Originally from Queensland, Australia, Ryan Godden runs Pete’s Mission in Pai, Northern Thailand, a vegan rescue and rehabilitation centre for animals.
Ryan was previously a construction worker before he decided to dedicate his life to rescuing animals. He spent 10 years working with a number of domestic and wildlife rescue foundations in Thailand before setting up Pete’s Mission in 2017.
Ryan named his foundation Pete’s Mission as Pete was his first rescue dog who tragically died in an accident after being hit by a car.
Pai is a small town with a population of 2,500 people but there are a lot of animals in the valley and the team at Pete’s Mission find themselves commonly supporting dogs, cats, pigs, chickens, horses and wildlife.
Some of the daily activities that come with running an animal rescue centre include:
- Responding to emergency calls
- Feeding and enrichment for the pack of dogs
- Providing sterilisation and vaccination service
- Expanding the farm rescue
- Rehabilitation and adoption service
Ryan and his team offer sanctuary for old, ill and severely disabled animals along with those waiting for adoption. They partner with the local veterinary service centre when emergency operations or sterilisation services are required.
The challenges of running a rural charity
Charity fundraising strategy will include everything from running events, and media campaigns to nurturing long term relationships with the donor community. Like many nonprofits the main focus for Pete’s Mission is to ensure there is enough financial support to keep the operation running week to week.
Being part of a rural community makes that process additionally challenging and even though Pete’s Mission has some local support, the majority of the fundraising effort comes down to having a well curated online presence and being able to tell stories that resonate with their supporters.
Task.io is a software business using blockchain to help shine a light on the organisations who are really making a difference. Their platform has been designed to make it easy for nonprofits and social enterprises to present the impact they’re creating.
With Pete’s Mission the teams are able to demonstrate the success of their animal rescues, sterilisation programmes and the successful rehabilitation of street animals in Thailand. Being able to share these activities with the donor community helps to create trust & confidence which in turn leads to additional funding.
The volunteers simply capture activity data via their smartphone before it’s verified and shared on the Task project page. And each activity earns an IMPACT token helping to encourage user engagement and initiate a points and rewards system.
Social media, payment gateways, and crowdfunding are tech that Pete’s Mission animal rescue is dependent on. “Tech helps us to reach more people, to be more efficient and to bolster our fundraising so we can continue with the mission at hand.”
The future for Ryan and Pete’s Mission
Ryan plans to continue expanding the mission and help more animals and people within the district. That means bringing on additional staff, volunteers and expanding facilities.
Whether working with social media platforms to spread the word or publishing other content to help keep the donor community informed, technology will play a key role in supporting that growth.
Task will be working with Ryan and the volunteer team to make their lives easier – helping them to easily collect mission critical data that can be used for reporting and sharing online, as well as supporting their fundraising efforts.
If you’d like to help you can support Ryan and the team by donating on the Pete’s Mission Project Page: https://www.petesmission.org
