Message from Animal Friends' President & CEO
If you haven’t heard by now, our recent Fall Tailgate event was a resounding success! This event was just one in a series of events that have helped us to spread the word about our aggressive new plan to reduce pet overpopulation through spay and neuter. To all of you who helped at this event or one of the many other activities to promote our new initiative thank you. To truly make a difference it will take the support of each one of us.
Mobile Resource Center Challenge
The purpose of the Tailgate was to introduce new, prospective donors to Animal Friends, and celebrate both the wonderful progress of the Mobile Resource Center and the success of the Buckner Spay/Neuter Challenge. As you may recall, Gail and Tom Buckner had generously agreed to match dollar-for-dollar, up to fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00), all cash and pledge donations received from June 4 through September 16 in support of the Mobile Resource Center initiative.
At the event, I had the honor of announcing that the organization met and exceeded the challenge goal. Including all cash and pledge donations received, we raised $115,000 during the challenge period. With the Buckner’s $50,000 challenge gift included, our total raised was an amazing $165,000! These dollars are critical to reaching our program goals and budget expectations for this year. Although we are closing in on our budget expectations and grateful to the Buckners for their generosity, we still have a ways to go.
We are thrilled with the influx of financial support that will allow us to continue this critical program. But we know that the Buckner Challenge wasn’t exclusively about raising money. It was, and continues to be, about raising awareness about the problems of pet overpopulation and challenging the community to join us in promoting a proactive approach to spay and neuter.
Program Highlights
Since kicking off our Mobile Clinic Program in April, the MRC has been “on the road” a minimum of 3 days per week, primarily supporting smaller, more rural shelters and organizations in Greene, Fayette, Butler, Clarion, Crawford, Washington and Allegheny Counties. By reaching out to these partnering organizations, we are altering animals that would not otherwise be altered. But more importantly, we are educating the people in these counties that spay/neuter truly is the answer to pet overpopulation.
In addition to our 10 partner organizations, we recently developed a partnership with the City of Pittsburgh. Offering our mobile spay/neuter services within Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh is critical in our attack against overpopulation right here in our own backyard. We look forward to several upcoming clinics this fall in the North Side and the South Side neighborhoods.
To date the Mobile program has completed over 2,000 low and no-cost spay/neuter surgeries. Combined with our In-House and Community programs, Animal Friends has altered over 6,000 animals this year and we are well on our way towards our ambitious goal of 8,000 for 2009.
A New Challenge for Spay/Neuter
And now there’s even more good news! Gail and Tom Buckner were so inspired to learn what a difference our progressive spay/neuter program is making already and impressed by the success of their initial $50,000 challenge that to everyone’s surprise they issued a second $50,000 challenge in support of spay and neuter at the Tailgate event!
We now have a wonderful new opportunity to raise another $50,000 to meet their generous challenge before the end of the year. And with the many events, activities and mailings already scheduled this fall, we will certainly be busy!
Taking into consideration our regular fall fundraising, we have decided to focus on particular donors rather than casting a wide net and potentially hitting folks with multiple funding requests. Our focus for this challenge will be on a limited number of individual donors as well as corporations and foundations to reach this new goal.
Looking Ahead
When we set out on this journey to increase our commitment to spay/neuter, we were confident that the community would embrace our vision. And they have. In that short nine-month period, we have spoken to hundreds, possibly thousands, of individuals who have thanked Animal Friends for taking this bold step toward making real progress in the fight against pet overpopulation. Many have stepped up and volunteered their time and their talents. Many others have stepped up and donated financially. The reality is, without both, none of this would be possible.
As other organizations across the nation struggle to keep their programs going and their doors open, at Animal Friends we are blessed to have the people like Gail and Tom Buckner who help to make our visionary goals a reality. But it’s important to remember that the Buckners alone cannot fund this program. It will take many committed individuals, businesses and foundations to reach our operational needs. Animal Friends has no large endowment or savings account. Every dollar we raise goes directly to pay for salaries of our veterinary team, surgical supplies, gas for the MRC and the administrative support to set the appointments and form the partnerships.
Every dollar raised is a reflection of your commitment and belief in the work you do for the animals each and every day. The public, donors, adopters, and those just calling to get a question answered take note and form an opinion about Animal Friends by the way they are treated by us. Clearly, we have impressed many, but we will need to shine that light brighter if we are really going to impact overpopulation.
Warm regards,
David J. Swisher
President & Chief Executive Officer
Downloadable Information
2007 Audit Information for Animal Friends, Inc.
2008 Audit Information coming in May, 2009
Contact
David Swisher
p. 412.847.7000
e. dswisher@ThinkingOutsideTheCage.org
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Animal Friends
2009 Organizational Goals
- To provide the highest level of customer service and support to the public that we serve.
- To be recognized as the region’s premier resource for the education and promotion of pet-related intervention and solutions to community issues.
- To provide animals in our charge with high level, consistent and compassionate care.
- To continually evaluate, strengthen and enhance core programs and services to meet the changing needs and demands of the community.
- To fully integrate volunteers into all aspects of the organization by developing productive and enriching volunteer work experiences that benefit the individual, the animals and the organization.
- To provide a professionally challenging and positive work environment for the staff, volunteers and directors with a focus on teamwork and cooperation.
- To maximize current resources and develop new funding sources to ensure a consistent stream of support for the future.
2009 Quantifiable Objectives
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Implement a mobile spay/neuter clinic to support feral colony caretakers, distressed urban neighborhoods and rural shelters.
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Develop and maintain supportive partnerships with shelters and animal welfare organizations by providing them with low-cost, accessible spay/neuter services.
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Facilitate mass trap-neuter-return events targeting populations of feral cats in distressed urban areas in conjunction with the Three Rivers Feral Project, a collaborative effort between Animal Friends, Animal Rescue League and Western PA Humane Society.
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Strengthen partnerships with state, county and local governments to support our low-cost spay/neuter program.
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Streamline spay/neuter application process by offering on-line registration and customer satisfaction surveys.
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By integrating the Mobile Resource Center into our Community Adoptions program, increase the number of animals highlighted and placed through offsite opportunities.
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Expand our admissions partnerships by facilitating the admission of more adoptable animals from animal control facilities and shelters in underserved, rural and depressed areas within our identified service region.
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Expand our ability to admit more animals in need by increasing the number of animals placed into our foster care program.
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Improve animal flow by ensuring initial behavior assessment upon admission; medical exams and vaccine administration with 24 hours of admission; and reduce to zero, the time that a cleaned, set-up kennel sits empty on the adoption floor.
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Streamline adoption pre-approval application process by offering on-line registration and customer satisfaction surveys.
- Increase participation in Animal Friends University classes by expanding the variety of classes offered to daytime audiences.
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Develop a new curriculum package geared toward high school aged students incorporating the Mobile Resource Center in our humane education menu of programs.
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Increase the retention rate of volunteers within the first three months of participation through a refined orientation program, stronger relationship-building with our newest volunteers and committing to a consistent communication system that reaches 100% of the volunteer corps.
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Facilitate the high demand for our Pet Assisted Therapy interactions by developing a partnership with the Delta Society or Intermountain Therapy as well as creating a new recruitment plan for new volunteer therapy teams.
- Further develop partnerships with local food pantries to reach out to more pet owners in crisis through the Chow Wagon pet food bank program.
- Streamline class registrations with the implementation of a fully automated online registration process; develop on-line survey process to solicit feedback from class participants.
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Engage in networking with other animal agencies, police departments and community organization to educate these groups about responsible pet ownership, humane violations and available resources.
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Expand the list of resources, referrals and educational materials online for individuals searching for answers for pet-related problems and an understanding of animal law.
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Implement streamlined procedures for admitting animals involved in department investigations including a system to track and disseminate information about animals boarded off-site.
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Develop and implement use of the Chameleon database in field work to improve department efficiency and ensure more accurate case reporting.
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Enhance existing donor development and improving current donor retention.
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Develop and promote Planned Giving Options that provide both short and long term funding solutions.
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Develop and institute a corporation relations strategy that is proactive and strategic in its approach and is corporate partner focused.
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Develop third party event process that ensures quality and respects our mission and brand while providing enhanced opportunities to increase our overall fund development strategy.
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Promote current strategic initiatives throughout the year while continuously exploring new initiatives in response to the interests of our partners.
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Improve upon current and create new foundation relationships through cultivation, education and visibility.
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Increase and diversify financial support through improved corporate relationships.
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