While we can’t speak for anyone but ourselves, but no matter how you approach animal rescue, rehabilitation or permanent placement sanctuaries, there is always going to be costs involved with providing proper diets, housing and medical care. When you have native and exotic species like we do there are also costs involved with permits and licenses too. Those things can add up! So how do we pay for it? That’s a great question!
First let’s start of with a bit of a history lesson. The Sanctuary was founded as a non-profit organization in 2003. Initially, the Sanctuary relied heavily on donations, but with the fluctuating economy, donations were not reliable enough to meet the operational needs. So, in 2005 we began offering dog training classes to the public. Agility, obedience, trick training, detection, puppy classes and more! They were tremendous fun (for the students and the staff).
With the pandemic, we needed to adapt our approach and expand our horizons as donations even more rare. We started by listing the Sanctuary on Amazon Charities. Anyone can chose the Sanctuary as their charity to support when they shop on Amazon. Thanks to our CEO, Fawn Nyvold, we now have a line of veterinary journals for sale on Amazon. She is also working on a product line for the Sanctuary on Etsy too. All of the proceeds from the sale of those products go directly to the animal’s care.
To help on the donation front, we are actively improving our presence on social media. We decided to focus on facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn for 2023. We also decided to start this blog so we can share our experiences with you!
Bottom line, we will always need, and are extremely grateful for, donations. We also take pride in our proactive approach to covering operating costs too. Whether you are a non-profit or a small business, adaptation to your business model will always be needed to thrive and survive.
- Amazon Charity Link: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/41-2076551
- facebook: @animal.encounters.sanctuary.2003
- Instagram: animal.encounters.sanctuary
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/animal-encounters-sanctuary