Interview! Sandy Rees, Founder and Chief Encouragement Officer - Get Fully Funde "I’ve always felt deep in my soul that I’m here to help lots of people. I have a sensitive heart and can’t stand to see anyone suffer.” Sandy helps non-profits and charities who have been used to nickel and dime fundraising work on getting to six or seven figures on their bottom line! She shows her students how to find ideal donors and connect with them through authentic messaging. Because one of the greatest challenges for our listeners is fundraising, Sandy has many answers that we need to do the jobs we are trying to do for our community cats! Sandy fell into this career by accident and didn’t go to school or classes that teach non-profit management. There really weren’t any around! But she went on a tour at a local rescue mission and ended up asking lots of questions. She was soon asked to join their board and a year later, joined their resource development office. Soon, she jumped into fundraising and never looked back! Surprisingly, she was able to apply a lot of corporate marketing from her earlier career into her new one and she soon blossomed. In 2005 she started Get Fully Funded and was able to pick specific clients that she loved and connected with. From farm animals to dogs and cats, Get Fully Funded can cover it! The bottom line is that people are passionate about helping animals, but don’t know how to raise money to help. So she retrains her clients to turn fundraising into something that makes people want to help. She gets donors excited! She also believes in working by the 1/10/1000 Rule. Plan ONE fundraising event a year and do it really well! Get TEN grants a year. Stop leaving grant money on the table. These types of grants are out there so apply! Build your donor base up to about 1,000 donors. This will set yourself up for sustainable fundraising long-term. It’s also good because if you lose one donor, you’ll be able to weather storms through a base of stability. Sandy also talks about ARF club, which focuses on small organizations and training opportunities for these places. They are able to work together with all animal welfare groups through private Facebook groups and other Q&A sessions where they can connect and collaborate. Learn more at http://getfullyfunded.com/arf-club/ and arfclub.com.