Perry Jowsey, Director of Development, Freedom Service Dogs

By Heather Fletcher

With those donations, FSD's been able to rescue and adopt out more than 1,000 dogs — with more than 150 of the canines being placed in “highly specialized client-dog teams.”

Jowsey provides more insight on FSD:

FundRaising Success: What are the biggest challenges your organization faces as far as fundraising is concerned? How do you overcome them?
Perry Jowsey: Like many small nonprofits, we were able to grow our budget over the years by appealing to the foundation community for seed money and project-specific funding. With an annual operating budget that receives over 40 percent of revenue from foundations, we have faced challenges since the economic downturn of 2008 as it has dramatically impacted the ability of the foundation community to make sizeable investments in a time when most nonprofits are declining in funding.