Starting an animal sanctuary?

ok as a child all i ever wanted to do was help animals. And that has ped through to adulthood. I would love nothing more than to open up a sanctuary for all types of animals. treat them, foster them, train them, re-home them. The only kind of shelter in my area is a kill shelter, after 15 days an animal that hasn't been adopted is killed. i would take the animals set for euthanasia. I need a large chunk of land for this and i was wondering how i could get a grant or something to help me pay for this. I know donations but you cant take donations unless you are an organization. HOw do i go about ALL this? Ive tried researching the internet but nothing was much help. I live in Va.