The Donkey Sanctuary has unveiled a new organisational strategy which aims to see the charity double the number of donkeys in its care, and increase income by a third, within five years.

The animal charity’s expansion plans include increasing its countries of operation from 27 to 40, reaching 2 million donkeys and increasing the number of donkeys re-homed from 1,500 to 3,000. It also aims to nearly double volunteer numbers from 600 to 1,500.

In funding this new plan, the charity aims to boost its income and spending from nearly £30m to £40m by 2018. The new strategy says Donkey Sanctuary will both diversify into new income streams as well as further exploit existing ones. “Relationships with our existing supporters and inspiring new audiences will be key,” it reads.

Regional fundraising and charity shops will be core to this expansion. A spokeswoman for the charity told civilsociety.co.uk that the charity intends to recruit two new regional fundraising coordinators who will work to recruit and inspire supporters around the country. The charity will centre its regional fundraising around its donkey assisted therapy centres in cities around the UK and aims to increase its number of active fundraising supporters to 5,000 within five years.

Donkey Sanctuary will also be testing out charity shops, an area it has previously not been involved in. While its new strategy set a target of opening 15 charity shops, the spokeswoman said that the organisation is planning to pilot a charity shop and will roll out more, dependent on the success of the pilot.

The charity said in a statement: “Thanks to the generosity of our current loyal supporters, as well as future support from new audiences, the charity anticipates being able to make significant progress in all of its core goals over the coming five years.”