantly double the amount of money being donated to a shelter. It means that $5, $10, or $50 donations can be turned into $10, $20 or $100. Ask donors if their employer runs a corporate matching gift programme and to fill out the necessary form if so.
How can you show accountability and trust to donors?
It’s vital to show accountability and trust to donors when you are fundraising to keep them engaged in your work and to pledge long term support. Be transparent about your financial reporting and where the money you raised has been spent. Be clear about how much it costs to operate the shelter each week, how much is spent on staff salaries, and what it costs to care for each animal to be checked by a vet, neutered, and fed.
Give donors regular updates about how their donations are being used and provide pictures and videos to show the progress of a project, whether that is how one animal is doing in your care, the progress of a new facility being built or of training for staff and volunteers.
Write regular impact reports or monthly newsletters for donors that detail how many animals have been trapped, neutered and released over a certain period of time, how much has been spent on food and vet bills, any success stories to shout about, and what people’s donations have been spent on.
What are individual fundraising options for dog and cat rescue nonprofits?
How can supporters raise money on your behalf?
People who want to support your dog or cat rescue nonprofit can do so by running their own fundraisers. They can run peer-to-peer fundraisers, such as asking people to donate money to their fundraiser or to your nonprofit for their birthday, or a memorial fundraiser in honour of a beloved pet they lost where the money raised is donated to charity. It’s easy for supporters to set up their own fundraiser on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, or on a crowdfunding site.
Supporters can also host personal events like a yard sale to raise money, a charity dog walk, or a digital fundraising event such as a marathon karaoke session that is livestreamed over social media. People can even help just by sharing digital donation links to the nonprofit’s own fundraiser with their friends and family, as every little bit of help will go a long way.
How do you equip your supporters to succeed in fundraising?
You can create fundraising toolkits and templates for people who want to support your animal shelter by running their own fundraisers. Make sure that you have a clear mission statement about your shelter in the tool kit that individual fundraisers can use to clearly describe your work to potential new donors, and suggest how to phrase messaging about the nonprofit for social media posts and email marketing.
Provide supporters with strong rescue success stories and highlight any individual outreach work that the shelter has done in the local area such as trapping, neutering, and releasing strays. Highlight the medical care that you provide animals in the shelter with and the rates of adoption that you have.
Outline how much it costs to run the shelter each week, how much it costs to look after a dog or a cat that comes into the shelter’s care and how much you rely on volunteers to be able to carry out your vital work. Be sure to include high resolution images and videos that supporters can use on their own fundraising pages.
How to raise money for a dog rescue nonprofit organization?
How can donor incentives increase engagement and giving?
You can use incentives to increase engagement and giving from donors through creating custom merchandise, starting up sponsor-a-dog programmes and running raffles.
Ask a local artist if they would donate their time to create custom merchandise for your shelter, such as drawing a logo or drawing some of the favourite animals in the shelter that can be printed on t-shirts, mugs or coasters. Ask if they would design some dog bandanas that you can get printed to sell in your shop and tell your supporters who the artist is, why they have donated their time to the project, and include a link to their website.
Run a sponsor-a-dog program where donors who aren’t able to have dogs themselves can instead sponsor an animal in your care by paying a monthly fee. In return, you can give a sponsorship certificate to the donor that shows that they are helping a rescue dog in need. Send them regular updates and pictures and videos about how the dog is doing and arrange designated days for the donor to come and visit.
You can also do shout-outs on social media to highlight individual donors and thank them for their endless help. Ask if they’re happy to have their picture shared and then use Instagram reels, Facebook stories or TikTok videos of how that donor has helped out, helped to fund medical treatment or a new facility at the shelter. If they don’t want the attention online, make sure they get a bunch of free raffle tickets or similar at your next event.
What events work well for dog rescue fundraising?
Online events: Raise money for your dog rescue operation by hosting an online dog photo contest where proud owners pay to upload pictures of their beloved pooches in the hopes of winning the top prize, or host an online auction where people can bid for their favourite pet-themed prizes like the chance to have their dog’s portrait taken.
In-person events: Host a community fair for dog owners with a grooming station, dog treat stands and a chance to compete for best in show, or get community volunteers together to host a dog wash day where owners can get their dog cleaned up and pampered.
Adoption meetups: Set up an adoption meet up at your shelter for new and prospective rescue owners to come and meet the dogs in your care to see who they connect with. Have donation stations set up around the shelter to maximize donations.
How can seasonal campaigns help raise funds?
Holiday giving drives: Using the holidays to raise money and awareness of your cause can be super effective. Create a Christmas wishlist to help donors buy items that the shelter needs, or harness the power of #GivingTuesday, when people will be feeling more charitable after indulging at Thanksgiving.
Summer safety campaigns: Run a public information campaign in Spring that warns dog owners about how to stay warm in the heat with tips and best practice for looking after animals in a heatwave.
Back-to-school pet supply collections: Get ready for the back to school season by creating a bunch of branded merchandise for dog owners who want to give their pet supplies a spruce (whether that’s a new leash or another dog bed) as their kids start the new school term.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How much money can a dog shelter expect to raise through a digital fundraiser?
Dog shelters can raise any amount of money through a digital fundraiser – there is no set limit you have to apply to your fundraising goal.
What’s the most effective way to ask for donations without sounding pushy?
Be clear with your supporters about the challenge your shelter is facing. Be open and transparent about how much money it needs to raise and why and ask people to share the link to your fundraiser to raise awareness among their different communities. Be respectful and receptive when you’re asking people for donations and be welcoming if they cannot afford to make a donation but would like to volunteer instead.
Can a small dog rescue succeed in online fundraising?
Yes! As long as you use powerful storytelling, strong videos and pictures to show how effective your small dog rescue operation is, there is nothing holding you back from starting a successful online fundraiser.
How often should donors receive updates?
You can give donors updates about the shelter or non-profit organization as often as you like, but it’s better to be clear and consistent, so set to a particular time period like quarterly results or monthly updates.
So when you go to start your own fundraiser for your dog shelter or animal rescue nonprofit, be sure to use powerful, emotive storytelling with strong pictures and videos to let donors know their money can help your vital service helping animals in need keep going.
Make sure to reach out into your local community for help and support with your fundraising efforts, offer incentives to your donors like sending thank yous and doing social media shout outs, and above all, be transparent about what you’re fundraising for, what your goal is, and exactly how your donors’ money will be spent.
Get started with your own dog shelter fundraiser using GoFundMe