We want to open an Animal Sanctuary, somewhere in the mid west.We need a grant to do this h?

Question

My sister and I have a dream to open an Animal Sanctuary , We want this to become a reality. Anyone out there have ideas how we can do this . We do not have the funds , but we have the knowledge and the hearts that it would take. If you know of anyone who is willing to help us financially. This must be a legitimate source. We are very serious, we just do not have the money to get it started. It would be a nonprofit type of venture. We want to help the wildlife , also help autistic children relate to animals . It would be a twofold Endeaver. We are thinking of putting the children with riding and spending time with horses to get them to open up and brighten their lives, in hopes of making a difference to these kids. We also want to give wild animals a chance to survive better. We would seperate the two, in different parts of the land we hope to acquire. We are thinking a minimum of 25 to 100 acres. Any one with valid ideas, or sources please let us know. I can give you my email address

Answer 1

You need a degree in most states to do what you want to do with autistic kids. You cannot open a Animal Sanctuary and then take autistic kids and stick them on horses!!!!
What you need to do first, is contact a lawyer and accountant and get the low down on what is involved in setting up a non-prifit organization. It is quite complicated. You need to get things set up FIRST and then soliciate grants. Most grants require the non-profit status to be in place before donating.
This can be a LONG and complicated process, and there is a LOT you need to look into first!!!!!!!!!

Answer 2

Your best bet is to seek for private grants or grants from private foundations.

The best resource for this is Foundation Center http://www.fdncenter.org . They have a very good database covering all organizations giving grants and you can find foundations that are interested in supporting your type of cause. However, it's a subscription based website ($19.95 per month I think is the cheapest subscription price). But it certainly is worth the fee. You can subscribe one month, and make sure you get all the info you need and then stop the subscription.

If you want to try federal sources, you can go to the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) http://www.cfda.gov and Grants.gov http://www.grants.gov - these are two sites created by the federal government to provide transparency and information on grants.

CFDA has several ways to search for grants. I suggest you search by beneficiary and select Private Non Profit Organization and you can find listings of grants available http://12.46.245.173/pls/portal30/CATALOG.BROWSE_BENEF_RPT.show