Quarterly Report August 2023
Official / General
Nikki is taking on the role of Volunteer Coordinator. She will be finding volunteers for outreach events and helping fill other volunteer positions.
Sharon and Suzanne finished the Employee Handbook. Searching for a lawyer to provide a legal review. Carolyn Rosenthal from Goodwinlaw said they are too busy at the moment but to check back in mid October.
Facebook and Instagram are now being handled by Lauren Swank and Carly Tedeschi. We also have a Twitter account. We may want to look into other platforms like Tik Tok, etc.
We would like to phase out the PO Box since we now have a permanent address and we no longer have finance volunteers in the area.
Bunny Hop was a success. Well attended and a lot of new faces. 40-50 people attended.
Financials
.
July financials have been emailed to the board. HRN is financially healthy. Our current balance is $791k
Adoptions
175 adoptions YTD. Our numbers are down from pre covid.
Fundraisers
Flatbread was successful but did not raise as much as the last couple of years. Sadly Flatbread closed soon after so we need to find a new location.
Flatbread breakout
$717.50 Pizza
$2540 127 packs of 30 tickets sold @$20 each
$40 8 packs of 7 tickets sold @$5 each
$3297.50 total tickets and pizza
$300 30 bunches of sticks sold at $10 each
$90 stickers, snuffle mats and other donations
$3687.50 total.
2024 Calendar ordered and received, we have started selling them. (our cost about $5.5 each)
$15 each
bulk discounts (5 or more receive 10% off)
$4 shipping, regardless of number of calendars ordered
We are selling Got Buns shirts again
Bob Barker Memorial Fundraiser currently ongoing – $1k goal (will increase to $2k if we get close)
September will have another Binky Bun Coffee fundraiser. We receive 10% of sales, though last year, the owner rounded up and gave us a little more.
September online auction moved up from November. Will run 9/4 – 9/11.
Bunny Yoga at Water and Rock Studio in Wellesley on 9/30. Liz O. taking the lead for first time. Studio is handling ticket sales and will split profits with us.
Pet Bowl Painting Oct 13, 14 & 15 in Medford MA. $45 tickets.
Services (Spa Days, Bunsitting, Bonding)
Bunsitting
1. There have been 93 paid invoices since the last update on 5/26 totaling $22,200.
2. We have 24 requests scheduled up to 11/18 with no open requests currently.
3. I was able to onboard 3 new sitters, however, 2 established sitters needed to leave the group. One person moved to Maryland and the other adopted 2 bunnies and no longer had room to bunsit.
Bonding
We have had one successful complete bonding of a pair during a board-to-bond (paid $550)
A second pair (an adopt-to-bond case) that was almost bonded by the end of the week, but the client was able to solidify the bond within 1 week of returning home (paid $350)
A third that is currently in process and is moving into the second week with promising signs of bonding (paid $700)
And a fourth that is set to start this weekend (billed $350)
6 people have used the virtual bonding consultation service totaling $250:
Of the 6, 4 requested consultations as a result of communication with regard to the in-person program:
One of which has since been able to bond her bunnies as a result of the guidance given in the consult
Another attempted bonding her 3 bunnies and found the bond was not strong with her trio, so she is currently in the process of adopting a 4th bunny from HRN to make 2 pairs instead
We currently have 7 other people at various stages:
3 who are attempting to bond on their own before moving froward with the service (2 after virtual consults observing the bunnies’ behavior and 1 after I provided some tips and changes the client could make to assist the process)
2 are.speaking with bonding specialists to determine start times (one is an adopt-to-bond case so I am working on coordinating the adoption and bonding)
2 others have reached out via email, but have not moved forward as of yet
Lastly, I was able to onboard 1 new volunteer so we currently have 7 experienced bonders that would be able to take on cases regularly and 3 others that may be able to help depending on timing and need.
Bunny Spa Day
Past Spa day totals are as follows:
May 13, 2023 had 43 bunnies attend and raised $1,075
June 10, 2023 had 37 bunnies attend and raised $925
July 22, 2023 had 48 bunnies attend and raised $1,200
Upcoming Spa day is scheduled for 9/23/23 as of 8/28 40 of 48 available spaces have been sold (~$1,000).
We are averaging 3 grooming stations but can and have expanded to 4 stations if the volunteers are available. Typically we have 2 people working the check-in, bun “running” to move rabbits into the station and return them back to the owners. Overall the volunteer team works well together with a huddle held before the start of each event. Overall we have noted several issues with rabbits that were discussed with the owners so they could have the bun checked by their vet.
Development Committee Update:
This should be changed to “Fundraising and Events”. We need to form a new committee to look into things for us. Suzanne will speak with Nikki. Sharon is interested in helping.
Grants
MAC grant awarded us $9430 which is a significant drop from last year.
Marion and Richard Graham Foundation awarded us $10,000 for new cages. The new cages have been ordered.
Melody Dorogopulko has stepped up and offered to do grant writing for us. She has submitted grants for Walmart and Oxbow and is currently working on a grant with the American Humane Society.
Donation Management
We will be hiring a development director to manage donors.
Suzanne is planning to post the position next week.
Active subscriptions
5 people @ $50 / month
19 people @ $25 / month
23 people @ $10 / month
10 people @ $100 / year
3 people @ $50 / year
10 people @ $25 / year
Shelter
Things are running smoothly at the shelter. Struggling to find volunteer coverage for all shifts. People seem to really like the shelter and going to the shelter for adoptions.
Clinic
Bonnie, Helen and Suzanne have been working on the clinic plans. They came up with a rough design and spoke with an architect. They decided it might be best to hire an OPM and started looking into that. That has not been successful as firms are finding us too small to work with. They are suggesting we work with an architect and then when we have good designs find a good gc that can also act as an OPM.
We have had meetings with two architecture firms. RFArchitects and Animal Arts. Both have experience with shelters and clinics and both are willing to work with us. I think both would deliver a good product for us
Foster Homes:
As you know the intake requests and strays have been very overwhelming this summer. We were only taking the most urgent cases. Hopefully adoptions continue to pick up and we can get to more of the non urgent owner surrenders. The wait time is about 2 months to surrender a rabbit.
The new foster home application has been live for a while now. We have been getting a lot of great applications.
Dawn O created a great bunny basics video for new foster homes. We are going to implement a quiz so that we know they have watched it and if there are any areas they need to have extra explanation of.
We are going to update and possibly expand our foster home manual, so foster homes can refer to when they have questions. The most common issue seems to be what to do or who to call when medical issues arise.
Hotline:
The hotline experienced some turnover this quarter, with the departure or planned departure of four of our most seasoned team members (Sadie, Melissa, Dawn and Nikki). In August we conducted a recruitment campaign, over a dozen interviews and four trainings, onboarding a total of 10 new volunteers with start dates in late August – early September. Going forward, we are planning to have two volunteers per hotline day if possible, sharing application and voicemail responsibilities. This is to ensure that we have built in, actively engaged back ups and also to reduce the burden on individual volunteers owning an entire day’s worth of applications and voicemails. This is the largest class of volunteers in a single month in hotline history, so as our new volunteers start taking shifts, we ask for patience as they get up to speed and learn the ropes.
Outreach / Volunteer / Events
Nikki LaRoche has agreed to be our new volunteer coordinator. She will be recruiting new volunteers as well as organizing volunteers to staff events. She has also started a Facebook group focused on volunteer mental health.
Campaign to recruit new hotline volunteers resulted in 12 applicants and 8 new hotline team members
Pet Rock Fest (Sept. 10): Signed up to attend. 6 volunteers recruited to staff table
Boston Veg Food Fest (Oct. 14 & 15): Signed up to attend. 4 volunteers recruited for Saturday, 5 recruited for Sunday
Event at Acton Library (Aug. 12): Cancelled due to lack of confirmation/communication from library staff.
Received request for children’s educational event for March 2024
Nikki is currently revamping education kit/materials
RHD
Intra-Meeting Board Decisions
Board agreed to look into hiring an OPM.