Help a Veteran-Owned Dog Rescue Build a Donor and Sponsorship Strategy From Scratch

Legacy Paws Rescue is a veteran-owned 501(c)(3) nonprofit dog rescue and sanctuary in Catawba, NC. In eighteen months we have rescued and rehomed 17 dogs with no staff, no board, and no formal fundraising strategy. Every dollar has come from product sales and individual donors who found us on their own. We have never actively pursued donors, built a giving campaign, or approached a corporate sponsor.

We need a fundraising professional to help us build a strategy we can actually execute — how to identify and cultivate individual donors, how to approach corporate sponsors, how to run a fundraising campaign, and how to make consistent asks without it feeling impossible for a founder who struggles with asking for help. We need a realistic plan that fits a one-person operation and teaches us how to sustain it going forward.

Every dog we take in comes with vet bills, food, supplies, and time. Right now those costs are covered by the thinnest of margins. A real fundraising strategy means we stop operating in financial crisis and start building the stability that lets us say yes to more animals. Funding does not just support the mission — it is what keeps the doors open long enough for the mission to matter.

I will be completely honest about where we are — no existing donor database, no campaign history, one founder who is a people pleaser and finds the ask uncomfortable. I will show up to every session prepared, implement every recommendation given to me, and do the follow-through work in between. I am not looking for someone to fundraise for me. I am looking for someone to teach me how so I can keep doing it long after this project ends.