Raise Funds for Animal Rescue Centres or Shelters

Fund raising is an important part of running an animal rescue centre or shelter. Without money, the centre will not be able to look after or care for unwanted, abandoned or sick animals. The money is used for many things. Besides the day to day needs of the animals, the money is also used to pay for the repair of housing, heating and other overheads as well as being used to pay for veterinary fees or essential treatments.

There are many ways that people can raise money to help animal rescue centres. These range from simply making a donation or series of regular donations through to organising and running a significant fund raising event.

Making Donations Through Gift Aid

Anyone who wants to raise funds or make donations to an animal rescue centre or shelter that is also a registered charity should consider Gift Aid in order to give the maximum benefit. This is a scheme run by the government through the HMRC. If a donation is made to a charity through the Gift Aid scheme, then the charity is able to reclaim the tax on this donation. The exact amount will vary depending on the tax rate at the time.

Selling Items to Raise Funds

Many people enjoy making and selling items to raise funds for animal rescue centres. This is a great way to raise money. The following types of items are all good for raising money:

• Handmade cards – handmade cards are relatively low cost to make and are always popular. Fund raising cards can be sold at craft events or through local shops and businesses. Putting the name of the animal rescue centre somewhere on the card with a bit of information about the fund raising campaign helps to give credibility to the fund raising.
• 'Recycling' or selling second hand goods – fund raising activities have always included selling bric-a-brac or 'white elephant' goods. Today, the Internet has widened the opportunities for selling used and second hand items and large auction sites such as eBay are a great market place for selling this type of product. These websites also offer the ability to sell goods for charity. eBay, for instance, offers a special service for people who are selling products for charity. This includes giving a fee credit. Charitable listings also get promoted through special charitable pages. For more information take a look at the 'eBay for Charity' section of their website.
• Animal related items – animal related items are a great thing to sell to raise money for animal charities. There are many items that are suitable. Photographs of dogs, cats or other animals can be printed onto postcards, mugs or even t-shirts.

Organising Fund Raising Events

Organising a fund raising event needn't involve organising a large complicated event. There are many smaller events that are simple to organise and are great fun to attend. This includes small bring and buy sales, which are always popular, especially in the build up to Christmas. Pubs will often allow special quiz nights to be run and will often make a donation based on the bar takings for the night. Many animal welfare charities have information and ideas for raising funds.

Raising funds or giving money to an animal welfare organisation is an important part of helping them with their work.