Quarterly Report November 2022
Official / General
SEC Filing submitted online Sep 20, 2022
Employee Handbook- Suzanne needs to do a few revisions and get to an attorney for review.
Hiring- we need to hire part time dev director and for the shelter. Suzanne is hoping to find the time for this soon. We likely should hire a part time bookkeeper (see Financials below)
Financials
St. Armand’s bookkeeping services was not a good fit for HRN. Although they were very helpful in automating a lot of our bookkeeping processes, they did not offer some of the originally agreed upon services needed by HRN. The main issue was that they wanted to do just the high-level data entry, bank reconciliations and financial statement preparation. For data entry of deposits into QuickBooks, they wanted us to provide detailed monthly spreadsheets categorizing all of our deposits. This would require us to run reports from PayPal, WIX, Petstablished; and itemize each transaction by account and dollar amount. It makes no sense for us to do the most detailed, time-consuming legwork and then pay a company to basically plug numbers into QB and run reports. HRN may need to consider hiring a part-time employee instead of a bookkeeping service. Suellen’s research has shown that lower priced bookkeeping companies provide basic services similar to what St. Armand’s offered, and the price went up substantially for more detailed services at larger firms.
HRN still has a 2021 outstanding sales tax liability from items sold on the Friends of HRN website. Sales tax was collected and not remitted to the state.
Adoptions
229 Adoptions as of Nov 28 which is a steep drop off from last year or even the year before the pandemic. Part of it is a change in how adoptions are counted, which would likely skew it by 10-20. The difference is if a bun is adopted then returned then adopted again is it one or two adoptions? Suzanne will look in Petstablished to see if there is a way to count those
Fundraisers
Binky Bun Coffee Fundraiser raised $300 in commission and donation; didn’t raise a lot, but we made a potentially good connection for future fundraising donations
Camp Nihan Bunny Yoga (10/8); poorly attended; raised $245
Camp Nihan Bunny Yoga (10/23); raised $420
HRN’s 3rd Annual Run for the Buns Virtual 5K; 14 sign-ups, our lowest total. Raised $480. Should have run it in September so as not to occur so near the anniversary party.
Bunny Yoga at Redemption Rock (11/6); raised $875
Bunny Yoga at Core4 Fitness Studio (11/12); raised $840
Meta Giving Season fundraiser (ongoing); Meta matches new monthly donors
Giving Tuesday Fundraiser (11/22-11/30); goal of $10,000 to be matched by another donor
Spa Days
Trick or Treat Bunny Spa Day Oct 29; SOLD OUT – $1,150 made (46 paid bunnies – 1 cancellation refunded to Julie L. and Bonnie’s Petra is VIB). Only offered 48 slots due to the number of available Microbarkery treat bag donations
Next spa day 12/17
Development Committee Update
22nd Anniversary Party; raised about $1800
Grants
Mac Grant- we are behind on spending the spay/neuter money. Original grant total was $15,350 which they split into 2 checks with the provision that we request the second check after the first check was spent. It took us almost 4 months to spend the first check and it is clear we wouldn’t use the second check before the end of the grant period. They are sending a modified check for $4500 (which reduces the grant total to $12,175)
Shelter
Overall things are going smoothly at the shelter. We have a good routine going. There are still some volunteer shortages and we should hire part time to help address that.
There have been delays (Suzanne’s time) with getting the clinic going. Suzanne is working on preliminary design.
Donation Management
Monthly donors breakdown:
22 Hero/Big Bun – $10
14 Super Hero/Bigger Bun – $25
7 Epic Hero/Biggest Bun – $50
Foster Homes
The foster committee has transitioned to Pam Weir taking lead. Surgery appointments are still rolling in as available. Our biggest challenge this past quarter has been finding places for intakes to go. Many foster homes are more interested in sending their buns to the shelter versus assisting with intakes which has been difficult for filling surgery spots. There has been a number of medically needy rabbits recently as well- perhaps highlighting them in our Giving Tuesday campaign would be helpful?
Hotline
The hotline is handling a steady stream of applications after going through a little bit of a dry spell earlier in the year and we’re noticing that the quality of the applicants has been improving (perhaps as a result of marketing efforts!). Our newest volunteer Erin has settled in well and is fast becoming a veteran member of the team. And speaking of veterans, congratulations to Dawn on her one year anniversary working the HRN hotline!
Outreach
Monthly Bunny Basics Free Virtual Class (by Dawn O.) – continues to be well attended; brings in several tens of dollars in donations each time.
RHD
Suzanne and Pam Chatis had several phone conversations with people in CA about how they handle RHD.
One of the groups requires a full 30 day quarantine of new rabbits then 2 doses of vaccine before allowing the rabbits to go into the general shelter population.
The second shelter requires first dose of vaccine on intake, quarantine for 7-10 days then they can move to the general shelter population.
In terms of spreading it was thought it unlikely that virus would be spread through air filtration system. Both facilities have separate laundry, locker, and sinks for the quarantine areas.
Staff/volunteers are required to wear separate shoes and clothing from the shelter area in a separate locker room for changing. Something to think about when designing the clinic area.
One group doesn’t worry about footwear but the second rescue requires shoes removed before entering the shelter. In Europe, where they have been dealing with the virus for a while, they do not remove footwear.
Vinegar is not sufficient to inactivate the virus and both rescues use Rescue to disinfect all surfaces ( cages and exam tables) and litter pans ( this is currently the disinfectant of choice in general for Angell MSPCA and ARL). We should look into getting Rescue for the shelter now.
We will be unable to accept donations that are not able to be disinfected with Rescue.
If possible, greens should be sourced from places where there is no RHD.
Pam Chatis is going to work on preliminary procedures for the shelter, clinic, & foster homes so we will know what to do when the virus arrives in our area.
Intra-Meeting Board Decisions
Aug 30 new adoption donation prices adjusted to $120 (single) $220 (pair) and $300 (trio) to align with $20 bills and minimize the need to make change for cash payments.