making a difference?

Question

I want to raise money for my local animal shelter. How do I go about doing this?
What I mean is- how do I go about setting it up? I'd want to make whatever I do official (something like "All proceeds go to ASCPA/Fort Wayne Animal Shelter" or whatnot)
I know you can't hold fund raisers under false pretense and i don't want to be accused of such. Do I talk with the shelter first? What are the steps?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Hold a "Doggie Parade" in your community. Perhaps a community center will let you use their parking lot for a Saturday afternoon. (you can change the sign to "Barking Lot" for the day)

Have a parade and give prizes for cutest, biggest, smallest, most friendly, etc...(bags of dog treats as prizes)

Charge a $5 fee for each dog entered into the parade. Even if you only have 30 dogs participating, you will have raised $150!

Answer 2

Yes, definitely talk to the shelter first. Many times animal shelters don't need money as much as they need volunteers to spend time with the animals. You may want organize a drive that instead of asking people for money, you ask them to pledge a certain number of minutes or hours that they could spend with the animals. If you want to raise money, try to get the animals involved! Say, you could hold a photo day where kids could pose with an animal of their choice and parents can buy the photo for $2. Happy Holidays!

Answer 3

(1) Talk to the animal shelter/ASPCA first. They need to know that you want to do a fundraising event. You need to find out what their criteria is for them to officially endorse such.

(2) You will need to keep track *on paper* of all expenses, donations (financial and in-kind) and donors. You need to have this record available to anyone who asks, in order to prove that "all proceeds" will go to the organization.