12 Days of Giving Day 11: Why Most Nonprofits Fail (And How This Donkey Rescue Fights Back)

Everyone loves to romanticize nonprofits. Cute animals, smiling founders, feel-good posts. But behind the scenes? It’s brutal. In this 12 Days of Giving episode, we rip the filter off and walk straight into the chaos, cost, and emotional weight of running a real nonprofit — through the lens of a donkey rescue that now cares for around 100 donkeys plus a full farm of other animals.

Sara Weldon never planned on saving donkeys for a living. She and her husband Rick were “hobby farm” people in Florida — until one traumatic night when their donkey gave birth and then tried to kill her baby. They grabbed the foal (Cash), raised him in the house like a newborn, and accidentally turned him into a social media star. That led Sara down a rabbit hole into the ugly world of donkey abuse and the slaughter pipeline in America. The plan to breed quickly turned into a mission to rescue, sell everything, and move to Tennessee to build what became Cash’s Crew Rescue.

From there, it got real. Sara walks us through how hard it actually is to form a legitimate 501(c)(3): months of paperwork, state filings, IRS hoops, building a board, learning to live with full financial transparency, and even watching early board members cycle off as the organization evolved. It’s not just “file a form and boom, nonprofit.” It’s governance, accountability, and people management — which is often way harder than the animals.

Then we get into the grind. A “normal” day means feeding 100 donkeys plus horses, cows, goats, chickens, ducks, geese, and a pile of dogs — twice a day. It’s special feed for neglected animals, checking every body for wounds, hauling hay with a tractor, vet visits, constant castrations for incoming jacks, running a merch store, shipping orders, answering 30–40 texts at a time, managing social media, and still finding time to fundraise just to keep the whole thing alive. Meanwhile, she’s often forgetting to eat while making sure every animal is cared for.

I step in with the money truth: it costs about $4 a day to feed a single donkey — and that’s before barns, trails, housing, staff, or expansion. If a nonprofit can’t build sustainable income streams, it will burn out its founder and its donors. We talk about what sustainable actually means, how we’re designing CCR to generate its own revenue over time (lodging, retreats, weddings, etc.), and what questions you should be asking before you donate or start your own nonprofit. If you’ve ever given to a nonprofit — or thought about starting one — you need to hear this.

Watch the full episode on YouTube:
 👉 https://youtu.be/0ceH4FHRixo

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Chapters

• 0:00 Why nonprofits aren’t cute: the real cost of “doing good”
• 0:58 Cash’s birth story: the donkey that changed everything
• 3:46 America’s dirty secret: donkey abuse and the slaughter pipeline
• 5:49 Selling everything and moving to Tennessee to build a rescue
• 8:32 How hard it really is to start a 501(c)(3) the right way
• 11:21 A day in the life with 100 donkeys and a full farm
• 17:28 Why most nonprofits fail: burnout, bad boards, and no plan
• 19:56 $6 a day per donkey: building a sustainable nonprofit model
• 21:43 The emotional toll and why Sara still says she’d do it again
• 22:30 Before you donate or start a nonprofit, ask these questions

Transcript

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 0:10

She is back. Right. I promised you at the end of last one that she did that we were gonna talk about something a little differently. A lot of you may. No. Or may not know, I guess dunno how you haven't, because maybe you haven't lived on social media, but Sarah is also the founder of Cassius Crew Rescue, which Yes, I am the treasurer of, and yeah, we are going to be talking about that from a, a nonprofit perspective, but we wanted to bring a different episode to you that we've never done our 12 days of giving before. And that is specifically talking about nonprofits, not only what a founder has to go through, not only all of the things that we have to go through in a nonprofit, but also like the emotions behind it, and always looking for the next donation and the things that we have to go through. So sit down everybody. We're gonna go through nonprofits. For those that are nonprofits or nor of nonprofits. Maybe you'll learn something, maybe you won't. However, I know at the end of this episode, what you're gonna realize is that it is tougher than you think for the nonprofits, not just about asking for money. There's a lot of things that go through it too. So Sarah, welcome and I'm welcoming thank you through as well. Let's, let's go from the beginning with you a little bit on this. Where did it come from to have a rescue? Think about saving donkeys, and then how that developed into like, yeah, let's do a nonprofit, because that's a small undertaking.

Sara Weldon: 1:24

It is a very small undertaking. You know, it's been a crazy story, a crazy ride. But, but I think it's such an important story to share, um, because I don't think anyone's born thinking I wanna do a nonprofit, and I certainly never had an idea that I wanted to do a nonprofit saving donkeys like that. That was never my on my life's plan. But here we are and it's the best thing ever. Um, so, geez, two years ago. In a few weeks, it'll be two years. We had a farm in Florida. My husband Rick and I, we had a farm in Florida. We were. You know, your, your hobby farm people. We were having the cute little animals. We bought a couple donkeys and we thought, Hey, let's, let's, let's breed some animals. Let's make a little side hustle. Why not? We love them. Other people will. So we bought a couple donkeys, fell in love, um, and one of our donkeys got pregnant and, um, went through the pregnancy and all of a sudden, one morning, um. We were out walking in this random part of the farm, and our donkey had given birth, and we witnessed her trying to essentially, uh, can I say it here? Or I won't flag the word. Okay. We saw her essentially trying to kill her baby. Stomping, kicking, just going berserk. Um, we, I ran in, I, Rick hadn't seen that part yet. He ran in to get a camera. I ran up, grabbed the baby, threw it in my coat. Um, all the don, she started trying to attack me. Rick came back, cut the umbilical cord, we ran in the house and, and such, the story began of, of cash. Um, we basically raised him in the house like a, a baby and fed him bottles every two hours. Took him out to go to the bathroom, you name it. Um, and he became very famous on social media because who, who raises a donkey in their house And, um, he was very full of life and mischief and craziness. But what happened was I, uh, we started really researching how do we raise a donkey and, and donkey behavior. And I found out how mistreated, abused and just about the slaughter industry in our country. And it was, it's America's dirty little secret, what happens to donkeys and horses. And I had fallen so deeply in love with donkeys. I was absolutely horrified. And Stoya knows me very well. I have a very large bleeding heart to my detriment. And right then and there I'm like. We're not breeding'em, we're saving donkeys. So we took a leap of faith. We saved four donkeys and we brought'em in from Oklahoma. They were in the, they were about to go to slaughter. Um, it took months before they would let us touch them, but every night we'd go sit with them and it just became this. Kind of beautiful practice of, of showing them to trust us. And now they're like little lap puppies, but they, they got to trust and love us and that experience was so profound to take something that is absolutely broken, broken and show it. A new life and getting that trust and love, it was the most incredible feeling I've ever had. Um, I'd put it right up there with giving birth. It was amazing. Um, and to know that we as humans have that capability was incredible. And that's when Rick and I decided we're not just gonna do it for four, we're gonna do it for as many as possible. So poor Stoy, we gave him a heart attack and told him, we are gonna sell everything. We're gonna buy a giant farm in Tennessee and become a rescue. And I think Stoy was ready to c come and find us and tie us up and stick us in a closet and say, don't you dare say those words to me. But I am I very stubborn, bound, and determined person, unfortunately. And um, through a series of miracles, we made it happen. Uh, and we got here. And, uh, we, we are now in Tennessee. Um, and obviously we had to start a nonprofit and that's where the, the joy began of, of forming the nonprofit. We did all of that before we truly started rescuing, and that in itself is a can of, I mean, a can of worms. I'll, I'll go ahead and open. I knew I, we wanted to do it the right way. Um, I had a great mentor, a peaceful pastures, donkey rescue. I had picked their brains, how do we do this? How do we set it up? And obviously the first thing that I knew we needed to do was become a nonprofit, because obviously, yes, we have our own business, but there is no way on earth that we could float all of this with our business and do it on the levels that. My bleeding heart wanted to do. So here's where I will say STO was worth his weight in gold. Um, forming a nonprofit is not as easy as just filing some papers and boom, you're a nonprofit. It was one of the most complicated and intensive processes ever. However, it was stress free on our end because Stoy. Did it from A to Z. Sure, we had to fill some things out, but it was him saying, here's what I need from you. Let's file this, and boom, I would, I would get the notification from the state of Tennessee. I cannot stress enough, unless you're a pro at this, don't do it by yourself. It, it was, it was a massive undertaking. It took months and, and there were many times when I'm. And Stoy was like, Nope, this is just part of the process. Part of the process. He did all the heavy lifting. I, you know, started putting together, we had to have a board of directors. There's so much into a nonprofit that I think people don't realize. Um, it's a lot. It is an absolute lot. Um, finding the right people, and then also, you know, it's, it's a little bit intimidating at first because the whole theory, obviously a nonprofit, there's so much transparency, which I love because nobody can ever question, or they shouldn't question what you're doing because it's all public, right? It's transparency to a t you know, it was really a little nerve wracking in the beginning because every dollar we spent, it had to be approved by the board. Had to. And every month they analyze everything we spend, everything we do. And at first it's like, you know, ah, whoa, this is crazy. I'm used to making all my own choices and suddenly I didn't get to. However, I will be honest, that gave me such extreme comfort because I knew that nobody should question us because that's the process we go through. Um, so it, it really, it, it is a, it is a lot and I, I think most people don't realize it, and I think most people are afraid of it. Because they know that it's a lot of work and they don't know help is available. They're like, oh, I gotta figure this out, and I never will. So, you know, that's, that's really where you just saved the day.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 7:53

And a lot of what we've seen, I, I was, luckily enough, everybody, like I've been on nonprofit boards, I've started other nonprofits. Like I, I was able to at least use my experience. But things that you, I can't describe or do Yes. The legal documents. The policies and procedures, the books, the money, that, that is all relatively like black and white to a degree. Like, let's be real. There's some things that we change within agreements and stuff. That's fine. What you don't see or hear about is the people, and there's, there's two sets of people here. Right. There's the board. Mm-hmm. Then there's the volunteers, the staff, all that stuff. Okay. So managing people's, one of the hardest things, I think, on this planet to do, and even within a year, although CCR is not a year old yet. Right. Come February, which by the way is my birthday and CA's birthday. I think this is why it works well. Two.

Sara Weldon: 8:45

Yep.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 8:45

Um, is we've gone through two different board members already. Right. Mm-hmm. Going on. And that's what I think nonprofits sometimes get stuck with when you're the founder and the president of it is your initial board is designed to get the thing up running, organized, and sometimes those people are gonna fall off because that was their role and job. Correct. The nonprofit's also going to grow and change, and you're gonna personal develop. It's gonna move. And you're gonna need to bring on different people as it goes. That is probably from the outside. One of the hardest things that I've seen, one you go through within the nonprofit side of things and others is recognizing that some people's time is just short. Mm-hmm. And that's okay. Mm-hmm. Which is really tough because as a nonprofit founder that that's your bleeding heart again. Right? Mm-hmm. And I need people to understand that that is okay, and that is a proper way. Just on the front side. Talk about it. Let the board, mm-hmm. Let the board know that you're not there forever. Right? You have certain skills. Maybe at some point we grow past you and that is ultimately okay. And I know that one of the tough ones that obviously we're not gonna talk about and throw on social media all the time, but it is one that weighs on you. A lot.

Sara Weldon: 9:53

Absolutely.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 9:53

The other is regular staff. Right? So now we're talking about the nonprofit running it as a business and the things that we need to do in order note taking, all the things to make a nonprofit compliant with IRS, so that way we can be a 5 0 1 C3, but then you still have the actual rescue itself briefly.'cause it's not easy. And I know we teased this on the last episode, but when we, when I joke with Sarah about she has so much time on her hands, you guys obviously, hopefully you see this sarcasm because it's a complete utter bullshit lie. Talk us through, just from the rescue side of things, what a day in your life looks like. Oh,

Sara Weldon: 10:28

I'm gonna wear you out just hearing this. It's a lot. I'm not gonna lie. I wanna preface this though. I've never felt so personally fulfilled in my life. So I'm not complaining by telling you how heavy this is. I'm just sharing it.'cause I want the transparency. Every morning has to start with coffee. Rick and I usually, I will be honest. This has been a must for us. We do not jump out of bed and start our day. I cannot do it because I am going all day and there's so much. I take a good half hour, 45 minutes, I read, I do stuff. That's for me and it quiets my mind because the moment we step out of this house, it is 10 million miles an hour. Phone calls, texts, animals, you name it. We start with feeding the entire crew, which is a lot. We have a hundred donkeys here, four horses. We've got our own animals. We've got 11 cows, we've got goats, we've got chickens, we've got geese. We've got ducks. I think I've. Oh my gosh, we've got 10 dogs. Um, I mean, it is like a literal zoo here, and it's a lot because we, the care of these animals is the most important thing for us. And so it's not just, oh, say hello. It is preparing special feed for all the horses because they were so severely neglected. Like, rescue isn't perfect animals. We have the damage, the broken, the starved, so everyone has. Special needs. Everybody has special feed. The feeding process takes a while because we get everybody fed in their areas, everyone's eating, and that's when Rick and I, as cheesy as it sounds, we lay hands on everyone. So I go around, I touch the donkeys, I socialize, I check, are there sicknesses? Are there wounds? That is my, because we do it in a contained area, that's my only way.'cause we're on a bunch of land, they all spread out. It's my only way to really, really get up and close and personal. That process takes a good hour, hour and a half. Um, and, and it's a lot. And then the rest of the day is spent. Huh, maybe going on a feed run, maybe taking some animals to the vet or having the vet here. We have to, a lot of what we rescue is Jack, so I feel like we're castrating every week. Um, the other big piece, the fundraising, obviously nonprofits. Don't, don't fund themselves. And we've got a lot of mouths to feed and we've got a lot of expensive mouths to feed. And, and again, it's really important for us that they are doing better in life. So we feed them well, it, it is all very expensive. Uhto figured out'cause he's got that great brain. It costs us$4 a day per donkey. We've got four, we've got a hundred. That's$400 a day. That's 2,800 a week. See I can do a little math. Um, it's a lot and. Don't, don't forget, there's big expenses with the vet. We're building a barn right now. Like there's so much expense and I have to fundraise. It is, it is solely on me. I haven't found that amazing angel that can figure it all out or, or give us the money for it yet. But each time we're about to do something, I have to really think through how can I do this? So every day I'm working on different fundraising efforts. Right now we're doing a really cool one. We're, we're doing hands. Everyone that donates$50 or more got their hand on our barn. Um, I try to be creative, so because I don't want people to feel like I'm just going like this all the time. Give me, give me, I try to correlate something meaningful with every gift, and I think that's important. We sell merchandise, so I have to manage the store. I manage all the ship. I manage all the orders and all the endless people that are like, where is this? Why isn't this here? When is that coming? I got the wrong size. I actually wanted it only this way. I mean, and it's on all the different social media platforms plus email. It's, it's insanity. I mean, and then at any, at any given time, you know, if I am out doing an activity and I come back and check my phone, there's a minimum of 30 to 40 text messages just sitting there. All day, every day. A mix between our other business. This, my family, it, it is a lot. Somewhere in there I eat. Uh, it usually is forgotten. I'll be honest. The, the animals eat more frequently than I do. Um, thankfully Rick loves to cook and he feeds me sometimes'cause I will not eat otherwise. It is a very busy day, I'll be honest. There are moments I feel like I'm going to burst. I ha I have to write everything down. I don't, there's days I have to just accept. I'm not gonna get it all done. And as long as it's been good at making me learn priorities, I, my biggest priority every day is those animals. If I don't get to eat meals, but those animals are taken care of. It's been a good day and that's hard for me'cause I'm a control freak and I wanna be very good at everything and I've just had to realize. People are just gonna have to accept I cannot be Johnny on the spot all the time. Um, and, and that is a very hard one. So then that's my day. Very busy. Um, at some point I usually try to exercise because that's my stress relief. Um, and then evening. It starts all over. We have to feed all the animals again, again, and usually by evening they've spread out. So it's, it's a lot. Oh, I forgot to add in there. Every day Rick and I have to take the tractor and bring hay out into the field all over the place. And that's a two person job. So then we have to feed them all again, which is again, another hour, hour and a half. Um, and then. Occasionally we'll sit down and relax and have a glass of wine. Um, and then we eat and we go to bed, and that's our day. And I am

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 15:53

all over again. I'm,

Sara Weldon: 15:54

I'm exhausted and every, every part of me is tired, but that's, that's every day, pretty much the

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 15:59

important piece of everyone listening of, of why I wanted her to go through that and not her to spill her her, but it's, it's how much is going on? How exhausting this. Specifically for a nonprofit that's starting up, and this is where nonprofits typically fail because the founder cannot sustain all of that for long. And this is why most nonprofits try to be sustainable. And if you can't be sustainable as a nonprofit and what, lemme back up. When I mean sustainable, I mean they're able to support and create their own income to support their own staff feed, et cetera. Right? That is the goal because then it can continue on and the foundation can get bigger and bigger and bigger. If not, then you are always asking repeatedly for money over and over and over and over again. And not only is that exhausting and hard to do, you start to whittle everyone down of, well, they, all they do is ask, like it's always an ask. It's never. Like, we're good or, or anything like that. And that's where I know for sure we're at with CCR is the fact that we're looking for, obviously funds, but sustainability, yes. We know it's$4 a day for, for the animals, the donkeys, the, the horses to be fed. That's cool. Everyone gets that. They can understand that donation. But what they don't see is the trail system, the barn, um, the other things that have to go for a nonprofit to have places, right? The RV. Little RV park or the tiny homes we wanna put on there. Those are all awesome. Those are also gonna be providing income. Mm-hmm. So that way we could sustain everything else to grow. And as you look at other nonprofits and you're all thinking about doing some donations, dive into that. Ask those questions. See where they are actually sustainable to support themselves in the long term, not just. Taking your a hundred dollars, your a thousand dollars, your million dollars, or whatever it is, that one time to build that thing, and guess what? They ask for it again the next year. Because for me personally, everyone, this is me personally, the nonprofits that are sustainable and will continue to move on and can grow to the fact that they can take care of themselves or the true ones that we want to put our money behind, because then they're doing something for the longevity. The other ones to me either aren't organized enough or. Dangerously enough. They're the ones that end up all of a sudden you see money being embezzled. You think they're, they do it for themselves to get rich and stuff like that. Don't get me wrong, not every one of them, but there are a lot out there. So you gotta be careful. With that being said, everybody, yes we do have an ask. It's$4 a day for a donkey. Come on board, right? Um, but also go see the form. Go to Cassius crew, uh, dot org, rescue.org. Please reach out, communicate, learn more. And if you're wanting to know more about how to run a nonprofit, how to set one up, we're here for you, right, Sarah, and I'll jump on a call with you. Um, but know that she's kind of busy. Uh, she does, she loves Netflix. I mean, it's all day long. You just heard it. Um, so please reach out and do what you can. Sarah, is there anything I missed or that you want to ask for? Um, during this holiday season,

Sara Weldon: 18:57

you covered it all. I, I, I and I, I, I, I just think it's so important. I do wanna say as much as we talked about kind of the challenges and how heavy and hard running a nonprofit is, it is the most rewarding experience ever to truly be doing good, feels great to be affecting other people, to be doing all of this. It is. It is. It is amazing. It is. I know this, I'm not trying to be religious, but I feel like it's God's work. It's what we're meant to do as human beings, and yes, it's heavy. Yes, it's hard. Would I do it again 10 million times over? You know, it is, it is the hardest job I've ever had, but yet I. Feel like I am here doing what I am meant to be doing on this earth. And because I am doing that, it is, it is going out to other people and other people see it and feel it. And people are loving to be a part of this. And I, I'm a dreamer. I am a big dreamer. And I know this dream will come true because I see it every day. And, and with your help story, because you've been helping. You know, reign me in and put my dreams on paper. You know, I, I do see us becoming sustainable. You know, I, I see what the potential is here and I know we will get there. This will be someplace on the map where people are like, this is an incredible donkey rescue. What they're doing is amazing. But it's an awesome place to stay. It's an awesome place to get married. It's an awesome place for retreats, you know, and, and we can get to that point where it is sustainable. You know, I'm not having to pull my hair out every day and make social media videos and do all this and do all that at some point, hopefully, you know, I'll just get to be and just run this and, and just enjoy what we've created and, and make it even better. So don't be afraid of it. Don't, don't let what we said scare you. Just make sure you've got someone like story because it, it, it really, it just makes the biggest difference in the world. It really does. Knowing you have someone that has your back, that's not gonna let you fall, that's not gonna let you fail. It's huge. It, it is the. Thing we all need in life, but especially with such an undertaking like this, you have to have it. Like I, yes, I have Rick, he's a great partner, he's a great husband, but we would not be here without Stoy, and I do not say that lightly. I'm not just trying to blow up his head. We literally would not be here with sto. I could not have done this. Could not at all have done this on my own. There's absolutely no way. And because I have that freedom and that stress is off of me, I'm able to go out there and kick ass and make this amazing rescue because I know at the end of the day, I gotto who is, is on the back end and, and keeping all the pieces from falling and keeping me from being too crazy with my dreams. That, that's the biggest part. So, you know, he's not giving himself enough credit. But I, I really, if I could give you one tip about this is, is find a story. Find your story before undertaking this because it will make the whole journey, the whole process, everything so much better. And at the end of the day, you're not gonna be just screaming and crying and going, what the hell? Where am I? How do I do this? It's, it's, it's everything. So that, that's my piece that we needed to include.

Stoy Hall, CFP®: 22:00

I appreciate that. Uh, it, it really does mean a lot. It does. So everyone have a happy holidays again, across all of our socials. Communicate, reach out to our content. We're able to provide more for you if we know what's going on. If you're starting a nonprofit or you are that founder in the nonprofit and you are feeling like Sarah, reach out, build your team, make sure you have the right people on it. So without further ado, happy holidays Sarah. We will talk soon.