Hey everyone: I know it's been a while since I've posted but lots of things have changed / been uncertain in my life for a while now but I think I'm finally putting the pieces back together and know what I want to do. Only problem is, I don't quite know how to execute it.

I used to think I wanted to breed balls and contribute to the hobby that way but over the past half year or so, I've shifted my focus more to rescuing and rehoming unwanted reptiles. The only thing is, to accomplish my goal of a successful non-profit rescue, I need to make some sort of money on the side. I plan to focus primarily on offering feeders (which would also go to feeding the rescues), enclosure and cage decor to start but have been kind of seeing it as a conflict of interest?

What I'd like to do is breed feeders, make enclosures and do all that while making a profit to both support the rescue and support myself (can't run a rescue if I'm homeless) but therein lies the issue. Do I start a for-profit business and rescue and rehome reptiles without the benefit of being a non-profit with 501(c)3 status or is there a way I can form a non-profit and use the money I generate from sales to keep it above water without it being against the non-profit regulations/requirements? Do I form two separate entities or is there some sort of hybrid entity I could form?

Needless to say, I've put a bunch of thought into this already and the fact that I'm coming up short on answers (surprisingly, internet searches aren't yielding any info worth while) is making me a little nervous about going full steam ahead on this idea and depending on what needs to be done and how, my game plan can vary drastically so I'd like to avoid the headache of going with one plan, hitting some sort of avoidable roadblock and having to start all over again. Any sort of advice or help would be greatly appreciated as I'd like to get started sooner than later.