Online Fundrasing
Online Fundraising is an extremely important part of any Animal Welfare Agency or Non-Profit.
If your rescue or shelter is a registered 5013(c) Non-Profit Agency, you are able to tap into many platforms to raise funds all year long!
1.PayPal Giving Fund and eBay
PayPal Giving Fund helps people support their favorite charities online. We receive donations through PayPal, eBay, and other technology platforms and make grants to our donors' recommended charities. Best part of PPGF, they charge ZERO fees for transactions. Easy enrollment!
eBay for Charity has partnered with the PayPal Giving Fund to make it easy for sellers to donate some or all of the proceeds from eBay listings to their favorite charities.
Sellers have two options when listing items to benefit charities on eBay:
Community selling: Donate up to 100% of your final sales price to support your chosen charities. You can customize the donation percentage and the charity you want to support for each individual listing. The minimum donation amount is 10% or $1 (or 1% for eBay Motors listings)
eBay charity selling: When you create an eBay business account and register as an eBay charity seller, the net proceeds from your sales will be sent directly to the bank account associated with your eBay account
You just need a PayPal account with confirmed charity status to enroll. Use your PayPal account to log in and enroll.
We use PPGF for all of our newsletters and have QR codes posted around town and events!
2. Facebook and Instagram Donate options
To raise money on Facebook and Instagram (META), your nonprofit must:
Enroll and be approved to use Facebook Charitable Giving Tools.
Switch to an Instagram business account, if you haven't already.
Link your nonprofit's Instagram business account with your nonprofit's verified Facebook Page.
If this is your first time linking to your Page or enrolling with Facebook Charitable Giving Tools, check to make sure that people are able to add donation stickers on Instagram for your nonprofit. You can do this by clicking Publishing Tools at the top of your Facebook Page and selecting Donation Settings below Fundraisers. Click to check the box next to Allow people to add donation stickers on Instagram Stories and click Save.
Add a donate button to your nonprofit's Instagram business account
To add a donate button to your nonprofit's Instagram business account:
Confirm that your nonprofit organization has taken the steps above to become eligible to fundraise on Instagram.
Tap or your profile picture in the bottom right to go to your profile.
Tap in the top right, then tap Settings.
Tap Business, then tap Donations.
Tap next to Add Donate Button to Profile.
If you're unable to find Donations, please update your Instagram app to the latest version.
On Facebook as of February 2022, a registered non-profit charity can also hold a Food and Supply Drive within a post! You can also add a link in your stories, which is very useful!
3. Pet Management Software
Many Pet Management softwares include a way for a customer to “sponsor” an adoption through your website, or during the pet adoption process. For Example: ShelterLuv asks adopters if they would like to donate once or monthly, during the checkout process. With Shelter Luv, most customers use the “text” to checkout function, so the software asks for the donation, not a person.
Our shelter raised an extra $7000 last year, using “text” to check out, where customers donated on the spot, many for a monthly donation!
Learn more about Shelter Luv Here
Shelter Luv works for all kinds of AWO’s!
3. Chewy Wishlist
Any non-profit shelter or rescue in the U.S. can sign up to make their own Wish List—which means there’s probably one near you! We’ve made it easy to find shelters and rescues in your area to support. Just head to Chewy.com and scroll to the Donate to a Rescue link at the bottom of the page.
Create a Wishlist for your rescue or shelter, this includes preventives!
4. Chewy $15 off coupon
Any business or company can sign up for the Chewy Partner Program here, or their
“affiliate program”. Once you are approved, you can use your own links for a $15 off coupon for first time purchases. Every time a new customer uses this coupon, your business or rescue also receives $15 back! These links can be used on your website, Social media, Newsletters, or even part of the adoption packet or adoption process!
Check out Bonfire for your rescue or shelter!
5. Bonfire or other Print on Demand Company
Online or in person Merchandise (Bonfire)Running an animal rescue takes so much time and resources. Unfortunately, fundraising the money needed to keep your rescue afloat takes a lot of time too. With an online t-shirt and merchandise fundraiser through Bonfire, you can eliminate the majority of the extra effort that is usually required. Check out how easy it is to start selling merch on Bonfire here!
At our shelter, we also made a separate campaign just for employees. The campaign was hidden from the public, and I sent a text link and made a QR code for our employees to purchase shirts at the base price! I know some places give shirts to employees too, you do have the option to buy in bulk from Bonfire and sell or give in person, or order online and they will ship to your house or business. With so many options, Bonfire makes selling “Merch” so easy!
6. Google My Business
Turn people who find you on Google Search and Maps into new customers with a free Business Profile for your storefront or service area. Personalize your profile with photos, offers, posts, and more.As long as you have claimed your business (see this article if you have not), you can post on your Google My Business and include a link with a photo or video. Y
You can also add products or the “merch” you made on Bonfire or other POD. Along with responding to reviews, uploading business photos, you can make all kinds of donation posts!
For our Shelter we posted, Supplies, Donate with PayPal Giving Fund post etc. It is a good idea to refresh or repost your evergreen posts a few times a year, so the posts will be more visible to potential customers!
7. Amazon
Affiliate links and Amazon Wishlist and Amazon Smile (a two for one)
Amazon Charity Wishlist is an easy way to help your rescue with food, preventives, toys, litter and other shelter/rescue supplies!
AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to your favorite charitable organization. You can choose from nearly one million organizations to support.
Sign up for Amazon Smile here
8. Name the kitten or puppy (for $5) let viewers donate to get a chance to name the kitten or puppy. Schedule it for 24-48 hours, when done, crumble up names of pieces of paper, video the pet choosing the first piece they walk up to or swat at. Un-crumple a piece of paper, revealing the name chosen for the pet.
9. Online Newsletter a donation link for online or QR code for
10. Facebook MarketPlace
If your shelter receives more items than they can use, have an employee or volunteer post items to Facebook Marketplace, have buyers pay and pick up in person.
11.Corporate Sponsorships
Does your Board work as hard as you do? Have your Board use their sphere of influence, to help your shelter with Corporate Sponsorships. As your agency grows so can the “Tiers” of Sponsorships. Placing the Logos of each sponsor on your website and announcing on social media with a link to the sponsors website etc.
12 Petfinder
Sponsor a pet’s adoption, built in on Petfinder, Adopt a pet and pet management software.
13. Virtual Community Challenges
We have to give props to Instagram and Tik Tok for this idea. Virtual community challenges are a fun and effective way to bring awareness to your organization. Using a hashtag on social media, challenge your supporters to participate in a dance or activity related to your cause. Alternleibley, when the amazing Betty White passed away, rescues and shelters received tons of donations because of the #BettyWhiteChallenge The sheleter I work for brought in over $10,000 on behlaf of Betty White.
