If you have the idea that you want to work with animals but aren’t really sure where to start, there are a couple of great options. Animal grooming can be very enjoyable; you get to meet and greet a lot of different breeds of dogs and cats and pack them off, smelling sweet to their owners. 

But, if you want to combine doing something worthwhile, then an animal sanctuary might be the right idea for you. 

Running an animal sanctuary wouldn’t be the easiest undertaking, but it has huge potential. Before you start researching nonprofit setup or how to make money from animal sanctuaries, it is important to cover a couple of questions for yourself. 

Why?

Why do you think that you would be suited to opening and running an animal sanctuary? One of the biggest motives is the love of animals, but just loving animals isn’t going to be enough. There will be midnight callouts, situations where you can’t take the animals, a lot of time, energy, and money will go into running it. 

So ask yourself why you might want to open an animal sanctuary. 

Research

Starting a nonprofit, especially an animal sanctuary, isn’t the same as starting some other business. You’ll need to double down on all of the research you’d normally do because lives will be at stake if you get it wrong. 

Visit other animal sanctuaries, talk to animal rescuers, and start to get well-versed in nonprofits. By doing this, you will slowly build up your own network, and this means you will have more ears to listen to and knowledge and opinions to help you. 

You’ll need to have an understanding of the specific region issues when it comes to animal rescues and the number of strays, breeding, animal abuse, and more. 

Purpose

What are you trying to achieve, and why does it matter? Just a few lines can clarify your goals and give you a stronger sense of direction and purpose than you had previously. 

The purpose will form the base for your entire mission statement, which can be a powerful tool for future decision-making and engaging with the public. 

Practical 

You can’t underestimate the amount of practical work that will go into taking care of multiple types of dogs, and maybe other animals – with very diverse backgrounds. 

You’ll need to be focused on fundraising, ensuring the animals are fed and warm, with access to medical care, understanding the reason you’ll need clean room certification services, how you can staff the place 24/7, and more. 

Planning for all of the practical aspects is one of the key ways to ensure that you have covered all of your bases. 

One of the key parts of the planning and practicality is getting the 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. You’ll be able to benefit from all of the perks that this gives you and tax-exempt status. 

A huge part of being able to take care of the animals and keeping your doors open will be building a loyal following. To do that, you’re going to have to utilize all of the available tools, including social media: 5 Effective Ways to Use Social Media to Promote Your Small Business – The Summer Lad.