Starting a nonprofit for senior dogs?

[DawgLady]

Hey gang.

For the past several years, I’ve become an informal sanctuary for senior dogs. I always have 3-4. When one passes, I take in another one from a shelter or rescue (or one time, it was a stray).

This ain’t cheap. High-quality food is expensive on its own, but the vet care and medications are the real kicker. Then I’ve got gates, crates, toys, beds, leashes/collars/harnesses, bowls, blankets, treats, you get the picture.

I was thinking it might be wise to start a non-profit for my little operation. This would theoretically allow me to donate my own funds to the organization, use it for the dogs, and have that donation be tax deductible from my personal income taxes. No different from donating to any other charity. I also think I could cultivate some outside donors.

Has anyone here started a nonprofit? Is it a big pain? Is this a good idea or no? Is there another option I’m overlooking?

[luvmyhackney]

I know there is a lot of overhead, could you partner with a non-profit instead and house their senior dogs?

[DawgLady]

Well, I have four already, so not really. Not right now anyway.

[wsmoak]

You’ll have to crunch the numbers and see if it still makes financial sense.

The standard deductions are fairly large now, so unless you are already exceeding that amount and itemizing, the tax benefit might not kick in immediately. Here’s an article with some info:

Tips For Maximizing Tax Deductible Donations

I’d also look carefully at insurance. Right now they are your personal pets and probably covered under your homeowner’s policy or umbrella liability policy. If you form a nonprofit and the dogs ‘belong’ to it, then that may complicate matters. Run some scenarios like a guest is badly bitten by one of the dogs, and make sure you are covered.

[DawgLady]

Super valuable advice, @wsmoak . Thank you very much.

[2tempe]

Starting a non-profit is time consuming; the actual cost will vary by state. But generally speaking you must create a corporation, including development of articles of incorporation, by laws and selection of a board of directors. Once that’s done, you must get IRS approval, (which is not guaranteed) then proceed with any state requirements. There will be some annual expense and reporting that must be done. Take a bit of time to research what rules are in your state.

[S1969]

There are different types of non-profits, so you will need to find the definition that works for you. There is a difference between being not taxable, and for donors to deduct their contributions. The level of oversight and cost differs, so definitely see what makes sense.

[Bluey]

Not sure you will qualify as long as dogs are yours and to keep for life, only if they are owned by the non-profit and up for adoption.

Our performance dog club, that gives lessons to the public and helps with all kinds of local non-profits events, like Muttfest, school programs, nursing and hospital therapy and Reading with Rover at the library has tried time and again to get non-profit status and the IRS has never kindly let us have such because we also put on obedience and agility dog shows.
They won’t so easily as people think give you that license.

Maybe talk to some local group or rescue that did get IRS number and see how they went about it?

[Polydor]

The Golden ratio -social media identity on Instagram/Twitter/tik tok - just became a foundation for this reason. They specialize in the seniors with medical issues and they work with a golden retriever rescue. They also have a huge fan following that wanted to be able to donate. Pretty sure they did a podcast about making the foundation.

Talk to an accountant and other non profit.

P.

[Warmblood1]

What would be the goal of the non-profit? Are you adopting dogs and keeping them? Or adopting them out?

[DawgLady]

The goal of the non-profit is to give homeless senior dogs a soft place to land for their final years. I suppose that some are adoptable, but in my experience, there’s not a big demand for senior dogs (especially when they are mixes, undesirable breeds, large dogs, and/or have special needs). So I don’t plan to make adoption a high priority. It’s really a sanctuary.

There are other senior dog sanctuaries around, but they operate on a much larger scale than me.

[Bluey]

@DawgLady

The goal of the non-profit is to give homeless senior dogs a soft place to land for their final years. I suppose that some are adoptable, but in my experience, there’s not a big demand for senior dogs (especially when they are mixes, undesirable breeds, large dogs, and/or have special needs). So I don’t plan to make adoption a high priority. It’s really a sanctuary.

There are other senior dog sanctuaries around, but they operate on a much larger scale than me.

Check with the IRS, maybe volume is one way they determine if someone qualifies over an individual just getting a new pet and choosing an older or disabled one?

Ask those sanctuaries, they may have forms to send that qualifies them as tax exempt you could go by in your application?

[Lizrd]

This place by me does a phenomenal job. And they just hired a vet for their practice. As I age down the line this is where I will be going for a best friend. https://www.adoptaseniorpet.com/

[S1969]

I was just going to say - sounds like a sanctuary, not a rescue as others are suggesting.

Not sure how easy/hard it is to set up a model that is successful. I follow this equine sanctuary on Facebook and it’s a lot of fun. However, I think one of the owners must have been born into money and/or there is some other business being run from the farm, because the facility is unbelievable.

SquirrelWood Equine Sanctuary

I would definitely recommend reaching out to various other sanctuaries and see if you can schedule time to discuss a business plan idea. I would think that they would give the best advice - small or large scale.

[GraceLikeRain]

Working with an existing sanctuary or nonprofit is an avenue I would strongly recommend. We have way too many nonprofits in the US. It leads to a dilution of resources primarily driven by the belief “I can do it better”. Even if a group is out of town, they may be open to a new chapter or branch of their work. This allows you to focus on the real work as opposed to creating yet another one person 501c3. It’s not a small or cheap undertaking starting a legitimate nonprofit.

Lastly, if the goal is to be a personal sanctuary I think it’s also good to do some heart seeking on how much of that is a community responsibility to fund. Is it going to be a public facing space that does visits, education, and advocacy or are you asking the community to offset medical expenses for a few personal dogs that you’re adopting and find expensive to maintain? My senior dog accrued $10k in vet bills in 2022 but I don’t know if it is the responsibility of anyone outside of my home to cover those costs.

Hospice fostering with a nonprofit may also be a route to consider. There aren’t many groups that do it and they may have a different medical cap than you would, but it may be a balance between starting something and fully absorbing the cost of taking on high medical need aging animals.

[Warmblood1]

IME it was extremely easy to get 501c3 approval through the IRS. I submitted my intentions with the nonprofit and they approved the plan, resulting in my EIN number pretty quickly.

I would just be very specific in your proposal and very clear as to your intentions. This situation could come across as trying to write off personal tax deductions for personally owned dogs. I think you would need to be very clear why this is considered a public service and why your service deserves tax breaks and public funding. A lot of people (not saying you) will try to start LLCs with nonprofit status to alleviate tax burdens for truly personal expenses and the IRS is well aware of this. Obviously, the IRS will not like this and when you go to file your tax exemptions in the future, you can have issues if this seems to be a personal endeavor.

Like someone else said, you could volunteer through an existing sanctuary and that would alleviate a lot of book keeping and liability on your part. If you do choose to start your own operation, I would also create a LLC for liability and I would also get a registered agent to act of your behalf - that way you don’t miss any important annual documents that can affect your operation. I use Northwest Registered Agents and they do fine for me.

[anon40672407]

@luvmyhackney

I know there is a lot of overhead, could you partner with a non-profit instead and house their senior dogs?

I read this to mean you contact a nonprofit who is already in this sort of rescue/foster business, and instead of buying the feed/meds for your dogs directly, you buy thru them, and they provide to you, and thus your cash is tax deductible. You would then be “fostering” “their” dogs, even though they are the same dogs.

[Displaced_Yankee]

@Warmblood1

A lot of people (not saying you) will try to start LLCs with nonprofit status to alleviate tax burdens for truly personal expenses and the IRS is well aware of this. Obviously, the IRS will not like this and when you go to file your tax exemptions in the future, you can have issues if this seems to be a personal endeavor.

I have been trying to find a way to put this in words since this thread was started. Thanks you.

As a CPA, I would not assist a client in this endeavor to get more charitable deductions on their tax return. Too much risk.

[meupatdoes]

[quote=“Bluey, post:13, topic:780612”]
Check with the IRS, maybe volume is one way they determine if someone qualifies over an individual just getting a new pet and choosing an older or disabled one?[/quote]

Volume has absolutely nothing zip nada to do with it.
(Also, your club doesn’t get tax exempt status because agility trials are for profit events. Moreover, use of the world “club” is a red flag for the IRS on tax exemption.)

Ask those sanctuaries, they may have forms to send that qualifies them as tax exempt you could go by in your application?

A far, FAR, better plan would be to ask an attorney who specializes in not for profits.

I can refer an excellent one.