by Virginia Allain

Created on: November 23, 2009

Raising money is a continuous activity for all types of non-profits. Most people have a soft spot for dogs and other animals, so here are some tips to turn those feelings into funding for an animal shelter.

Takes lots of photos of the animals looking cute, bedraggled, thin, happy, and other poses. These will be used in press releases and with grant submissions for the dog shelter. Find a volunteer photographer if you aren't good with a

camera.

Search the Internet for ideas. Use the keywords "animal shelter" + fund raising. You will find many ideas like this one, where an author is willing to visit your shelter, sell her books about pets, and give part of the proceeds to the shelter.

There are two sites that are particularly helpful (sheltersource.com and humanefundraising.com). These give links to donation sites like igive or network for good. Also listed are sites that help with fund raising if you collect ink cartridgesand other things, or give advice on holding bake sales, selling items online, and other fund raising options.

By now, you're starting to get lots of ideas, but may be short of time. Recruit volunteers through appeals in the newspaper and radioand TV appearances to help with the fund raising or to take care of some of the routine work so you have more time for the fund raising.

Use those media appearances (TV, radio, newspaper) to raise people's awareness of the dogs' needs and always include a number and address where people can call or send donations to the shelter.

Contact local service clubs like Rotary, Kiwanis, and Lions and offer to speak at their meetings. Besides profiling your dog shelter and its successes and challenges, give them an idea or two of ways their group could help. Perhaps they would hold a rummage sale or spaghetti dinner and donate the proceeds to the shelter. Maybe they will include the shelter in their annual budget of donations.

Visit your public library and ask the reference librarian for materials on grants and fund raising. Often they have The Foundation Directory in the reference section. Sit down and take notes of foundations that give money to your cause. The library might also subscribe to databases that list grant opportunities.

Be cautious of sites that want you to sell their product for your fundraiser. Check out the quality of the items and factor in the amount of manpower it takes to sell them.

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