Finding funding for animal rescues is a process. Now that you are financial organized you are ready to look for grant funding. But if you do not have your direct and indirect cost spreadsheet in order, check back to the article Getting a Rescue Financially Grant Ready.
Your goal is to have direct costs and indirect costs in your mind, as well as any trends that you found as you were putting that spreadsheet together. Also be thinking of new programs that you may want to start. You need a list of needs and normal operating costs fresh in your mind. Good grant writing basics calls for having your costs front and center when you get started.
Now it is time to get your grant application system in place. This requires a whole organizational process in itself. Finding animal grants is fairly easy. But finding the right grants for your cause is a bit more challenging. Getting this system down helps take the stress out of filling out grant applications. So let’s get started. The first part of your system is to create an excel spreadsheet with the headings as you see below.
So where to you actually find these grants? Here is a grant writing tip, these links are a great place to start: Grants4.com, Grants for Nonprofits : Animal Welfare, Red Rover Grants for Organizations, Grant Gopher, Helping a Cause 4 Paws.
The second step is filling out this spreadsheet with information from the grant links. This step is time consuming and at times frustrating. Be prepared. You are going to complete columns A through D and it’s time to weed out which animal grants do not apply to your group. You will get to the remaining columns later.
Open up each grant on the lists. As you read through them you are looking for grant goals that match your rescue’s goals. But is more than just looking for the grants that match the breed that you support. You are looking to match up those trends that you have going on too. For example, do you have a growing elderly animal population? Or are you supporting veterinary bills for injured animals? In addition, you are looking for funds to start those new programs within your rescue. For instance, do you need special equipment or a new building to start a new program? Or are you looking to start transporting rescued animals to other states in hopes of getting them into no kill shelters? All of these questions represent different types of grants.
As you find rescue grants that match your needs, fill in columns A
through D. Columns E through G are filled out using the information on the organization’s 990. (Link to the 990s We will discuss how to find the information for columns E, F, and G in the next article)
After you have finished with lists in the links, the next place to find grants is to google … Yes, Google. In the search bar type your state’s name and Animal Grants (e.g. Alabama Animal Grants) then hit search. Repeat the same process of reading and filling out the spreadsheet. Once you get A though D completed, you will see your game plan take shape. You can organize your grant writing time by the application submission dates. And the best part … you are organized for upcoming years too.
Pawscause 