Working on my 501c3!

[hopefloats]

I am going through legal zoom to work on my 501c3. I am hoping I can get approved through it. I have a few problems. It is costly $850.00 at least not including the legal zoom fee which I am trying to figure it out now. It has to be approved so it is like a gamble but I have kept records for the last few months I think I have enough to get approved.

Does anyone know the best way to do this?

I need fund raiser ideas so I can raise the funds. The funds we do get in monthly go right to the rats right now so getting the extra funds is going to be a challenge.

If anyone wants to donate to that fund they can do that as well. Our paypal addy is

[email protected]

I have to do this in order to protect the animals. I am also going to have to find others who will be on there with me. I think I have to have two others on here....


Give me ideas and tips. This will be HUGE for us!

 

[hopefloats]

So i have learned that it is 850 but it last the lifetime. If i do the other and we get more donations then we have to reapply.......Heart shattered! This can happen though... .I just need a lot of fund raising stuff! Holy cow!

 

[dspch911]

So i have learned that it is 850 but it last the lifetime. If i do the other and we get more donations then we have to reapply.......Heart shattered! This can happen though... .I just need a lot of fund raising stuff! Holy cow!

What do you need for fundraising? I can sew!!

 

[hopefloats]

Luckily my wildlife rescue friend the same one who called me on Cordelia the death row girl has done this twice! So she said she can help me fill out all the paperwork! Major plus. She has also came up with some good ideas.

1. bake sale... Not sure where at though LOL
2. Rattie paintings. Putting paint on their paws and tails and letting them walk across the canvas and then auctioning them off.

I could do a raffle of goods but I would need a lot and I am not sure how that works really....

That is what I have so far......

 

[Aida]

I can crochet hats, scarves, gloves, phone cases, purses, etc.

I can also make friendship bracelets, can even make them with rats, or names and writing- very customizable.

Can you explain what this is? I am so confused, lol.

 

[hopefloats]

That is my not for profit status. I could get on the oxbow order list for not for profits and get food at a HUGE discount. The donations that I get would be a tax write off for most and I would be protected under rescue laws for any animal ordinances in the area so it is a must after watching some other rescues go through some stuff over a complaint with the city!

That is all I know but I am sure there are other added benefits like being able to do adoption events in more places since some only allow official 501c3 status rescues do events. It would just open so many more doors for us.

 

[hopefloats]

If someone has some ideas of how we can do a raffle and share around then I will be willing to try a raffle of items but I would need donations of goods and so on. I suck at sewing. I am sure I could find some stuff to throw in but I have no idea how to start any of this I just know I have to finish what i started and this is my major dream!

 

[Aida]

Summer is starting on Tuesday for me, so I will have way more time on my hands and can gladly contribute to the cause!

I've thought for a while of setting up a "shop" on here with friendship bracelets and rat related crafts, and donating the funds to all of our wonderful rat rescues.

By when would you need all this money?

 

[hopefloats]

It is going to take time for me to work on the papers with the rats and work I am limited. I will be working on them the next couple weeks... Pretty much from there when I get the money up I can file.

 

[Aida]

Then I'll definitely clean up my crafts and help out however I can with any raffle or contest you hold.

 

[Velo]

If someone has some ideas of how we can do a raffle and share around then I will be willing to try a raffle of items but I would need donations of goods and so on. I suck at sewing. I am sure I could find some stuff to throw in but I have no idea how to start any of this I just know I have to finish what i started and this is my major dream!

I'll see if there's anyway I can contribute to a raffle hmm. Maybe I can donate some rattie houses or toys or something. I'm not one much for crafts myself. :lol:

This is how I would do a raffle:

- Have a prize pot (a list of prizes) available. You can have unlockable tiers (like, if we have 100 raffle tickets purchased, we will add in a bag of Carefresh to the prize pot!, etc.)

- Sell raffle tickets (5$ per ticket? depends on what the prizes are/how many). When someone buys a ticket they get a number. I'd do it in order. So if I gave you the first 25$, I'd get raffle ticket numbers 1-5. The next person would get #6 or however many they buy.
You could even buy those rolls of tickets and write the person's name/username on the back. Or just keep a Word file or note on this website of who has which numbers. c:

- On the end date of the raffle, you use a random number generator. http://www.random.org/
Since you assign tickets in order, it'd be 1-however many you sold.
First winning number gets first pick of the pot, second gets second and so on and so forth until all prize items are accounted for. Then people just let you know what they want... Hopefully no one holds up the line, since it would go in order of winner.
You could have prizes be like First Place gets X prize, Second Place gets Y prize, etc. Then no-one gets to "pick" what they want, but that's not huge either if everything is desirable.
You'll have to decide if people can win more than one prize too. I wouldn't allow the same number to win more than one prize, but if a person has 2 numbers and both get drawn, do they win twice? Should all depend on how many prizes ya got.

You could do shirts for prizes? And like bumper stickers, magnets, keychains, calenders, stuff like that. Maybe even just sell those outright too (at future adoption events?)
Maybe some people would be willing to offer coupons as prizes or "redeemable" items like one free custom hammock, etc?

I wonder if users here would be interested in all compiling a little book you could print off and sell for donations? Like maybe putting the "250+ Things Only Rat Owners Will Understand" into a little booklet form with pictures users provide? Or make a handy guidebook with general information for adopters?
http://www.fedex.com/us/office/booklet-printing.html
It'd be +/- $6 each here for them to be bound, full color, etc. You could probably get it done cheaper somewhere else too. If you sell em for $10 then it's $4 each to the donation pile...

Okay enough rambling for now.
XD

 

[dspch911]

What do you need for fundraising? I can sew!!

I am a bit of a fabric-a-holic and Al would be very happy if I started sewing again and got rid of it - so tonight I will start on some stuff. I'll start sending things to you and you can keep for yourself or do whatever with...

 

[Sheldon]

2. Rattie paintings. Putting paint on their paws and tails and letting them walk across the canvas and then auctioning them off.

What kind of paint is safe to do this with? It sounds like an amazing way to collect memories.

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

 

[dspch911]

I am a bit of a fabric-a-holic and Al would be very happy if I started sewing again and got rid of it - so tonight I will start on some stuff. I'll start sending things to you and you can keep for yourself or do whatever with...

My fabric-a-holic self bought more - to the hubby's dislike, but I just explained I needed girl fabric since I only had boy stuff. So I have begun work and hopefully will get stuff out to you in the next couple weeks!

 

[hopefloats]

Totally appreciated! I willl have to gander and see how they did the raffles on paypal i know you cannot do raffles persay but they get around it somehow!

 

[Velo]

If you mean to avoid the fees, you click this choice when you send money:
I'm sending money to family or friends
There's no fee if you use your PayPal balance and/or a bank account.

I wonder if you can do something through like GoFundMe or Fundly or one of the donation sites like those? Cause I know there are "prizes" for different donation levels. The "prizes" can be raffle tickets?

 

[hopefloats]

I will have to look at the prizes on gofundme. I know that they do raffles through paypal so I will have to look at paypals as well.

 

[Petunia]

maybe ask the Traveling Rat and/or MRR how they do theirs? you pay thru paypal for those. They must know how to set up the page so it goes thru as a sale and not as a ticket/ raffle ticket

 

[Velo]

Looks like the trick is to not have anyone mention that it's for a raffle when they buy the ticket. "Technically" you can't do a "raffle" on Paypal... So if people type in "RAFFLE TICKET PLZ" in the memo bit, apparently you can get in trouble/not allowed. I didn't know that before. :X
Looks like traveling rat did each prize separate, and you buy the ticket to be entered for the prize... Interesting. ;0

 

[dspch911]

Looks like the trick is to not have anyone mention that it's for a raffle when they buy the ticket. "Technically" you can't do a "raffle" on Paypal... So if people type in "RAFFLE TICKET PLZ" in the memo bit, apparently you can get in trouble/not allowed. I didn't know that before. :X
Looks like traveling rat did each prize separate, and you buy the ticket to be entered for the prize... Interesting. ;0

Whenever I buy off this site (hammock usually) I click the send money to family/friend too.