It Has long been a dream of mine to set up a Labrador Sanctuary,somewhere particularly for the dogs with problems or Oldies,it breaks my heart when I have to leave them in the boarding kennels and am unable to spend as much time with them,Ive had lots of oldies here over the years but we only have a smallish house.
Anyway Ive searched on and off over the years to find a place big enough with kennel space and with a large enough house for old labs to live out their days in peace,not all labs no contentment in old age some come to us through bereavement.
Well the strange thing is we received a letter on tuesday from a wealthy landowner who in the past adopted a dog from us offering the chance of a property on rent the strange thing is as well the letter was posted exactly when we lost william the day before,I know its a strange coincidence but I feel its meant to be.
The draw back is obviously we would need regular funding,Does anyone on here know or could advise me how to go about this,we would need a small regular contribution monthly from dog lovers and in return they could visit etc..sponsor a dog .we could even have a small garden of remembrance
Does anyone work in PR or similar and could just point me in the right direction?
We have visited the farm and its perfect,Its also a decent lease so any hard work we put in would be for a long time.Hard work wont be a problem and commitment we have in abundance.
It would be a last chance for some labs who are unrehomable for various reasons,plus we could work closer with the hooligan young ones and build up their characters for rehousing.
I currentyl make a round trip of26 miles a day to the boarding kennels we use at present.
Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
Glenys

I presume you would have to set up the enterprise as a charitable trust, and then encourage people to support the work by donations, legacies and regular monthly direct debit payments. Sounds like a wonderful and much needed facility. I hope it works out for you. Where is the property geographically?
Cathy.

Hi Its In Cheshire,no neighbours to annoy.
Yes charitable trust sounds right how do I go about that?

don't know if these will help but may give pointers :

giving campaign

[link http://www.allaboutgiving.org/default.cfm?CFID=370572&CFTOKEN=24854589]all about giving[/link]

charity commission

Mattie,

Why not give Jean and Peter a ring im sure they will give you all the advice you need.

Karen

Hi Mattie, Thats such great news, I truly hope it all works out perfectly for you, you deserve it with all the work you do. xxx

wow - sounds perfect.
Afraid this isn't my field of expertise (not sure what is really !) but an obvious first place to start would be a county newspaper to do an article on you (free of charge hopefully). Rescue Kennels in this area have page adverts occasionally where dogs are listed (pics and description) and each one is sponsored by a business - I presume the sponsor money covers the cost of the advert and raises some funds for the rescue along with raising public awareness.
Perhaps in an intitial stage you would be able to get local builders/trademen help free of charge with conversion etc in return for their companies being mentioned in the advertising article when you open ??? Even if they only give you free labour you would be able to get materials through them at trade prices.
Is there a local shoot (possibly with a high % labs ;) ) who could be persuaded to contribute and do they run field trials where you could perhaps sponor a class in return for entry fees ??

These may all be things you've thought of but if not hope they help. If anything else comes to mind I'll give you a shout. It sounds such a good idea you deserve to succeed :D
Sara :)

oh Glenys, I am so chuffed for you, definately an act of fate so go for it as its obviously meant to be. :)
I can't come up with any useful advice , but when you get it going I'll be first on your list to sponsor a dog!
best wishes and loads of luck
Julie

Mattie,
Another source of Income would be if you were willing to be a holding facility for the dogs picked up by the local authority. I know that several of the kennels near here are holding cells for the local authority pick ups, as it is the LA that is responsible for stray dogs. In Bristol they are taken to the Dogs Home once they are Open, so they ae only in the Kennels over weekends or evenings, but it gives a little income!

Hi Mattie

Dobermann Rescue have something they call SponserDobe for those dogs that cannot be homed for one reason or another. Various people sponser them and can visit and are sent photos/updates.

If you are interested I will try to find out who organises this and let you have their details.

Christine

Yes please I am interested in any advice at all.
Best Wishes

Oh the best of luck, I hope it works out for you. I can't offer any advice but I will cross my fingers.

Debbie

Mattie,

If you receive charitable income of £1,000 or make charitable donations of £1,000, you must register with the Charity Commission. (That's what they told me.) You already have their website. They should tell you what you need to do. (? appoint trustees?
?open a bank account? ?maintain accounts? ?submit audited accounts to the Charity Commisssion?)

Michael
22 June 2002

Best of luck Mattie:D I can't offer any advice, but if you need any administration work doing that could be done from a distance I'm happy to help.
Anita

Approach local businesses for donations with those dodgy photos taken where they're handing the cheque over etc. I think it's a wonderful idea- I'll phone round some people tomorrow for you- I work in Accounts so some of my contacts should be able to point you in the right direction. The Director at work ia also something to do with the NSPCC- he does sponsored runs etc and get's his other posh Managing Director mates that own there own company to sponsor him for a lot of money. When I was a kid I can remember us doing a sponsored spell I think it was and the proceeds went to a bird sanctuary. I nearly set my own business up one- that's another long story- and (don't moan- I'm sneaky:)) in order to see what sort of prices people were asking for and the suppliers etc- I phoned round a list of about 20 and told them I was a teenager doing some research as part of my business studies course work:o I'm sure if you phoned a few sanctuary's they'd be more than willing to help pass on info- you wouldn't have to fib though like me:D I'd sponsor a dog- defignately:) Go for it Mattie you have nothing to loose and like I've said before- you're an angel in disguise- I only wish I was as nice a person as you:D :D :D You could get volunteers to walk them etc at the weekends or see if your local authority would make some of those people that have to do community service as a punishment- help out by walking them etc.

Stacey x x x

Hi Mattie

Our local rescue centre lets people become members. You pay £12 single member and £20 joint members. In return you get a quarterly newsletter and you can of course visit the centre.
Our local rescue centre was horrible, all falling down etc and they have just reached their 2nd target of £250,000. The new centre is looking good and now the animals can be looked after a little easier. They also have an area called Dunroamin where elderly dogs live out their days, along with a tv, radio, armchairs etc. Very much like a home.
The newspaper advertising of animals in need of homes works in my area (Devon) and as someone said you get local businesses to sponser the individual adverts. Why not approach the lab clubs for sponsership of some of the adverts or for some of your start up costs.

Good luck