Where do i start when it comes to setting up as a rescue, sanctuary, charity?

[Ambience]

How would you manage the finance side of things though, I doubt whether fund raising would make you enough to cover costs. I could be wrong but I think most of the folks here running rescues generally end up taking a lot out of their own pockets. Just as an example one of my rabbits ran up a bill of £400 odd in 5 days last year and others have run up far more.

My other half is making more than 8k per month profit, so he would help me if i came unstuck. I'd have to think about the ways i'd cover costs as his money isn't mine, i would have to think about that - if i can make the first 5k and become registered as a charity i can have help from proffesional fundraisers. The proffesional fundraising company happen to be my friends of my boyfriend and i, so they would help me out i'm sure.

I would like to try fundraising myself- what kind of legalities surround this if i'm just a non status rescue? What methods are acceptable?

Thanks Ambience xx

 

[Ambience]

We originally estimated our vet bills to be around £400 - £500 per month, in 2 years that has risen to £1500 a month :shock:

If another company is doing your fundraising then how much control would you have over spending it? I know there are rules about using professional fundraisers on the charity commissions website.

There is a huge difference between helping out other rescues or having large amounts of animals yourself to becoming a rescue/sanctuary. I don't think you can ever be prepared for it, as you really can't appreciate the difference until you go there.

Another thought is that you definately need a quarantine area and strict hygiene standards

£1500 is a fair chunk! How many rabbits do you have in your sanctuary please?

I would be registering as a charity so that i would take 50% of the funds from the fundraising and the other 50% would go to the fundraisers. I would have to be registered first though. - I can start out as an affiliate to a rescue to get myself going then convert to charitable status. Initially as non status i'd only be getting help for the rescues towards vet bills, food etc. There would be some restrictions, but only that it is spent on the animals, this includes accomation though- the only restriction , would be how much of a wage i would have.

I do have a quarantine area at the moment which is my house, but i would consider expanding this to the shed outdoors which has lighting and is made of brick as this may be better.

Ambience xx

 

[The Duchess]

Whilst it is important you do seem to be focusing an awful lot on the finance issue on this thread. There is so much more to 'rescuing' than this, although that part is vital to the survival of any rescue, big or small.

Is there any reason why you can't just start by helping one or two rabbits and see how you go? Personally I think it would be foolhardy to leap straight in without having done any rescuing at all, either of your own or working as a full on volunteer doing fostering for another rescue maybe.

Before I started operating as a rescue proper, I volunteered for two years at one rescue atleast one regular evening a week and every Sunday for a whole 18 months. I ran the volunteers and worked very closely with the other folks doing interviewing of potential new owners, cleaning out, selling supplies, giving advice, fostering and bonding. I then moved to another rescue and ended up doing the rabbit rehoming with other core members of the team after starting out as a foster carer.

It has been a long hard slog and despite saying I'd never rescue myself, have ended up doing so. I haven't had a holiday in 4 years, hardly have a night out, am like the walking dead sometimes, when I am ill and still have to keep going.

This week alone, I have had 5 calls from people wanting to 'get rid' of their rabbits and I don't have anywhere to put them. I have a waiting list and have to turn people away knowing that there is very little chance of most of the people waiting until I can help. This is far worse for bigger places than me that will get many, many calls daily and often get abused for the enivitable 'we're full'.

I often have to say no to people that want to adopt because they just don't understand what it takes to care for a rabbit. Not necessarily their fault, but as a responsible rescuer, you have to take hours talking to everyone that calls, when sometimes you don't have enough hours in the day to even wash yourself or eat anything.

I would strongly suggest that you start by assisting a local vet maybe, with the odd stray or cruelty case here and there, and see if you have got what it takes to actually rehome rabbits before you open your doors to lots of rabbits needing help.

Just a few off the things you will need to consider,

how will you manage your time
how will you manage the enquiries about adoptions (phone/e-mail)
Will you have a dedicated phone line
Will you take emergency calls night and day
how will you cope with rabbits dumped on your doorstep
how will you deal with infection control
how will you find new homes - internet, posters, vets, RU.
how far afield will you rehome
will you do all the homechecking yourself
have you decided upon your rehoming criteria
how will you do all of the bondings for all of the single bunnies you rehome
how will you cope if someone who adopted a rabbit from you needs to return it - how long will you keep a space open after the rabbit goes home
how will you create the right form? registration forms, rabbit handover forms, adoption forms, rehoming information, educational information on what happens when the bunnies go home (for new owners)
will you have volunteers to help you - will you be able to insure them and the visitors to your home.


There is so much more, you get the idea.

I know I sound like I am being negative, but from my own experience, I would have to say 8 months ago despite a number of years working at rescues, at a vets, and having many rabbits pass through our doors, I was not ready to run a rescue. Now for some reason, I am running a rescue and it's working so far.

Take your time to do your homework, maybe associate yourself with a rescue near you and learn how they do things. There is definitely enough work for you to open a rescue, but you need to make sure that you make it a really good one.

Good luck

Helen

p.s. you don't have to be a charity to rescue. Why not start out small and then if you feel you can grow, you can register.

 

[Ambience]

So there are no legalities surrounding rescuing and fundraising like there are when you are a charity? It doesn't impact your home and you don't have certain criteria you have to meet(obligatory). It's basically a limited company in the business of rescuing. I myself am not an expert in rescuing and rehome - i've only rescued and rehomed a couple of animals in my lifetime, however i am an expert in marketing and sales, so i think this will perhaps come in handy for fundraising etc as even though i have been afraid of asking for £3000+ upfront from my legal clients, i'm not afraid of asking for money when it comes to supporting animals in need of care and support. So i'm pretty sure i'll find this much easier than most on that front.

I've run my own business for several years, so i do know how hard any business is to run - it took me a year worth of learning and losing 20k in the process setting up in my first business before i started making any profit. It also taxed me emotionally dealing with everything on my own- working from home was not anything like working for an employer. I loved it however, but i'm now ready to go into something i'm passionate about, rather than work in an area that i like, but am not fully commited too longterm.

My ultimate vision is to own a large scale rescue/sanctuary to either rehome or allow to live in if unrehomable or with health issues. I do need to start small in the right direction and i may have to fund the rescue via my own business ventures initially until i'm able to cover costs. I'm aware of this.

I also have the knowledge in contracts, dealing with people on the phone, marketing, etc. I think the suggestions put forward are great for when i start getting going, i.e how i'm going to deal with quanitity etc,. Although intitially i'm just looking to take in a couple of animals,and get the basics sorted out.

how will you manage your time- My time is my own so i'll manage it around my business. I already have 14 rabbits to manage, so i'm aware of how much time each additional rabbit would take.

how will you manage the enquiries about adoptions (phone/e-mail)- I am used to handling phone calls. I have no problem with this.

Will you have a dedicated phone line- I have a dedicated phone line just for this. I have different phone lines for each of my businesses.

Will you take emergency calls night and day- Yes- i don't mind working 24/7 if it's an emergency.

how will you cope with rabbits dumped on your doorstep- i will take them in

how will you deal with infection control- a quarantine building

how will you find new homes - internet, posters, vets, RU. - all of these- i will draw up some documentation- logos etc, and business cards and so on.

how far afield will you rehome- uk wide

will you do all the homechecking yourself- where possible- although i can employ someone to do this or get some help.

have you decided upon your rehoming criteria- 6x2x2 hutch with 6x4 runs min. This is what my rescues will be staying in. However a degree of understanding will be accepted as alot of people are unaware of rabbit care and minimum welfare requirements for bunnys. Although i'm not to keen on following blindly an organisation who kill animals that are non rehomable, with that much money- i personally would setup a sanctuary for animals like these and smaller hutches would be acceptable rather than death row. The size of runs however would remain the same and this would apply only if the accomadation is only if attached, min size still stands for free standing hutches with no run attached.

how will you do all of the bondings for all of the single bunnies you rehome- I will do this myself- as i've done my own bondings.

how will you cope if someone who adopted a rabbit from you needs to return it - how long will you keep a space open after the rabbit goes home- space is open indefinately. I will make sure i have space and take in a rabbit if they need to return. This shouldn't happen in theory- but life events do happen, so i appreciate this may be a consideration. My main focus will be on getting as much land sorted out as possible so that i can take in any quantity of animals.


how will you create the right form? registration forms, rabbit handover forms, adoption forms, rehoming information, educational information on what happens when the bunnies go home (for new owners) - I'll do this myself. I've got alot of experience in admin so i'm sure i can pull something off the computer which looks proffessional. This is something i can start working on now.


will you have volunteers to help you - will you be able to insure them and the visitors to your home.
Initially only my friends will be helping me, but if i do take on volunteers or staff, i'll make sure i have the correct liability insurance.

Thankyou for all your points to consider. Anything you think i may look futher into? You have given me a fair chunk i can get started on admin, promotional side of things. I'm also going to create my own website and launch that with and put the progress of animals etc. I'll be able to manage everything through the site also. As my boyfriend is an IT expert i can get his input with any functional issues i may have.

Ambience xx

 

[Hugo's There]

£1500 is a fair chunk! How many rabbits do you have in your sanctuary please?

Ambience xx

We have around 37 at the moment. We decided we needed to reduce numbers for a while to try to reduce our vet bill and take a bit of a break but it hasn't made any difference to our monthly bills. We went from 41 buns to 35 over a couple of months and our vet bill still went up, so it doesn;t necessarily relate to the number of animals you have

 

[The Duchess]

One thing you can do now before you even begin to take in animals is create some educational information. When people enquire here, I give them my leaflets about rabbit care, because for many, they have no clue and find it hard to get good information elsewhere.

By researching the leaflets, you will also learn a lot that maybe you don't already know yourself. By being able to send this to people electronically you will save time and energy. Each enquiry can takes hours from the beginning to the end/adoption so anything you can do to get people learning for themselves before they adopt from you has to be a bonus.

As for rehoming criteria, I am sure you know that there is a lot more to it that just hutch sizes - things like, ensuring that they new owners have a good rabbit vet, that they make suitable provision for when they go on holidays - (so many don't even think about this), that they feed a good quality hay and suitable food and understand why it's so important, that they can commit financially (yes you do need to know this so it's a difficult subject to broach and often seen as being impertinent), that the people have totally bunny proofed their gardens if they intend to free range supervised. So many people have no idea of what plants are dangerous and what constitutes a hazard in the garden (pond's, wells, sharp nails, places to get stuck). The list goes on.....

Be warned, if you advertise where you are, you WILL have rabbits dumped on your doorstep. People are cowards when they give up their animals which is why so many are dumped in the woods or left in a cardboard box under cover of darkness - you won't be able to control how many arrive at one go, and you could end up going from a couple of buns to 20 odd overnight - often mums and babies being dumped and mum being preggie again. And this could happen time and time again. I would not advertise where you are going to be unless you are prepared to put up security cameras to catch people doing this.

I do not advertise (apart from having our bunnies on RR) and I take on average about 3-4 calls a day. This might not seem many, but it takes an awful lot of time. And, if you don't get back to people quickly, they won't all understand that you are a busy person.

I'd make sure you decide how many rabbits you will help at one time, and stick to it, keeping an emergency only accommodation just in case you do get a stray or rabbits dumped.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[elaine]

If you are rescuing from home you need to be aware neighbours WILL complain and make life difficult and in some places you need planning permission as then you pay more council tax.
As for being avail 24 hr a day believe me after 3 months you will soon get fed up I now only use a mobile and it is turned off at 6pm
You will get people knocking on your door all hours of day and night and the dumping is a major issue.
People will take rabbits and then come back and want money for vet bills so you deff need something in your paperwork
You need a understanding vet if not your vet bills will be massive,
I only ever used to have 15-20 rabbits in and now as people know I am here with unrehomable and difficult rabbits/dumping I now have 60 in. You will get up in a morning and find rabbits this happens once people know where you are and you will find other animals are dumped if you are not careful.
If I had known what I know now I would never have gone into rescue as it is a totally thankless/hassle 99% of the time

 

[Bex Dave and Robbie]

Another thing to consider is if you are renting you may be in breach of contract, what happens if boyfriend is no longer around to assist?

 

[The Duchess]

So there are no legalities surrounding rescuing and fundraising like there are when you are a charity? It doesn't impact your home and you don't have certain criteria you have to meet(obligatory).

I keep the books for our rescuing effort here. All incoming funds whether from donations for adoptions or other are recorded and so are the payments out for the upkeep and care of the rabbits. I don't need to be a charity to be able to do that but am liable to for tax on any 'profit' from what is considered a business, of which of course there is absolutely none as I have to top up the costs of operating with my own salary every month.

Many, many people rescue without being a registered charity. You can be a voluntary organisation but it depends on what you want to do with your set up. I don't want to be a charity currently. There is no need for me to be.

 

[Santa]

:wave: It's great that you have answers to all these questions, but there is really so much more detail to it than simply 'I'll manage'. For instance:

how will you cope with rabbits dumped on your doorstep- i will take them in: of course you will...if they are dumped on your doorstep you will have no choice. But where will you put them if you are full? Will you have emergency accommodation available that you can be absolutely assured that you won't be tempted to use at other times just because it is there? Will you have created yourself a network of trusted, homechecked fosterers that you can call on for emergency accommodation if you need to? Can you confidently sex adult and baby rabbits, so you know that you can separate babies correctly if they are dumped on you? How do you and your vet feel about emergency spaying if you are full and have probably pregnant rabbits dumped on you etc.

how will you deal with infection control- a quarantine building: what does this mean exactly? How will you deal with infection control between the units in there? How long will animals stay in there? When will they get moved? Will they get exercise during that time? How and where? What disinfectant products will you use? Do you understand e.cuniculi and coccidiosis and how you can minimise the chances of it spreading through your accommodation and runs? Would you recognise the symptoms quickly enough? If you had a suspected outbreak of cocci what steps would you take immediately to stop it spreading?

how will you do all of the bondings for all of the single bunnies you rehome- I will do this myself- as i've done my own bondings: but is that really going to be practical if you rehome nationwide? Would you allow a bun to go to a new owner for bonding? What would you do if the bonding didn't work? Would you insist on taking the rabbit back if the owner wanted to keep it as a single anyway? How would you enforce this?

how will you cope if someone who adopted a rabbit from you needs to return it - I will make sure i have space and take in a rabbit if they need to return. My main focus will be on getting as much land sorted out as possible so that i can take in any quantity of animals: How will you 'make sure' you have the space? What happens if someone rings you the day after 20 have been dumped on your doorstep? As I said in an earlier post, taking in 'any quantity of animals' rings alarm bells of animal hoarding not of responsible rescuing. Any responsible rescuer knows their limits (and indeed their species) and sticks to them, even if it means having to take heartbreaking decisions to say 'no' on a regular basis. Size of your land should not be the limiting factor in how many animals you take in - it should be how many you can properly care for. You've already said on other threads that you sometimes just want a day off from your animals and how do people cope when they're ill - if you are thinking these things with the 14 rabbits you own at the moment then I really think you're a long, long way from being able to responsibly look after the vast numbers you seem to be envisioning.

As others have said, I'm also a little concerned that you are very focused on the financial and promotional side. Animal rescuing is all about the needs and care of the animals, and it worries me somewhat that you're so heavily focused on thinking about logos and publicity, rather than on how you're going to prevent a coccidiosis outbreak from killing all the rabbits in your care, for instance. You can have the best promotion in the world, but it doesn't help the animals if they come secondary to the attempts to fundraise and rehome them.

Again, I don't say these things to sound negative, I say them because I don't think you've thought the whole thing (not just the promotional and fundraising side) through in anything like enough detail at the moment.

 

[The Duchess]

Excellent post Santa. I agree that all of what you have said has to be given much more consideration.

 

[Amy104]

I'm sorry but I have to agree with Santa here. I think you are rushing in a bit, just a couple of days ago you asked re aftercare of a spayed rabbit, this is pretty basic stuff and something you could potentially be dealing with on a daily basis. I understand your dream is to help I really do, but I really think you would benefit perhaps from fostering or helping out at an established rescue in order to build your knowledge as much as possible.

 

[Becky86]

I must say i agree with the others. I basically run a rescue - i run our RSPCA branch, voluntary. Its not the money thats the problem, its the time, theres not enough hours in the day, its so tiring and time consuming. I hardly get any time to myself - i was even doing paperwork on my birthday :? You really need to think about it, money isnt the main issue.

I think its excellent what you want to do, but it really does need thinking over. You have to be such a strong person, its not like running a business, its totally different. Its all emotional x

 

[halfpenny]

You have to be such a strong person, its not like running a business, its totally different. Its all emotional x

Or be able to cry a lot.

 

[Bobbytail]

Rescues

I've been volunteering at a bunny rescue centre for a few months now and believe me its hard work (I only do one day) and heart breaking. Santa & the others are right, many people including me are constantly ringing and asking the owner for advice,as if she is a vet. You can't afford to get attached and you really do need to know what you are doing, many bunnies get sick and are takn from us very quickly and because of money unfortunately you would not be able to keep running to the vet. I do wish you luck but honestly you are better off stiicking to your own pets.

 

[Ambience]

Thanks- I must note here i didn't ask for opinions on whether anyone thinks i am capable of setting up and running a rescue- i know i am and i would appreciate if everyone can refrain from any judgements regarding this.

I am only asking for solely practical advice on the application of this procedures. I am not asking for approval about my character or if i am caperble of running a rescue etc.

When i asked the question " Where do i start when it comes to setting up as a rescue, sanctuary or charity.

I was hoping for a practicle step by step guide to launching and becoming established. The actual business moves that need to be done before the charity, rescue or sanctuary can be considered as such.

I'm quite surprised, as noone knows me personally- how comments can be made regarding my ability and charactor strength and so on. I appreciate some of the things i'm suggesting my not be in the conceptual realm of the people answering here- i.e it may not be possible for you.

Please do not project your fears about what is possible to yourself onto me. I know what i'm caperble of and do not need to have opinions on something i've not even raised as a question- i could understand if i had asked- "Do you think i'm able to run a rescue!" Fair enough- however i find some comments quite offensive.

I have had more than enough dealings with animals to be able to run a rescue and have had more than enough dealings in business to be able to run a business. This thread was not intended for people to degrade my charactor.

P.s caring for animals isn't rocket science. I do have vets on hand, people i can turn too and i can follow simple instructions- When i ask for advice here- alot of the stuff is things i already know- i'm just reiterating and clarifying best practices. I think it's unfair to judge me based on my previous posts. I think there is a desperate need for more rescues and i would have thought anyone trying to have a positive impact in this area would be welcomed not told not to bother.

To be honest i'm quite shocked.

I'm talking about starting out with one rescue bun and expanding on that- the majority of people here are jumping on me and telling me that is not possible- i think more thought needs to go into what is being posted in response to my question.


Ambience xx

 

[The Duchess]

Right, well I don't know you and I have never read any of your other posts on RU, so any comments or suggestions that I have made are purely based on your initial post.

I have to say that most of what you have asked has been about the charity side of setting up a rescue, which is why I have posted about the practicalities of doing the actual rescuing; this in my mind is the most important part of rescuing - not how much cash your OH pulls in.

Sorry for being blunt, but I haven't gotten the impression that you have thought about the realities of what you would be taking on, but just the administrative side of it. I am probably wrong and you probably have thought about it long and hard.

Good luck if you do decide to go ahead, because yes, you are right, we need more rescues. Actually we don't, we need rescues to stop being necessary, but in the meantime, yes we do need rescues spaces.

Helen

 

[Santa]

I'm sorry you feel that way and suspect that, at least in part, your previous post is aimed at my comments.

First, yes I may have initially ventured some thoughts which you took well, and in fact asked me directly what areas you thought needed brushing up on, so based on what you had previously posted on the forum, I gave you some pointers. So please don't now accuse me of answering questions that you did not ask, because you did directly ask for further clarification on those things.

And if you'll notice, aside from the areas where you have made direct posts which I have commented on, I have merely asked questions - "do you know how to..." I have not said that you don't, I have merely raised that these are also practical things you need to consider in deciding to set up a rescue. I don't see how it is unfair to judge someone (if indeed raising queries constitutes judging) on previous posts if they are recent. If they are 3 years ago, fine, but they're not so they do seem relevant to the level of knowledge and attitude :?

I genuinely wish you good luck and hope you do a really good job to promote and support rabbit welfare. But I also genuinely hope that you can read through your defensiveness (which may be perfectly justified, I have no idea) and see what areas you may need to brush up on. It may not be rocket science to look after animals, but given that according to the RSPCA rabbits are the UKs third most popular pet and yet the most neglected, it can't be quite as easy as everyone thinks.

 

[helgalush]

I think its great that you feel motivated, passionate and committed to getting yourself set up as a rescue. I think that, above all, is what it probably takes to get started - and to keep going when things get tough.

I think when people feel passionate about doing something, a reality check can be helpful and I think thats what most people who have replied are trying to do - to help you stop and think about all the practicalities - including the emotional side of things, your boundaries, and management of the rescue (aside from the financial aspet) are what people are trying to help with.

From my own point of view, I havent run a rescue, I havent even helped out with one - which is why I think it is commendable that you want to do it and I want to wish you every good luck with it.

But from the work that I do with disadvantaged and vulnerable people I know that you have to look after yourself and be clear about what you can achieve and what you cant and set very clear boundaries for what you will do in a given situation and where you will draw the line. This is to protect yourself so that you can continue to give the best care to those that you are already committed to - and so you dont get burnt out.

I havent read every single post - so forgive me if I have missed a bit - but I dont think people are necessarily trying to put you down - more playing devil's advocate about the whole situation to make sure you have thought everything through and dont get yourself in a big mess later on. Because that would be tragic for you and the animals. No-one is saying that will happen, I am sure you would do everything to prevent it, but it is easy to overstretch and be overambitious. But it could happen, and so thats why people are taking the time to help you be sure you can do this, and have the best preparation possible.

Do you think there are more things you need to learn about or think about before you proceed?

Have you written out your policies, rules, forms, checklists etc?

What measures will you put in place to look after yourself and ensure you dont get burnt out?

I think it is such a huge commitment and I do think that you need serious thought before proceeding about every angle in serious depth - not just ideal reactions based on your own ideologies. Because your 'ideal' scenario and the reality are bound to be different. In the 6 years I have been doing my job, my ideals have continually been challenged. Its a cliche, but be prepared to expect the unexpected.

We are here if you want to carry on running things by us, no-one wants you to feel you have to go it alone. :wave:

 

[Ambience]

Right, well I don't know you and I have never read any of your other posts on RU, so any comments or suggestions that I have made are purely based on your initial post.

I have to say that most of what you have asked has been about the charity side of setting up a rescue, which is why I have posted about the practicalities of doing the actual rescuing; this in my mind is the most important part of rescuing - not how much cash your OH pulls in.

Sorry for being blunt, but I haven't gotten the impression that you have thought about the realities of what you would be taking on, but just the administrative side of it. I am probably wrong and you probably have thought about it long and hard.

Good luck if you do decide to go ahead, because yes, you are right, we need more rescues. Actually we don't, we need rescues to stop being necessary, but in the meantime, yes we do need rescues spaces.

Helen

Thanks Helen,

No problem. I have been thinking about this since 17 years of age. I am now 26 and am in a position to do this. It's not been a off the cuff decision i've been thinking about this for the last 5 years whilst i've been building up money on the financial side of things in my legal consultancy.

The stage i'm at now is where i want to get down to some of the animal rescue practicalities. I.e Can i just start a rescue as a limited company, get a rescue rabbit in ( This is something i can organise through my affiliate),and start fundraising straight away? Are there any legalities around fundraising if you are not a registered charity, or does this only apply if you are? Is all i have to do practically the documents i need for the rescue and my marketing -i.e for rehoming. Or is there anything i have missed legally. Is this just like any other business, bar of course the accomadation, emotional side of things etc.

I appreciate what you are saying about the realities of taking on rescue animals etc. I am going to start very small and get my footing before opening my doors to the public- my address will be private and i'll only be taking in a small number of animals initially- this will all be under my control. If i get to the stage where i feel that i can go public i will, but as you know that's along way off yet

Thanks,
Ambience xx