Quarterly Report  April 2024

 

Official / General

  • Suzanne is reviewing our insurance. We do have general liability and coverage for our building. It looks like our BOD insurance was not renewed in 2023. Suzanne is working with our agents to figure out what happened and get it restored.
  • Sharon and Suzanne met with Foley Hoag about our Employee Handbook. They anticipated getting something back to us by the end of April.
  • Annual Bunny Hop at Nara Park is scheduled for Aug 11.
  • Sharon and Lauren H are working on an annual report.

 

Financials

  • HRN’s 2023 financial statements and tax returns are due back from the tax accountants this week for our review and should be finalized by April 30th.
  • In April, we opened a 91-day CD with an interest rate of 4% with $400,000 previously held in a Business Savings account which paid a much lower interest rate. A new Money Market account earning 4% was opened and the remaining $112,976  held in the Business Savings account was combined with funds from a 1-year CD which matured in April for a total balance of approximately $403,700. These two accounts should generate about $2,600 in monthly interest income.
  • Statement of Financial Position and Profit & Loss for Q1 provided separately.

 

Adoptions

  • HRN took in twelve fixed rabbits from a hoarding situation with about 80 rabbits along with a pair of momma buns and their 15 babies. The babies came with $4000 in donations to help cover their spay/neuter expenses
  • Adoptions are going well and seem to be higher than they were a year ago. As of Apr 23, 120 adoptions.

 

Fundraisers

Raised over $9800 this quarter: 

  • Mac n Choose on Mar 24 brought in $272
  • Easter Event on March 9th brought in $772 ($300 in Easter Bunny photos, $240 in Spring-themed photos for bunnies, $177 in merchandise sales, and $55 in additional donations, minus the $55 charge for the Easter Bunny costume)
  • Bunny Yoga sponsored by Positive Change for Animals totaled $625 ($570 yoga tickets, $40 tarot tickets, $15 craft tickets)
  • Mr G’s Infamous Hot Sauce did their own fundraiser and donated $106.50 from sales
  • Bunny Snuggle Giveaway brought in $470 for additional entries
  • Online Art Auction has brought in $2300 so far and is projected to bring in a total of $2469 but several winners still need to pay and pick up their pieces
  • Bunny Yoga at Redemption Rock on 4/6 sold out and brought in $660 in ticket sales with another $30 in additional donations for a total of $690
  • Peanut’s Legacy (now $6638) and Magic Buns (now $4230) continue to bring in small donations through monthly contributions and a few lingering original donations.
  • Bunny Snuggle Fundraiser Apr 13, 14 and 20th has brought in $4580

 

Upcoming:

  • Sip into Spring Social at Salut is scheduled for Apr 30.
  • Tentative schedule we will have an online auction in July 
  • working on a 5K for the fall
  • Will start planning 25th Anniversary party for next year

 

Services (Spa Days, Bunsitting, Bonding)

 

Spa Days

Raised over $2900 this quarter

  • Spa day held February 10th had 62 tickets sold totalling $1,550 and offered valentine’s day photo’s to the owners for $10 (money was deposited in the lock box and people used the paypal QR code).  The event was very successful and we continue to see new families at the events and many repeat customers.  
  • Spa day held March 23rd saw 70 rabbits (a new record) with 56 tickets sold for a total of $1,400 and the remainder were make-up sessions for previously missed/canceled appointments.  The event had six (6) grooming stations operating.  The event was very successful but space is tight offering this many time slots.  We had a rabbit develop a wound during the groom (George).  The family was shown and told we recommend a visit to the vets.  We were told through a spa day volunteer (Margarett) that the bun was seen by a vet and the wound is being addressed with medication and wound care.

Upcoming:

  • Next Spa Days will be “Spa Wars” May 4th and 5th at the shelter.  We will be hosting two vendors (Rhody Bun and the Micro Barkery) and offering two themed photo shoots (Star Wars and Cinco de Mayo).  
  • The events will run from 12 to 3 PM on both days, we are looking to see how a Sunday event will work along with our standard Saturday event.  
  • May 4th is sold out with 40 tickets already sold.  
  • May 5th has 15 tickets sold as of 4/21.

 

Bunsitting

  • There were 47 paid requests since the last update on 2/18 totaling $9020 ($105 was refunded so total collected is $8915)
  • We have 38 requests scheduled up to 8/27/24 with 5 open requests currently
  • 4 new sitters were onboarded 
  • 5 sitters were given the bunsitter discount totaling 22 days between them
  • Added a question asking if rabbit/rabbits are currently vaccinated to the request form.  When a “no” response is given, an email is sent with information on RHDV-2 and the vaccine for their information.  Clients have vaccinated their bunnies and plan to vaccinate as a result 

Bonding

 

In person bonding total since the last update on 2/18 is $2205

  • We have had two successful completed bondings of pairs and two unsuccessful bonds. One unsuccessful bond was a bunsitting request where bonding was attempted during the trip. The bonder was able to help the bunnies interact more and gave the owner tips, however, they decided to use the bonding service again and this time the bonding began on 4/15.  The other unsuccessful bond was a trio.  The single bun being bonded to the pair was exhibiting behaviors consistent with an unneutered male (although he was neutered by HRN) and the owner is taking him to the vet to be evaluated.  
  • Two bondings are currently in process as of 4/18 and one is scheduled to begin on 4/27

There were 3 virtual bonding consultation requests totaling $135

  • All 3 consultations were requested as a result of board to bond requests  

 

Grants

$15,000 MAC grant received for spays/neuters

 

Donation Management & Development Committee

  • Fundraising Committee meetings took a quick break while Brooke was on vacation, next two are scheduled
  • Use of Zeffy has been helping to get more donations by giving folks the option to give additional donations, which happens often, and is allowing us to track all donations from a single donor so we can track higher donors for future use.
  • Brooke and Suzanne to discuss the roadmap for the next year to select larger-scale events and make sure planning is in the works for those.
    • Current larger-scale event in the planning stages is an in-person 5K in early Fall

 

Subscriptions

 

Monthly  Bringing in  each month $1240

12 for $50 / month  

14 for  $25 / month

28 for $10 / month

2 for $5 / month 

 

Yearly

15 Mini Lop  $25 / year

3 New Zealand $50 / year

11 Flemish Giant $100 / year

 

Shelter

  • Shelter is running smoothly. There is a good rotation of volunteers. 

 

Clinic

  • Bid package drawings were received and the request for bid was assembled by Bonnie the week of March 15th.  The requests for bid were issued to six (6) potential contractors on 3/19/2024 with a due date of April 10th.  The pre-bid site walk thru was scheduled for 3/22/2024 and we had five (5) bidders attend the meeting.  Throughout the time from 3/22 to 4/10 contractor questions were reviewed and answered by the design team and Bonnie coordinated all the correspondence to the bidders.  Final bids were received from three (3) bidders (Cole Contracting, A&M Construction, and BBG Construction) within the requested bid time frame.  One bidder (Ponce Home Improvement) submitted an email estimate eight days after the bid date with a statement they would issue a more formal bid if they were selected for the work.  The HRN team of Suzanne, Helen, and Bonnie met on 4/18 and reviewed the bids.  The team narrowed the selection down to two (2) bidders and developed a short list of questions.  On 4/23 all answers from the bidders will be available and the HRN review team will have a recommendation for the BOD.  On 4/19/2024 Bonnie received the final stamped / permit plan set for the clinic / shelter remodel.  Next steps will be contractor selection, construction kick-off meeting, and permit submittals.  At this time the start of construction will depend on when the permits get issued by the Town of Westford.
  • Bonnie has requested quotes from three suppliers of the hospital recovery cages TriStar, Shor-Line, and PetEdge.  The first quote is in and the other two are due soon.

 

Foster Homes

  • Foster Home 101 manual is complete and was sent to all active and inactive foster homes. It will be given to each new foster home upon approval.
  • A virtual Foster home info session is scheduled for Thursday April 25th 7PM.  As of 4/14 we have 7 interested participants signed up.
  • The social media team did an ad campaign for new foster homes, which brought on ~12 new foster homes. Some are more short term, but hopefully these new homes will get us through summer and construction.  We will continue to advertise for foster homes.
  • A vacation document has been created to keep track of foster home vacations, we will be implementing this soon and Crystal will be managing this.
  • We are still working on setting up teams of foster homes, with one foster home committee member being the point of contact for each team.  
  • Currently reaching out to foster homes who have outdated waivers and having them complete to be in compliance with regulations.

 

Hotline

  • Things are running smoothly on the hotline. New member Jae has gotten up to speed and is doing well. Jae and Rosie are currently sharing Mondays, but the plan is to have Jae completely take over Monday in the next few months.
  • We have the following upcoming departures/periods of leave:
    • Frances is leaving at the end of June (moving to TX for school).
    • Briahnna will be on semi-leave beginning sometime in June (length of time TBD). She won’t have an assigned day but will help out ad-hoc if needed.
    • Erin recently told Rosie that she is stretched very thin and needs to cut back right now. Beginning mid-April, Rosie and Erin will share Fridays.
  • Rosie is seeking new hotline recruits; She is in initial talks with one person who has expressed interest in joining.
  • Lauren reposted last year’s hotline recruitment campaign on social media (4/16) and we have received a lot of interest so far.

 

Outreach, Volunteering & Events

  • Signed up for 6 spring events and recruited more than sufficient volunteers to staff each event.
    • Adopt-a-Shelter Pet Day @ Mathworks – Natick, MA on April 30
    • May Day Celebration @ The Good Earth Farm – Gardner, MA on May 4
    • Petstravaganza @ Reading Public Library on May 11
    • Pet Resource Fair @ Worcester Public Library on May 18
    • Adoption Day @ Tattersall Farm – Haverhill, MA on June 2
    • Rabbit Visit @ Quincy Public Library on June 10-12 (need to confirm exact day)

 

  • Found and placed Kacy C. as Facebook auctioneer, now working with Brooke.
  • Updated hrnvol@ group to include all individuals tagged as volunteers in Petstablished; coordinated ways to easily keep mailing list updated with new volunteers in other departments.
  • Assisted foster committee in updating fosterhomes@ group to include all individuals tagged as “foster – active” and “foster – inactive”.
  • Nikki is now temporarily managing the info@ email account and searching for a replacement.

 

RHD

  • Vaccine clinics have brought in $2000
  • We are expecting an additional donation for the last 2-3 clinics that were held
  • HRN has started vaccinating our shelter rabbits
  • We have been running vaccination clinics every three weeks since early January. The last one is scheduled for April 28 and then we will be taking a break. 

 

Intra-Meeting Board Decisions

 

Board approved the bereavement policy in the employee handbook