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Research Outline

Prepared for Andrea H. | Delivered February 9, 2020

Animal Shelter Fundraising

Goals

To find ways that no-kill pet shelters fundraise, and which events are received best on a national level.

Early Findings

  • According to DonorBox, some top fundraising ideas for animal shelters are Dog Walks/Runs, crowdfunding, dog washing events, donation stations, photo events, teaming up with a local coffee shop, pet sitting, raffles, art festivals, calendars, partner with a local school, pet care classes, bake sales, YouTube videos, sponsor-a-pet drives and hosting a "destress" morning at the shelter.
  •  Bonfire also lists similar ideas on its blog: selling t-shirts, dog wash event, storytelling contest, donation boxes, treadmill relays, bake sales, calendars, silent auction, dog training classes, car washes, ice cream social, partner with local businesses and partner with local businesses.
  •  Double the Donation echoes some previous ideas: crowdfunding, matching gifts, dog walking, checkout charity, partner with local business, product sales (calendars, t-shirts, etc), charity auction.
  •  FrontStream advises shelters to think seasonal. Pet photos with Santa or the Easter are popular, but so are events like "Howl-o-ween" or ice cream socials in the summer.
  • The most popular fundraising efforts seem to be organized into a few categories: pure fundraising (asking for donations, partnering with local businesses to solicit some of their profits as a donation, checkout charity), selling things (t-shirts, silent auctions, calendars, raffles, etc), social or 'fun' events (ice cream socials, festivals, seasonal events, contests), fundraising events (walk-a-thons, drives) or soliciting a professional to offer their services for cheap/free (pet photographer, training/care classes).
  • Social media and the internet can be used to earn some funds at almost no cost to the charity. Ad revenue from their website/blog or YouTube, become an Amazon Smile registered entity, social media contests and crowdfunding.
  •  Maddie's Fund has some innovative examples of how shelters can achieve better adoption rates through clever marketing.