Hey guys Jeff here welcome back to all about rescue and as promised I do apologize it took this long but as promised I’m doing this article on how to run a rescue so let’s Jump Right In to how to run a rescue and keep in mind the content in this article is geared primarily towards dogs but this could apply to any animal for that matter so you know whatever breed or species that you’re targeting to open up or run a rescue to support save rescue Etc just you know substitute that breed or species in when I’m talking about dogs first and foremost you have to figure out what kind of facility or foster-based rescue you want to run are you going to have a facility or are you going to be foster-based and the difference is basically are obviously a facility you’re going to have like a shelter-like facility in which case you’ll need to jump through some local Hoops you know with municipal code and things along those lines you know the State Department of Agriculture wherever you reside those are some things you need to consider if you want to open up a facility the easiest way to get started is to be a foster-based rescue and what that basically means is you’re gonna you know maybe save an animal let’s say you’re going to pull a dog from a high kill shelter and you’re going to place it in a foster home maybe it’s a friend of yours a colleague or someone who’s interested in supporting your cause they want to Foster an animal for you so you have to make the decision early on if you want to move more towards facility based or Foster based I suggest starting out with foster-based it’s going to enable you to get going right away not have to jump through any you know local or Municipal hoops and it’s impossible possible for me to know all the legalities throughout the United States or around the world for that matter as far as what’s required to to have a facility to run a facility to pass inspections fire codes things like that so those are some things you need to consider where we’re a force the base Network like I said it’s much easier to hit the ground running so we’re going to talk about having a foster-based rescue and caring for the dogs that are under your rescue because guess what your rescue owns those dogs so it’s your responsibility to provide adequate care for those dogs even if they’re in someone else’s home ultimately we are responsible for the animals in our care and I don’t take that responsibility lightly I make sure that I provide and go above and beyond the basic care that is required by law, and this is where you really should understand your local animal cruelty laws. You know what’s required in a nutshell.
Sadly, the basic care for a dog is food, water, and shelter. If you’re providing food, water, and shelter, that’s the minimum level of care. You know, for dogs in my rescue and dogs that are under my care, that is not even close to adequate in my opinion. So you have to ask yourself, “Are you providing your foster home with all the tools that they need to go above and beyond the dog’s basic needs?” and “Do you have enough resources?” Financial vet care and all of that kind of stuff is our responsibility to provide to the foster home, and granted, some foster homes want to contribute financially, and that’s great. You know, hey, we welcome it. If a foster mom or dad wants to buy food or take the dog to the vet and they want to pay for it, that’s totally cool.
You know, hey, we support that they’re supporting us, great, but it’s our responsibility, so you need to make sure Food Water Shelter Exercise Companionship Basic Training House break and crate training all this stuff comes into play. You know it’s our responsibility to make the dogs under our care as adoptable as possible, so you need to consider that when you’re pulling a dog, are you suited to address whatever that dog’s needs are now once you save a dog and you have a dog under your rescue, whether you’re the foster home or you have the dog in another foster home, how are you going to get this dog adopted? You need to have a plan for how you’re going to go about promoting this dog.
A very common method is to go to adoption events, and you know you can go to any pet store or pet supply chain or even a veterinarian’s office and ask if they’re doing any adoption days where you can sign up and you know even a veterinarian’s office, and ask if they’re doing any adoption day where you can sign up and you know you can go to any pet store or pet supply chain or even a veterinarian’ I’m shooting this article in December 2020, so who the hell knows with this whole coven crap when we’re going to have actual adoption events again? I know there’s you know, we’ve had some throughout the year here and there, but uh, you know, adoption events are a very common way for people to showcase their dogs, promote their dogs, and get their dogs out in public for potential adopters to meet and greet. And there’s a number of websites too where you could promote your dogs.
Adopt a pet. I’ll throw the link right here. petfinder.com again, I’ll dump the link right there, so adopt a pet and petfinder.com Those are two of the most common Pet Finder probably being one of the most well-known websites for rescues to sign up and promote their dogs online, do not undervalue the power of social media. I know people sometimes hate social media with the drama and the insanity that goes on, but if you’re utilizing social media as a positive tool, you’re going to have a positive outcome, right? post your dogs on Facebook, Instagram, or through a YouTube article.
I mean, I have YouTube articles of some dogs that were under my care as well. use whatever social media you’re most comfortable with and start promoting your dogs. ask your friends to share them. Social media can be a powerful tool in getting the word out about a specific dog under your care, so now that you’re getting some interest in your dog or dogs that are under your care, you’re going to get people that are interested, and you’re going to need to have them fill out some adoption applications. You need good apps, and you can Google adoption applications I’ll put the link below in the description of my rescue website, and you know my adoption application is right on the website; it’s a PDF file. Feel free to go snag it. I don’t care. I mean, I’m here to help you guys, so you know, take that download, substitute your name, and modify some of the verbiage to suit your needs.
But you definitely need to have an adoption application. We need to gather these people’s information and their references. Their Veterinary reference, you know all about them, their previous dog ownership history — those are some of the things you’re going to find in applications that are going to help you be able to screen people to kind of weed out the crap because it’s our responsibility to make sure that we’re putting the dogs that we’re adopting in the best position to succeed, and in my opinion, success is not just getting adopted but staying adopted.
Processing applications can be a little time consuming, especially if you’re flying solo or you’re a small rescue like we’ve always been, you know a lot of the leg work is done by us, especially if you know a lot of the work, especially if you’re a small rescue like we’re I just want to make sure that I’m capturing as much as possible on how to run a rescue here, but I’m probably going to be doing another article on how to process an adoption application once you’ve screened someone and maybe you’re preliminary approving them for adoption, you need to set up a home visit, and I already did how to do a home visit article, which you could check out on my all about rescue playlist. It’s a pretty cool how to do it, and I run you through how to do it. I actually take you along with me when I do a home visit, so you could definitely check that out.
I think home visits are very important because we get to see where the dog is going to be and we can pick out certain areas of the house that may need some modification to make it suitable for a dog, but the how to do a home visit article goes over everything, so we did the application, we approved them, maybe we did a home visit, and the adoption looks like it’s going to be final. You need to have a good contract, you know, and again, you can go on my website and my adoption contract is up there, you can Google it, most rescues will share their adoption contracts with you.
I don’t know many who won’t, obviously there are some who may feel a little territorial but I think that’s silly because we’re all on the same team and we all have the same goal in mind and that’s to go out of business yeah that’s right and in my opinion every rescue’s ultimate goal should be to go out of business because there’s no more inventory and there are just way too many homeless animals but hey wishful thinking anyway that should be our ultimate goal to go out of business Okay, and I know a lot of small rescues that run their rescues without insurance, obviously they have iron-clad contracts that help them, and depending on where you are in the country or the world you may or may not need insurance to run your rescue it all depends and I’m not a lawyer and I certainly can’t keep up with all the municipalities in the United States or areas and geography around the world where you know there’s different laws state country Etc so make sure you do your research. There’s insurance to protect the board members who may not be intimately involved in the care of dogs, but they are at risk and they’re opening themselves up to be liable for anything that happens with the rescue, so and again, this could be an individual thing and municipalities across the country, but just so you know, there are two different types of insurance: basic insurance and insurance for board members.
One of my biggest pet peeves, which irritates the hell out of me, is accounting. Yes, we have to file tax returns and all that good stuff, but it’s important that we are filing our tax returns in Anybody can go to the IRS website and they can see your tax status and review your Form 990. That’s the form that your supporters want to go look at to see how your rescue is performing from a financial standpoint, what you’re spending your money on, and the amount of donations you’re taking in. I can’t speak for other rescues even though it’s public information. It’s public record, and people could go to the IRS website. I actually put my Form 990 right on Pity Rescue’s website number one to make it easier for potential supporters. more importantly, I want to be as transparent as possible, right?
We don’t have a big rescue I solicit donations a few times a year then I’m pre-covered and back when I was up in New Jersey I’m in North Carolina now but back when I was up in New Jersey we did a lot more fundraising events. I just haven’t done that much down here in North Carolina so we do some online solicitation of fundraising and things along those lines, but I want to be as transparent as possible and I want it to be easy for people to access information so even though they can go to the IRS website and they’ll be fiddling around for a while I just popped my form 990.
- I usually do two or three year Clips.
- I have it right on my website.
- I strongly suggest if you want to be a reputable, make transparency easy don’t make it difficult.
I strongly suggest if you want to be a reputable, make transparency easy, don’t make it difficult. oh boy, I’m not a lawyer, but you absolutely need to understand your local laws not just surrounding animal care but adoption events right you know I talked about insurance earlier some adoption events require us to have additional Insurance riders for that specific event on that specific date and time right so keep that in mind and then municipal and state laws they vary you know across the country and I have no idea around the world I’m sure it’s much different I happen to pay my accountant he was a personal account at one point in time but he started doing my rescue accounting you know he gives me a little break which is cool um you know probably cost me a couple hundred bucks a year to pay him to file my taxes I just to me it’s worth a couple hundred bucks to have it done right so there’s no screw-ups and because like I said I I’m very I want to be transparent so I mean you know lawyers don’t necessarily have to be lawyers in the Animal Care Arena right it’s good to have that Resource as well uh but you know think about this is a business right even though it’s a rescue and we’re not making money and we’re just trying to save animals right it’s a business so you know whatever area of law you need you know to tap into there’s a lawyer out there for it again if you have a friend that can help and Legalzoom.com, which I talk about in my “How to Start a Rescue” article, you know, how to form a non-profit, and legalzoom.com also, I think, has a service where you can ask lawyers specific questions, so that’s how to run a rescue. I know this was a brief overview, but I really wanted to fulfill my promise to all of you and give you a quick rundown on how to run a rescue going forward I’m going to take each of the topics we’ve discussed in this article and break them down a little further and go into more detail about each specific topic just to help you on your way and your journey whether you’re starting a rescue or you’ve run a rescue.
People Also Ask – 💬
❓ How to start a dog rescue?
If you're in the United States, one of the most important steps in how to start a dog rescue and officially setting up this business is obtaining your 501c nonprofit status. This sets your animal rescue up as a charitable organization so that you are given more credibility as an organization, and it also limits your personal liability.
❓ How do dog rescue groups work?
Many groups operate out of homes, for example, where a network of volunteers might house each rescue dog until they’re placed in a forever home. Although this might mean a smaller capacity, it could be a far more viable option when you’re first starting a dog rescue group.
❓ Is it possible to start an animal rescue business with no money?
If YES, here is a detailed guide on how to start an animal rescue business with no money and no experience. The law of the United States of America frowns at pets roaming the streets. Studies show that each year 8 to 12 million dogs, cats, puppies and kittens are euthanized because there are simply not enough homes for them.
❓ How do I set goals for my own dog rescue?
When setting your goals for your own dog rescue, you want to begin by setting up your long-term goals first. For example, after you know why you need to know how to start a dog rescue, think about where would you like your organization to be ten years from now.
References:
- “Fundamentals of Fire Fighter Skills” by Iafc – Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2012
- “Shelter Medicine for Veterinarians and Staff” by Lila Miller, Stephen Zawistowski – Wiley, 2013
- “Animal Assisted Therapy Use Application by Condition” by Eric Altschuler – Elsevier Science, 2022
- “The Intelligence of Dogs: A Guide to the Thoughts, Emotions, and Inner Lives of …” by Stanley Coren – Atria Books, 2006
This is such great information, along with your other articles for running a rescue. I’m starting up a cat rescue for FIV+ and FeLV+ cats since they are the most overlooked cats in shelters, and the feral/stray cat populations in my area are insane so I want to help diminish those populations and get them fixed and into good homes.
Thank you so much for putting this article out in the world! I’m in the process of starting a cat rescue and I love that it feels like we’re just sitting and having a chat about topics that are otherwise kind of intimidating to me. I’ll be following you and hoping for your success 🙂 Thanks for all you do
Great helpful information ! Its my dream since I was a little girl to have lots and lots of animals and lots of room for them for myself ! And to have a foster based rescue and save animals! I’m from Philly and foster and volunteer for shelters and rescues .I had a couple questions if you don’t mind answering . 1 board members : what are their roles ? And should they be family 2 can you automatically pull from intake shelters ? Or is there something else you need besides your rescue credentials? 3 how many foster homes do you necessarily need just to start out with besides your own? That is just a few, but thank you so much for all your help!
I’m 36 and have a full time IT job with multiple real estate properties providing passive income. I bought 50 acres. 25 of which I would like to build a canine rescue. Where do I get started? I can hire an architect and contractor for the shelter, pens and yard but I imagine there is alot more beyond that. I would pay my boarders/techs 50-75k year but I’d still need a part time or full time vet on staff right? Plus someone to vet the adopters…