Starting a rescue & need some input

We have rescued cats & dogs for years but have finally decided to officially become a nonprofit rescue. Right now we are building an earthbag house which will feature the following rooms: a "general population" room for healthy cats who don't mind other cats, a room for pregnant/nursing mama cats as well as orphan kittens, an isolation room for the sick & injured, a room for cats who don't like other cats & will need to have their own space. We will also have the same set up in another attached earthbag house for dogs. In the middle of both houses we will have a room that will have the following: an exam table, sink, bathtub, blanket warmer, washer/dryer, small refrigerator, etc. We're not going to be a very big shelter because we will be building the rescue houses on our property behind our house. We have an earthbag house as well. We are going to be no kill--which is what we've been the whole time anyway. We're working on obtaining nonprofit status & will hopefully have it by the end of the year. One quick question if anyone knows the answer: we work 5 days a week, 8 to 10 hours a day so does anyone know if there is an inspection we will have to set up before we can become nonprofit or that our state will have to do before we open our doors? We live in Alabama. I'm asking because if there is then we will be able to make arrangements to be home for it but if there isn't then we won't have to worry about setting aside a day to do it.

The main reason I posted this question was to ask for your guys' input on a name for our rescue. Our main focus will be on pregnant, orphaned, injured, sick & emergency cases. So because of that we thought about calling it POISE Rescue since POISE stands for each thing we want to focus on. What do you guys think about the name? Others we thought of are: Another Chance Rescue & Four Feet Rescue. Which of the three do you like better? Or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

Also, in case any of you are wondering about their care while we're at work, I have an aunt who has always helped us care for the animals we've rescued and she will be staying there a few hours during our workdays to handle all of the babies.

Or what do you guys think of PROMISE Rescue? the PR for pregnant, O for orphaned, M (drawing a blank or do you think it would matter if there was a word attached to the M?), I for injured, S for sick & E for emergencies

I like the P.O.I.S.E. name! Bless you for all that you do and may all your efforts in creating an official 401k rescue be richly rewarded

As for names, they are both excellent, the "M" btw can be for "misplaced", for abandoned/dumped cats.

Actually LOVE both names.

I started my rescue 5 years ago, after years of independently rescuing cats on my own.

I could walk you through the entire process but I use fosters for housing. My home is for medicals though or prego moms just too far along to have spayed, and moms with newborns.

They are in a converted garage building behind my house, the 'cat room'. I have 2 free roaming residents for the room but the rest are all caged. This is meant for recovery, etc as I said, and once they are good to go, they move on to one of my fosters homes until they get adopted.

I think it will be alot more work, and alot of inspections, etc because you will be like an actual shelter, housing many, many animals. You will need permission for zoning purposes, which is not so easy if you have any neighbors and other businesses around.

I bypassed all that by only having a po box address, a website, and an adoption venue. (Petco) Otherwise it is out of all of our homes with no inspecitons, or anyone looking at everything going on.

We are also a 501-3 (c) non profit.

I think what you're doing is wonderful. Since this is not really an emergency, I'll move the thread from the S.O.S. forum to the more general Caring for Strays and Ferals forum.

Hey guys thanks for the answers! We decided to go with All Walks Of Life Rescue. We will still be focusing on the same types of rescues but decided that this would cover any type of rescue we haven't thought of yet. We are also going to have them in cage units for recovery & privacy and we are only going to have about 20 units set up. Thanks so much guys!! If anyone could walk me through the nonprofit process I would greatly appreciate it! Also, does anyone know if we can do some fundraising until we officially become nonprofit? Donut sales, magazines, candy, etc.

I had to "bing" earthbag home.  What a cool concept!

You can do fund raising but donations will not be tax deductible for the donor until you have your non-profit status.  As long as people know this, they will usually feel happy about helping.

I like the name you've chosen.  It fits!

I would be very strict about doing anything you need to do about inspections and anything official.  All your hard work will be for nothing if you end up on the wrong side of a building inspection or any state department that, by law, has to be involved.  In my state, NJ, the Departments of Agriculture and Health both have to keep certain records on shelters, pounds, kennels and breeders.