House Rabbit Network
Meeting of the Board of Directors
April 27, 2021 8pm via Google Meet
In attendance: Suzanne Trayhan, Dawn Lewis, Jenna Beauchesne, Palestina Baronas, Rachel Minnie, Lesley Braga. Amanda Bosh (presentation on development only)
Development Presentation: Amanda Bosh is here to present on Strategic Planning and Development. Review of strategic planning to define who we are and what our goals are with our mission statement. Vision statement vs mission statement- our mission statement includes intrinsic goal of welfare for all rabbits. Introduced the donor pyramid- donor retention. Restated that an idea of an ideal campaign would be a capital campaign for shelter. Overview of goals, roles, and responsibilities for development hire were presented through slides. Amanda will follow up and send slide presentation to Board members for their keeping/review.
Update to minutes from January meeting to clarify wording. Minutes approved
Quarterly Report delivered.
Fundraising:
Flatbread is 6/15. We will begin soliciting for donations (corporate donations are down this year due to COVID). Suzanne has already made this a Facebook event.
Bingo raised $1,063 (roughly $2,000 down from last time). Reasons for this could be timing with nice weather. Suzanne suggested we do this event again in early November and again in January while more people are at home during downtime.
Poorly-Drawn Pets starting 5/1- Gillian is the lead on this. Teasers have already begun on social media.
Spa Day- looking for leads to help elsewhere (south shore and also western MA)- recruiting more volunteers. Action item: Dawn will make a post on Facebook looking for leads.
A Plush is Enough- raised about $2,400 (goal was to sell 100, sold 202- donated extras to charitable program in NH to help children and mothers). Response was overwhelmingly positive. Next year Rachel wants to bump goal up to 250 plush sold. Rachel also has a reliable supplier for the plush for next year.
Virtual 5k goal raised to 150- $35 registration fee (thinking about doing more print on demand merchandise next year- additional items like cups, etc that our supporters can order on their own)
Last Hop-Up Market raised over $3,000.
Calendar- purchase 275 calendars this year? Last year we sold out even with an additional order placed at the end. Photo submissions are due 4/30 for Liz to begin work on calendar.
Yoga is still not feasible until the fall due to COVID and outdoor safety with rabbits. (Board will table this event and revisit then)
Grants:
Submitted annual Petco grant- we received a 5k grant from Petco Foundation from grant submitted in the fall.
Gillian is helping to work on grants. She submitted for Whole Foods.
MAC- Emergency grants- we received an email that we are getting a grant, but we do not know the monetary amount. No word yet on their MAC spay/neuter grants.
Shelter:
Shelter is open at half capacity (AM/PM shift only- no middle). Deb is doing adoption appointments/Fabiane to do training. Jenna is using a new scheduling program.
Monthly donors: Giving donors for Bun of the Month but we have not had a big membership drive yet. (can we do this during the time after Flatbread? Rachel would like to do before)
Foster Homes:
Foster home applicants are slowing down. Franny has stepped down and Pam has stepped up to the Foster Committee. Lindsay is helping with intake as well.
Hotline:
3 new volunteers have begun on the hotline. Applications have slowed down: 121 for Quarter 1 this year. Sara C has taken over adoption contracts.
Lesley will be stepping down from the hotline in the next few months. (she has someone in mind who can take over and will be approaching them).
Surgical Van/Suite Update:
Jenna reviewed surgical van- this is not a possibility at this time due to cost. If we ran a suite the issue of anesthesia and ventilation/safety with use of machines would be an issue. We also need a DVM who would need to oversee (sign off on our suite and be involved in medication safety). This is on-hold for now.
Volunteer awards (to be given out at Flatbread 6/15):
We will be reviewing. Board members have been asked to submit their nominations via email.
Hiring:
For the shelter: (still looking at shelter management software systems as well). Not full-time, but competitive wage discussed.
For development- will bring to the Development Committee (including Amanda’s presentation) for review and discussion.
Hop Up Markets- what to do for the future:
Discussion on time spent on the market versus money collected. The Board decided this is a lucrative event still and needs to be fine-tuned to include higher dollar items, possible return to an auction format, and limiting location. This will go back to the Development Committee to continue to work- Rachel has expressed an interest in being the contact point for items/lead.
Future HRN Board:
Names suggested for future members. The Board will meet in the next two weeks to talk more on this, this date of the meeting to be finalized via email.
Meeting adjourned 11:03 pm.