Think you might want to get involved with animal rescue? Excellent! But you may find that starting your own animal shelter is a very involved process. You’ll need more than just the desire to help homeless animals; you’ll need management experience, accounting and marketing skills, community contacts, and much more.
Ask yourself these questions if you are starting to think about opening a shelter.
- Does my community truly need an animal welfare organization? If there is already a shelter in the area, opening another shelter may be a bad idea. Two competing shelters may be more than your community can support.
- Will your community support your shelter’s goals? Visit other shelters, talk to other rescue groups — are there people in the community who will donate time and money to help keep your shelter going?
- Do you have the resources to keep a shelter running? You’ll need money, definitely, but also people to work with you and experts like veterinarians and trainers.
- Do you have enough experience to start a shelter? Do you have management experience? Do you understand the unique needs of an animal rescue? If you lack experience in the shelter/rescue field, you may want to start with volunteering. You can also connect with other rescue organizations online.
- Do you have the types of people you need? Do you have a good relationship with a local veterinarian, trainer, accountant, and laywer? People who are going to sit on your board of directors should have or be willing to make important contacts throughout your community. You’re going to need people who can make generous donations and convince others to do the same.
- Instead of opening a shelter facility, could your community use a different type of program? Perhaps you could start a “Friends of the Shelter” program to help raise money for an existing shelter, promote legislative action in the state, and encourage humane practices in the community.
- What type of shelter do you want to start? Will you accept any and all animals? How do you feel about humane euthanasia of ill or unadoptable animals? Do you wish to specialize in certain types of animals — senior age animals, or a particular breed?
- Do you have a mission statement? Explain the purpose of your organization for all to see — it will help guide your shelter’s development. If you will be running it as a non-profit, a mission statement is a requirement.
- Can you handle the constant fundraising? You will need a steady flow of money to keep your shelter going.
- Do you want to learn more? The ASPCA offers a book with detailed information on how to start, manage, and run a shelter. For more information, email outreach@aspca.org or call (212) 867-7700 and ask about the Keys To A Great Shelter guide.