Dream of starting a animal rescue......

[raini_dae]

My dream for many, many years has been to start an animal rescue, but my problem is that I don't even know where to begin. I have been searching the web to research government grants in order to assist me, but most of the sites that I do come across are "Pay money for government secrets on how to get grants". Sad to say - I have fallen victim to a couple of those, got the books, and NOTHING. If anyone could point me in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!
Raini

4 Dogs; Zane, Ryot, Lady, Guinness
2 Cats; Emmy & Frank
Proud to say that I rescued all of them - just wish I could do more.

[TamanduaGirl]

Government wont pay you to have animals.

You just start rescuing them yourself. Adopt fix them up then adopt them to other homes. Ask for donations from people then you can work up to getting tax exempt as a none profit so you can get donations from businesses as tax write offs but that is a lot of extra work.

If you want to rescue you just have to do it. No one will pay you to do it.

[Mygala]

You won't get grants for that. You could start soliciting donations from friends and family. Usually you have to start the process by doing it on your own ...for quite a while before you can expect any significant outside funding. ...and even then, most will be "one time" donations.

If you think you are going to go into this and not lose money (lots of it), I'm sorry to say you are in for a rude awakening. You are contemplating one of the biggest "money pits" on the planet. Volunteer for a major organization like the Humane Society, or the ASPCA. You'll soon see that even the biggest of them are begging for money and donations all the time. There is never enough to go around.

If this is what you want to do, go for it, but don't expect to get any money for it from anyone else. You might hope for some volunteers early on, ...and maybe some food donations. But, until you make a name for yourself as a responsible, clean, well run rescue ...you probably won't get much help.

Good luck
Bob

[Ravnos]

I don't think I can reiterate what Bob said any better. There is very little money to be had for rescues, short of begging for every penny. Almost everyone I know of who does private rescue funds entirely out of their own pockets, simply because soliciting donations when you're not a registered non-profit organization is less than easy. All too often asking for money, or even adoption fees, leads to people thinking you're somehow in it for the money. I've been involved in rescue for over 15 years, and it has cost me thousands upon thousands of dollars, and at best I've gotten for "donations" are a few bags of food, and some supplies like heat pads, bowls and aquariums... of course, I haven't gone out of my way to ask anybody for anything either. I'd rather be accountable to only myself. As soon as people start giving you money, they start to want something in return.

[Jennicat]

Now that I do rescue, I would really recommend finding an already existing rescue and joining them. It's VERY hard to do it alone.