In-Sync Exotics Board Meeting

Minutes from Meeting

Called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

Present:Vicky, Colleen, Ron, Jodi, Helen, Lakshmi, Eddie

Missing: Lisa, Lynn

REVIEWING OF THE MINUTES

Reviewed minutes from Board meeting–Colleenmakes motioned to acceptRonseconds all approved.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT/MEDICAL REPORT COMBINED

  • Harley teeth are done. Bone infection about to go to brain. $1,632 for the 1st round of med. Started last nite. If fungal he will be on meds for 2 months. Will know more in about 2 weeks. He could have damaged entering cage or could have started before he ever came here.
  • Cheetahs are not throwing up their food.
  • Chloe has spots under her skin so the vet suggested Vicky give her a shot of dexamethasone. I cleared but returned so she received another shot of same med. Allergic reaction to something.
  • Okemo looks like he is limping. Can’t tell which leg but he seems shaky on rear end.
  • Eve is now spayed. Tumor is benign.
  • Spike / Isaac are now neutered.
  • Keenan changed antibiotics to Clavamox for his tooth.
  • Nugget has a tumor on right front paw around a toenail. Will have checked out so will get shots while he is asleep.
  • Lydia/Isaac are together during the day and seems to be doing ok. Separate at feeding. She still does not put weight on leg.
  • Paid for certificate for DWA (Dangerous Wild Animal) to Collin County ($500). Took pictures of all the cats cages.
  • We are now verified by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries.If the laws that was trying to pass last year comes up again the verification will help. We can now get the money from the Summer Lee Foundation.
  • Shawiana(sp?) was scratched on the finger by Cherokee. She decided to go to the hospital & told them she got bit by a cougar. Animal Control got involved who called the State. They are letting us quarantine her here. Have not heard anything from the County.
  • Putting straw in dens of cats that live alone.
  • Five stories are done for the cats.
  • Ribbon – Exotic Animal Awareness Day – Oct 19. Will have magnets made (decals cost more) & will be sold in a bag w/ISE written on the bag. We have the copy rights. Would like to sell at other zoos. T-shirts needs to be done soon. People can use w/our permission & we get the proceeds.
  • Christmas Lite Tour hours – 5-7:30 Fri nite, 11-7:30 Sat; no Sunday except VIP tours. Lites & bones 5:45-7:30. $35
  • Patty at Global thinks we should up our regular price to $12 & $9. Will start March 1, 2012
  • We need to put up a sign stating that we may be filming on site so that people that do not want to be photographed can tell us.

SECRETARY REPORT

  • Reviewed follow-up ideas with Board
  • Reviewed Board Retreat documents w/ones that did not attend
  • 9 Kids 4 Cats

TREASURY REPORT

Via email:

You can see from the Balance Sheet that we're in better shape this year than last ($44,000 vs. $4,500). However, we're going through that money at a good rate ($7,000 loss vs. $19,000 gains). It just goes to show that our income is quite variable (5 large donations in October of last year account for most of the difference). I'll just point out that the following ongoing expenses are significantly higher this year compared to last:

Payroll: $7,300 vs. $3,000

Electricity: $2,900 vs. $1,600 (this is for Sept and Oct since the report attached obviously had timing problems)

Water: $1,300 vs. $601.

In addition there's a one-time unusual expense of $4,400 for insurance that occurred in a different month last year.

I'll have copies of the Balance Sheet and P&L for the meeting.

Funds and Grants

  • Emailed Averille Dawson regarding 2012 grant submission. In the email I gave a summary of Poetry in Motion rescue and sent two pictures, one of Aurora and Eve.
  • Mobile Texting Donations

It seems that all three of the Texting Donations websites have two choices of donations, $5 or $10...something to think about. All three sites look legitimate and the client lists have a ton of charities, foundations, etc. that we are all familiar with. It’s really up to Vicky on which one she wants to use due to pricing.

  • Mobile Giving –

To find out if your organization is qualified to conduct mobile giving campaigns, please download the MGF Guidelines. If eligible, please contact one of our approved Application Service Providers (ASPs), and then request an MGF NPO Application package by emailing .

NOTE: Big Cat Rescue uses this service. Their keyword is “Tiger”. Short code is 20222. Donation amt is $5.00.

Site does not provide how much Mobile Giving charges for their services. It is probably based on the package each non-profit agrees on by their Application Service Provider.

Mobile Giving is connected to all the major mobile phone companies: AT&T, Sprint/Nextel, T-Mobile, Verizon, etc.

What is a keyword?

Used in combination with a short code, a keyword is a word that differentiates your mobile campaign form others on the same short code. Your keyword short code combination allows mobile phone users to make a donation to your mobile donation campaign. For example, an organization called Clean Water Planet might choose the keyword WATER. In order to make a donation mobile phone users would send the word WATER as the body of his or her text message to the short code 90999.

  • MGiving –

See Screenshot below.

  • Giving By Cell –

A lot of animal related organizations use this site such as zoos, humane societies, aquariums, SPCAs.

  • Emailed Robert & Karin Saucedo about working on In-Sync Christmas cards. We are planning on discussing this weekend on what type of cards Vicky would like. Robert, Karin and I are getting examples off the net to view different styles of cards. Will get with Vicky to see what her vision is for the Christmas cards. Update as of 10/29/11 – Spoke with Vicky at feeding and gave her the name of a website (Pear TreeGreetings.com) that has a lot of bulk Christmas cards at a very reasonable price to order from. She said she would start the ordering process.
  • Kris is working on the mini-bios of the cats that made it for the 2012 calendar.
  • Researched the following opportunities:

epa.gov for grants on water sustainability projects as suggested by Sonia Vidal--did not find anything that In-Sync could apply for, also for any type of government grant, InSync will need an audit.

Texas Green Network as suggested by Sonia Vidal. This organization has nothing to do with grants, they are more of a business chamber of commerce.

Guidestar & Kimba $5,000 contest. Read the rules for this contest, again would need an audit to accompany the application.

Shure Pet Fundraising -- email forwarded by Vicky. This fundraiser is designed to sell dog products. You are the seller and help THEM raise money and you get a percentage.

EVENTS

  • Distributed 4,000 Tiger Trot flyers over the past two weekends.
  • Looking into what would be involved in putting on a tennis tournament for In-Sync.
  • Make $2,100 from Pumpkin Bash w/no expenses; volunteers happy because it was low key;

Suggestions for next time: activity for the kids, person to actually count visitors, split up handing out pumpkins is two times or different directions. People get tire.

  • Turkey day – basically the same as PB
  • There are some ladies that plan to have a bake sale Dec 12 and give us the proceeds. Usually make around 3-4,000. Have been donating to the SPCA but had come out to visit us so want to donate to us instead.
  • Need some serious marketing help. Chris Rummel contacted Vicky about some marketing.

DONOR RELATIONS

Visitor Statistics October 2011
Total Visitors:
Total Potential Volunteers: Total Newsletter Additions:
348
37
121
Total in Database: 8065
Refferral Sources
Been
Before / Drive By / Flyer / Internet / Local / Mags / Mailer / News / News
Paper / Radio / School / Sign / TV / Word Of
Mouth
6 / 4 / 2 / 19 / 3 / 1 / 0 / 3 / 4 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 7 / 55
Notable Sources:
NAPA Auto
Wild Animal Repo
Visitor Statistics November 2011
Total Visitors: / 527
Total Potential Volunteers: / 40
Total Newsletter Additions: / 149
Total in Database: / 8441
Refferral Sources
Been Before / Drive By / Flyer / Internet / Local / Magazine / Mailer / News / News Paper / Radio / School / Sign / TV / Word Of Mouth
18 / 9 / 2 / 31 / 7 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 5 / 0 / 3 / 2 / 4 / 63
Notable Sources:
Petco Foundation
Dr. Lucy Hairston
Tiger Trot Email
Tiger Trot
Jonathans Place
Billboard
MeetUp Group

EDUCATION

10 tours in Oct, 2 nite tours. Most showed up. Started deposit & tour increase now? All vote to start now.

Feed tour – 1x a month on Thurs (3rd Thurs of the month) @ $100 a person max 6 people. No kids allowed under 13. 13-17 with parents. Start April – May 2012 and continue thru Sept. We will need a 25% deposit.

MEDIA REPORT

Sorry I can’t be there. Here’s hoping I can still walk upright after Sunday!

Media:

  • Newsletter was sent out mid-October. The next one will go out on or around December 11; please let me know by December 1 if you have content ideas so I can get the draft to VK by December 4. CR, at one time you mentioned a brief explanation of and schedule for enrichment. Do you still want to do this? Btw, Debbie Congdon will be our featured volunteer.
  • Press
  • Release sent in response to tragedy in OH – 3 television stations came out and the release was printed in several papers
  • As a result of the above release, the editor from Neighbors.Go Plano/Wylie/Sachse contacted me for head shot and to discuss the possibility of doing a regular guest article for the paper. I sent him the picture; he is supposed to send me a few sample articles to use as a guide. Per our (VK, CR, HT, JP, and me) discussion, the first one will focus on Exotic Animal Awareness Day, assuming that is an acceptable topic for the editor.
  • Wrote press release regarding water reclamation project, per VK we are going to hold off on sending it out.
  • Sent Tiger Trot PSA to television and radio stations
  • Emailed managing editor of Plano Profile to invite her out and asked about their policy regarding guest articles. Still waiting to hear back.

Weekend “retreat” went well. I assume the others will share the details.

Fundraising

I contacted Barnes and Noble at Stonebriar Centre in Frisco. We are scheduled to wrap gifts in exchange for donations on Thursday, December 15 from 4-10. JP can share the other details.

DO WE WANT TO TRY TO GET A DATE AT THE FIREPINWHEEL STORE ALSO??

Other

I spoke with Danny at Collin County Animal Control. They are scheduled to come out here for their routine inspection soon anyway, but he said he would get with the sheriff’s department and invite them to come along. That way we can review our safety protocol with them both.

Looks like we can probably count on 5 of my tutoring students on and off for the light-hanging weekend.

VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR

Had 82 inquiries about volunteering in October, 23 people were interviewed, 17 attended orientation.

Can we draw the names for the Christmas party a little earlier this year? We’ve only been doing it 5-6 days before the party, which doesn’t leave any weekend days for shopping. Maybe by the Friday before, which would be 12/2? That would give everyone the weekend of the 3rd and 4th to shop.

# Volunteer Hours in October (through 10/28 only): 2126 (higher than normal due to watches)

Eligible for green shirts due to 3 months of service:

Thomas Ray – since July, 32 hours

Dottie Bacevic – since July, 48 hours

Annette Creekmore – since July, 92 hours

Scott Premo – since Aug, 63 hours

Jeannine Shepperd – since Aug, 57 hrs

Eligible for gold shirt, due to 1 year of service:

None

Are any of the seniors eligible to be a Chief (gray shirt?) Some of the seniors who have been around a long time: Betty Webb, Debbie Congdon, Leslie Biskamp, Elizabeth Chambers?

Enrichment Coordinator:

Nothing to report

CONSTRUCTION

  • We have purchasedsix 1,000-gallon tanks for the water project ($4,500), but still need to purchase the pipes and pumps.
  • Ourwater bill is rising dramatically, because we are in Stage 3 water restrictions, and therefore are paying higher rates.

HUSBANDRY

OLD BUSINESS

NEW BUSINESS

Adjourn 10p.m.

Page 19/18/18