Michael SchneiderFounder, Executive Director & Chief Pilot aka "Top Dog", Pilots To The Rescue · Top Dog @ Pilots To The Rescue

Spreading Good: Animal Rescue Mission

12 Aug 2023 · 1 min

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1:22

In this introductory video, Michael Schneider, founder, executive director, and chief pilot of Pilots to Rescue (also known as Top Dog), explains his multifaceted role in the charity, which blends his passion for aviation with animal rescue. He outlines his duties ranging from piloting missions, training volunteer pilots, handling maintenance discussions, to managing fundraising, marketing, and accounting. Schneider describes the organization’s lean structure: he is the sole employee, supported by a full‑time equivalent social‑media/marketing manager, about eight volunteer pilots, and a team of virtual assistants handling administrative tasks. The operational focus covers most Southern U.S. states, specifically the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

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Hi, my name is Michael Schneider. I'm the founder, executive director, and chief pilot for Pilots to Rescue, AKA Top Dog. I do a little bit of everything at Pilots to Rescue, from flying the missions, training pilots on operations and procedures, uh, discussing maintenance issues, as well as all the duties to run the charity, from fundraising, marketing, accounting, you name it. I started Pilots to Rescue to combine my love of aviation and rescuing animals. Both of those things were really important to me, and it was a real passion of mine to fly. Rescuing animals was a huge bonus to be able to contribute and give back to society and utilize this pilot certificate that I worked so hard to achieve. We have a small but mighty team at Pilots to Rescue. I'm the only employee, but we have a, almost an equivalent to a full-time social media marketing manager. We have about 8 pilots that are all volunteer, and then I use a crew of virtual assistants, to help me with administrative and marketing tasks. We cover, uh, most of the states in the South, uh, namely the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky.