III. Executive Summary: SPAY ARKANSAS is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Charity, incorporated and registered in the State of Arkansas December 10, 2007. Our mission is ”NO MORE HOMELESS PETS” in the state of Arkansas! Our first goal is to purchase a mobile spay and neuter clinic to operate 3-5 days a week in Washington and Benton County. This business plan addresses that goal. A low cost spay/neuter program would benefit our county, both the people and the companion animals, in many ways: l. Neutered animals are less likely to fight and to bite, either other animals or humans. 2. When animals bite each other, sometimes deadly diseases are transmitted. 3. When an animal is spayed or neutered, it is required by state law to get a rabies vaccination. Sometimes this is the only time an animal will see a vet in it’s life, and the only rabies vaccine it will ever get. 4. Spaying the females prevents unwanted babies many of whom will be drowned, shot neglected, dumped, run over or taken to the shelter. 5. Car wrecks happen when there are stray and abandoned animals at large. 6. More cruelty happens when there are unwanted, unowned, stray animals to torture. 7. More money is spent on animal control, cruelty investigation, animal impoundment and housing, euthanasia and incinerating the bodies when there are too many animals. These expenses can all be significantly reduced with an aggressive low cost spay/neuter program. 8. Finally, kind families will not be obligated to take in strays which often overburden their already stretched budgets.
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We are considering two models of spay/neuter mobile clinics; the LaBoit and the Dodgem, each costing about $150,000 plus $20,000 for supplies. Spay Arkansas proposes to raise this money through donations, grants, and fundraisers. It is possible we will cooperate with Northwest Arkansas Animal Rescue and purchase the clinic jointly. It may also be possible to co-operate with Washington County and/or Benton County. Experience in New Hampshire, with a state funded low cost spay/neuter program, has shown that every $1 invested in spay/neuter programs saves $3 in animal control costs. Spay/neuter saves lives and money! Once the vehicle is purchased, it will be leased to the veterinarian who will be operating the facility. In the state of Arkansas, a veterinarian must own the clinic. We are in the process of making arrangements with two veterinarians. Hopefully, Dr. Robb Jones will work two weeks each month in Washington County and Dr.Ainsley will work two weeks each month in Benton County. The veterinarian will be paid $14-17 per surgery. He or she will employ a veterinarian technician and office assistant, and they will be assisted by two volunteers. The mobile clinic is basically a very small business supported by a 501(c)3, Spay Arkansas. The Humane Society of the Ozarks and the local partnering organization (Springdale Animal Shelter, Fayetteville Animal Services, etc.) will advertise and take appointments. The mobile spay/neuter clinic will arrive at the partnering organization early in the morning or the previous evening. The clients will bring their pets in carriers or crates to the clinic from 7:00 to 9:00 AM. The crates and cages will be set up in a room provided of the cooperating agency by the staff. The veterinarian arrives at 8:00 AM and operations begin. The animals will be returned to their containers to recover. The animals recover on board the vehicle, under supervision of the veterinarian, until they are able to walk. Then, they are returned to the check-in room, which now becomes the check-out room. After 2
4:00 PM, clients begin to pick up their pets. By 6:00 PM all animals are returned to their owners and the day is over. IV. Financing Proposal: We propose to raise $170,000 through donation, fund raisers, and grants. So far, we have raised about $3500. This 501(c)3 is an all-volunteer organization. V. Company Description: Legal Structure: As a nonprofit, Spay Arkansas has a board of directors that meets quarterly. Day to day operations are mostly in the hands of the director and the Events committee. Operation on board the mobile clinic is the responsibility of the veterinarian, who manages the small staff and also provides insurance. An accountant will disburse the funds. Location: The location of the business will be many: All area animal shelters, the Jones Center, and any other place a sponsoring agency can provide. The home base of Spay Arkansas is Fayetteville, Arkansas and cyberspace. Products and Services: The mobile clinic will provide spaying and neutering of dogs and cats, and also offer rabies vaccinations and cat and dog 4-way vaccinations, plus flea treatment, nail trims, ear cleaning, and microchipping. Each service is $5-$10. No other veterinary service will be provided. Area veterinarians do not make a lot of money, relatively speaking, on spays or neuters and are not unhappy to have another clinic perform these surgeries. Our experience this spring demonstrated that there are lots of customers out there. Washington and Benton Counties have more that 350,000 people, 11% of whom are under the poverty level. Studies in other areas have shown that this number of people will provide more than enough clients to do 20-50 surgeries per day, 5 days a week. And
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if we end up purchasing the van with Northwest Arkansas Animal Rescue in Benton County, we will be serving an even larger area, with more potential customers. VI. Industry Analysis: It is our goal to put ourselves out of business as soon as possible and then to sell the mobile clinic. Sadly, this is unlikely to happen in the next 5 years. In a similar demographic area-Asheville, North Carolina-where there is a stationary spay/neuter clinic with two veterinarians (twice as many surgeries); they are still in business after 10 years. They have, however, reduced the shelter euthanasia rate by 70% and also the number of ‘strays’, animal complaints and animal cruelty, and of course, animal control costs. Feral cats are another problem we hope to be able to address. If concerned citizens have a low cost clinic to get their neighborhood strays spayed, many will. One cat can turn into 10 cats in just one year, and then 100 the next year. It is likely this service is going to be needed for a long time to come, unfortunately. Strengths: The strengths of a mobile spay/neuter clinic include: Low cost/high volume/ high quality veterinarian service Delivered to client’s community (convenient) Popular with animal control agencies (saves $) Provides the only humane way to reduce companion animal overpopulation Committed volunteers
Major weaknesses: Finding a veterinarian Constant advertising as the clinic moves from place to place Some antipathy from country veterinarians (mostly older, and male) Getting $150,000 startup money 4
Significant opportunities: Zillions of animals needing services in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas & Missouri
Threats: The threats of a mobile spay/neuter clinic include: Economic freefall Burnout of staff and volunteers
VII. Services: Our primary service is low cost (or someday no cost to qualified pet owners) spay and neuter for adult dogs and cats, puppies and kittens as young as 6 weeks and 2 lbs. in weight. Vaccinations, including rabies, effective flea and tick treatment, micro-chipping, nail trimming and ear cleaning will also be available. The mobile clinic will spend one or two weeks in each location. Locations in Washington County might include Fayetteville, Springdale, Elkins, Prairie Grove, and Lincoln; locations in Benton County might include Rogers, Centerton, Bentonville, Gentry, Decatuer and Siloam Springs. Prices will start at $35 for a male cat or small male dog, $45 for a female cat or small female dog up to $70 for an extra large dog spay. These prices are about half to a third of what local area vets charge. The financial feasibility of this project depends on the speed of the vet: he or she must be able to do 20 to 30 surgeries a day. It has been our experience that people who feel they cannot afford to get their animals ‘fixed’ are very appreciative these prices. Customers: Potential target customers are lower and middle class people and older people who cannot drive far or don’t have enough money, time, or interest to take their pets to a veterinarian in town. Target customers are all the pet owners who haven’t spayed or neutered their pets. Especially targeted are the poorest people who don’t own cars or crates but still love their kitties and doggies. These are the people who keep the shelters 5
full. We will be able to serve these people with no cost surgeries once we get rolling and become eligible for grants. There are ____ people in Washington County and ____ in Benton County. Competition: None VIII. Market Analysis: The two notable things about a low cost mobile spay/neuter clinic are it’s greatest assets: low cost and mobile. These are also it’s liabilities; you must keep advertising in the communities you are going to be in next week, and you must keep your overhead low and volume high to keep the surgery cost down. Advertising for clients will depend largely on radio spots and newspaper ads. We will give clients 7X11 posters with tear off phone numbers and a schedule for the following month to post at work, etc. We also have a website: Spayarkansas.org with our schedule and an email address. We hope to maintain a continuing presence in the community through fund raisers, newspaper stories, TV spots, and eye-catching original posters. Spay/neuter posters will be placed in laundromats, the library, the natural food coop stores, the feed stores, coffee shops, etc. And it is these events, posters and newspaper stories that will provide Spay Arkansas with it’s second kind of advertising, which is to educate the community of the efficacy of spay/neuter for humane animal population control. More specifically, by keeping Spay Arkansas on people’s radar, we hope to attract donors. We would like to have a big, colorful, attractive mural out in the county on the side of an old barn. And we would like to develop a presence on campus, starting with the pre-vet club, the service fraternity, and the marketing department. Farther down the road, we would like to have volunteers combing the county offering to transport animals to the clinic for those too old, or handicapped to drive or who don’t own vehicles. We would like to offer free 6
services to these people and discounted services to feral cat colony managers. Perhaps the county would assist by putting our monthly schedule in with the water bills. In conclusion, our customers are primarily low and middle income. We will deliver services as close as we can to them. We will use the media that they use. When there are no more customers, we will gratefully go out of business. IX. Management and Organization: The seed for this organization was planted when the director witnessed (2002-2005) firsthand at the local animal shelter the futility and the basic wrongness of trying to control companion animal over population through killing. It is terrible and it doesn’t even work. About 40% (but up to 75%) of the dogs and 65% of the cats who enter area shelters are euthanized after a fear-filled and germ-filled 5-30 days in a small noisy cage. And still the population continues to swell out in the community. In the summer of 2007 the website for Spay Arkansas was designed and put online. In October 2007, the director attended an inspiring 3-day national spay/neuter leadership conference and learned about many successful programs, some that had reduced shelter euthanasia by 70% in 7-10 years! January 2008 thru May 2008, the director volunteered on a mobile spay/neuter clinic which did about 2000 surgeries, mostly in Washington and Benton Counties. She learned a lot, and saw first hand the extent of the problem and the willingness of people who were trying to do the responsible thing. Summer 2008 was spent filing the 501(c)3 application and network building. Fall was spent planning and executing fundraisers, getting volunteers, and building recognition and trust in the community. Spay Arkansas has a board of directors that meets quarterly. It is an all volunteer 501(c)3. The day-to-day organization is a group of dedicated volunteers with many
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talents, the Events committee: this group does tabling at events and the Farmer’s Market, plans fundraisers, and soon-when we get our 501(c)3, we will begin grant writing. The management of the clinic will be the veterinarian’s responsibility. They will also provide insurance for the clinic. Plans for the future will most likely be cooperative decisions made by all of these three groups. X. Operational Plan: A day at the clinic: The day begins at 7AM. The mobile clinic is parked close to a building provided by the sponsoring agency, a rescue, or an other animal group. The building must be heated or cooled, but it could be a garage, a county fair building, a VFW Post, an armory, a shelter storage or laundry room, or a community room. The clinic is hooked up to a water source and plugged in to an electrical outlet. Clients begin bringing their pets, in carriers, or on leashes with collapsible crates, (or not, as we provide crates) and fill out the intake forms. This form has the client’s phone number and address, the pets name, sex, age, breed, and health history. The client checks boxes that indicate what services they want (spay or neuter, nail trim, ear clean, vaccinations, rabies, microchipping, flea treatment). Then he signs a waiver. On the back of this form is a place for the vet to record what happened and any concerns he has, and to put the rabies sticker and vaccination sticker, the service charges. The vet keeps this form. The cages and crates are arranged around the room, facing a volunteer so they can watch all the animals. Animals are brought on board the mobile unit as needed where the vet gives them a sedative shot and the vet tech preps them for surgery. Once the surgery is done, the animals are put in a quiet place on board where they are easily visible. The volunteer and/or vet tech monitor them as they wake up. This is also the time to trim nails, flea treatment, ear clean and give shots. When the animal is able to walk, they are put in their carrier and go back to the 8
heated (or cooled) intake room. There they are monitored by another volunteer, who also fills out the rabies certificates. At 4 pm, the operations are done and the clients start arriving to pick up their pets. This continues until 6 pm. Before the animals are released, the owner reads and signs an after-care instruction sheet, and pays. Towards the end of the day, laundry is started, tools are sterilized and surgical packs made up for the next day, the van is cleaned and clipboards are prepared with intake forms. Throughout the day the office assistant has been manning the phone, making appointments, reminding people of their upcoming appointments, calling clients when their pets are ready. The vet tech has been shaving bellies, trimming nails, assisting the vet, autoclaving surgical tools, etc. The volunteer has been watching the animals, picking up poop, wiping up vomit, all the good stuff! Let us not forget to mention the clients: these people are mostly great people who have found a stray and want to do the right thing. They are appreciative and polite and grateful and their pets are so cute! And they are so happy when mommy or daddy comes to get them!! So ends a day at the mobile clinic. Financing: If 25 animals are neutered per day, the veterinarian would make $350$450/day, depending on the contract prices and the sex, weight, and type of animal. The veterinarian technician would make approximately $120 per day. (10hrs X $12/hr) The office assistant would make approximately $100 per day. (10hrs X $10/hr) The volunteers will be the recipient of good feelings of a job well done. If an average of 25 animals are done each day at an average price of $50 per animal, daily income is $1250. Every surgery costs about $3 in supplies, making the daily total for supplies no more that $100. Total daily expenses are approximately $820, ($500-vet; $120-vet tech; $100 off. assist; $100 supplies) leaving about $400 extra. This money will be put in a fund to: (l) pay for equipment repair and (2) subsidize surgeries for those who cannot afford them and (3) 9
emergencies. No credit cards will be taken or credit given. The money and checks will be deposited weekly in an account separate from Spay Arkansas general funds and the veterinarian, vet. technician and office assistant paid weekly. The veterinarian will order necessary supplies paid for from this account. Vehicle repairs also come from this account. Personnel: Finding and keeping a good veterinarian is the most important facet of this project. We will compensate this person and will do everything we can think of to keep him or her happy! This applies to the other employees, too. They must work together in a small space as a happy team! Legal: Spay Arkansas does not presently have legal counsel, but soon will. We are registered as a charity with the State Attorney General, and so can legally solicit funds in Arkansas. Our 501(c)3 status is pending-we should know, according to a letter from the IRS, by mid-November, 2008. Working with Washington County and/or another 50(c)3 are issues that need to be discussed with an attorney. Insurance: We plan to get nonprofit board insurance at some time in the future. When we get the mobile clinic, it will, of course, be insured. The vet provides insurance for operations inside the mobile unity. Other types of insurance may be necessary. Exit Strategy: The Articles of Incorporation outline an exit strategy that involves selling assets to pay debts, with the remainder of the assets going to a similar charity.
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