At present we keep about 25 pets at our shelter at any one time. But over the year we find successful homes for well over 200 pets that would otherwise be euthanized at our local county shelter.
When a pet is dropped off at our clinic we test dogs for heartworms and cats for leukemia. We give them a bath if needed, vaccinate, deworm, check their stools, treat for ear mites if needed, treat the frequent patients with diarrhea or colds, and of course, keep them fed and comfortable until we can find them a home. All pets are spayed or neutered. All pets are kept flea free and given heartworm prevention while at our shelter.
Much of our time is spent advertising our pets, raising money to pay for their care, and showing off the pets to people interested in adopting.
Where the money comes from:
(the figures are from our latest quarter: July-September)
Many of the pets we take into our shelter are from people who can no longer care for the pet but are loath to take it to the county shelter.
We charge $30 as the minimum drop off fee.
For the latest quarter we collected $600
When people adopt a pet we charge $65 to help with the costs and to enforce the idea that pets aren't "free" ... they require food, veterinary care, a suitable and safe place, and committment.
For the latest quarter we adopted out 39 pets and collected $2508
Donations from the public $2303
Total income for this quarter = $5438
In addition, we have several fund raisers each year ... a yard sale in the Spring and a barbeque in the Fall that raises about $4000 total each year.
New this Christmas 2008, we will also be trying to raise money by selling donated items on Ebay. Hopefully this will work out. Also new; our ability to accept credit card and paypal donations over the internet on our web sites.
Our Expenses: (for the quarter July-Sept 2008)
Food, Rent for facilities, utilities, cleaning supplies, towels, phone lines, etc: $4500
Staff/salaries etc: $Zero We are 100% volunteer
Veterinary care; vaccinations, spay and neutering, colds, diarrhea, parasite control, etc: $4294
Pictures of our pets for adoption in our local paper: donated at no cost.
Misc expenses which this quarter included newspaper ads for our barbeque, the annual fee from our accountant, our annual $50 fee to the State, and a fee paid for a booth at the job fair: Total: $583
Total expenses for this quarter: $9377
Net deficeit for this quarter: $3939
About our workers:
Twice daily, day in and day out, week days, weekends, and holidays, the 25-30 pets in our shelter need feeding, their pens cleaned up, the dogs walked or let out into the fenced in outdoor areas, and the cat litter boxes refreshed.
All day long, people phone to ask us to take in their pets or ask us to describe the pets we have, or drop by to ask to see the pets for adoption. When people are ready to adopt a pet, it frequently takes multiple visits ... first with the Mom and kids ... and then a later visit by the Dad ... and then a family visit before the decision is made. That's all well and good, but it means a lot of time for our receptionists and workers answering all the questions and helping people compare the pros and cons of one pet versus another, talking to people about why they have to donate money to adopt a pet, talking to people about the responsibilities of properly taking care of a pet and so forth.
All this work ... which we gladly do... and without cost to the shelter is done by the staff of the FoxNest Veterinary Hospital.
Our payroll costs for the FoxNest Veterinary Hospital ... not including veterinarian/owner Dr Ross is about $40,000 a month (1 associate veterinarian, 1 manager, about 7 full time staff members, and about 12 pre vet students from nearby Clemson University who work only 10-20 hours a week each) At least 10% of the work we do if for ARF ... our No Kill shelter meaning that FoxNest Veterinary Hospital is donating about $4000 a month in wages that keep the shelter running, maintained, and viable.
That's in addition to covering the costs of any shortfalls in income needed to pay for the other expenses.
But we also have lots of volunteers:
We frequently have veterinary clients and other adults from the community that show up to help with fund raising events, to walk and socialize the dogs, or to help paint, decorate, or fix up stuff. There's always a list of broken gates, clogged up drains, and yard work that needs doing and much of that work is done by people volunteering their time and it helps immensely.
We are now on the approved list of charities where students (Clemson University is just a few miles away) and minor offenders of the law can do their "community service" hours. Frankly, alot of people doing community service are near useless, but other young people have been wonderful. The useless one we put to work walking the dogs and playing with the cats or picking up litter and dog poop around the grounds. The students that don't need constant supervision have completed a lot of projects around the grounds for us; mowing, painting, trail maintenance, raking, planting, pressure washing the runs and buildings and walkways, blowing off the parking areas and so forth ... all of which are more or less constantly needed.
Sometimes a volunteer will come in regularly for a while taking care of just one chosen pet until it finds a home. That's nice.
Our Plans for making more money so that we can pay our bills and save more pets from the kill shelters
We only have so many cages and runs. Our facilities, septic tanks, and staff can only deal with so many animals before things get out of hand. The generousity of the local newspapers to put in free pictures of pets needing homes and The FoxNest Veterinary Clinic who vaccinate, spay and neuter the shelter pets ... frequently without getting paid can only be stretched so far.
But with more money, we could advertise more, have more presentations about the Human-Animal Bond, about pet owner responsibiltiy, and about our shelter. We could turn away fewer people hoping to leave a pet at our shelter instead of the county kill shelter. (at present, most people have to be put on a waiting list because we have many, many more people wanting to drop off pets than we do wanting to adopt pets)
And with enough extra money we could buy some of the available land next to our present clinic and shelter and build a stand alone bigger shelter
When I donate money to various organizations I often wonder where the money goes.
Do you?
Our organization is a very simple one:
Our goals are simple; To take in and care for stray pets until we can find them a loving and responsible new home.
To educate and promote better pet care.
To fund raise enough money to keep our shelter solvent, keep our facilities clean and in good repair, and hopefully to grow big enough to make a significant difference.
Our finances are simple:
Our sources of income and our expenses are listed to your right.
Our History is simple:
Roger Ross, veterinarian and owner of the FoxNest Veterinary Hospital ... like so many veterinarians... kept several pets at any one time that for various reasons needed a new home ever since opening in 1984.
Over the years, with the help of our staff and our pet loving clients, the number of stray pets housed at our clinic grew until finally we formally founded a non profit No Kill shelter organization.
The FoxNest Veterinary Hospital is still the major sponsor of the shelter and still provides all the veterinary services needed by the animals.... but the shelter is offically a separate organization and the finances are overseen by a board of responsible local citizens.
What we hope to do if we are successful at raising more money
First: to be able to pay our monthly bills. The shelter income is usually about $700-1000 a month short of covering all the expenses. In the past, this shortfall has been generously covered by the FoxNest Veterinary Hospital without which the shelter would have closed down long ago. But Dr Ross, the owner of the FoxNest would like to retire soon and the shelter needs to be self sustaining.
Second: There is @ 20 acres of woodlands available behind the clinic ... much of which we use with permission of the present owners to walk the stray dogs. But if this land is sold to a developer we will not only lose the dog walking trails but lose the opportunity to own some of this land and building a bigger and better facility for the stray pets.
Our main need ... if we are to grow and come anywhere near to satisfying the need in our area for sheltering unwanted pets ... is to buy a few acres and erect a building with indoor-outdoor runs for about 25 more dogs and to build a separate building for cats. Such a project would cost $500,000 to 1 million dollars depending on how much land we bought.
Such costs are way above our present circumstances but our hopes are to attract enough grant money from animal loving charitable foundations to make this a reality.
Third: To be involved in more community fairs, cat and dog events, school and service organization presentations where we promote animal welfare and responsible pet care.
