It’s been quite an eventful three years. We’re grateful that we are still helping keep pets and people living healthy lives together. I’m always looking for ways to increase our impact and before we started these three years, we investigated purchasing a franchise to open a veterinary clinic with a lot of support and considering a national concept to help people access veterinary care for their pets. My head was spinning with the world of opportunities to explore. And then, things took a turn.
In the beginning of the fiscal year starting 7/1/2019, my father was in poor health. Like many people with older parents, I found myself in charge of managing his care. It was all I could do to keep my head above water while I juggled work and family life.
Thankfully, our small but mighty Team kept the organization running smoothly. Ira Reynolds handled the day-to-day needs required of the Voucher Program we established in 2014 and Kerri Whitehouse handled the fundraising initiatives we needed to run the Voucher Program. I was still involved, but not to the extent I had been.
To connect with organizations that provide veterinary care for dogs and cats we went on some site visits. We visited Neighborhood Pets, Community Vet, Cleveland Veterinary Clinic, and Lake Humane Society. It was great to get out of the office and talk with people whose day-to-day work is working with people and helping pets get care. We discussed ways we could work together and strengthened our network of key stakeholders.
During this time, we realized that we needed more professional support to help guide us, so we decided to invest in our growth as an organization. After much consideration, we hired The Hodge Group, a consulting firm based out of Dayton, Ohio in late 2019. In January, they guided us to develop a three-year Strategic Plan 2020-2022, which included increasing our outreach, raising more funds, and securing more partnerships with key stakeholders to help meet our mission, such as veterinary care organizations.
As we were discussing the Strategic Plan we started hearing about the virus that we now refer to as COVID. The geek in me can’t help but point out that the name of the virus is SARS-CoV-2, and the severe disease it can cause is named COVID-19 (and those are acronyms). I kept a close eye on its spread throughout the world and then, ultimately, in Ohio. By the time that the Governor of Ohio declared a State of Emergency effective 3/9/2020, I was preparing my Team for what we would do to respond.
We were lucky to be living in Ohio at that time.
• Dr. Amy Acton at the Ohio Department of Health helped guide the residents of Ohio to use basic hygiene and maintain our distance from others to pre- vent spreading the virus.
• Staff at the Ohio Veterinary Medical Association worked hard to ensure that veterinarians were considered essential workers to maintain the health of the general public.
My last day in the office that year was March 13, 2020. Like many, I moved my office to my home. After the declaration that essential staff could work during the Stay at Home Order, we relied on our best judgment and determined that our work was essential. The Voucher Program is essential to keep pets vaccinated against diseases like rabies that can spread to people and the demand for veterinary care increased during the pandemic.
Thankfully, I was used to working remotely with colleagues across the globe by email and phone when I was involved in scientific advancements of the genetic disease called cystic fibrosis. I designed programs at One Health Organization to be conducted in a similar way. We could still conduct our work remotely given that our Voucher Program work is conducted by phone, mail, and the internet.
The added internet-based tools created since 1993 when I started my working life helped make remote communication even more seamless in 2020. We began to connect with one another over video conferencing and learned how to use Zoom.
While my staff chose to work at the office, conducting business as usual (except wearing masks when in the presence of others), I was busy putting together carefully curated COVID-19 resources related to pet health, as well as the health impact on people. We shared what I learned on our website and sent out announcements by email and social media.
The other thing we did was to connect with our Veterinary Partners (i.e., those practices that accept Vouchers as payment from our low-income clients). They were all struggling with how to adapt and keep their staff safe while caring for people’s pets. If you had a pet needing veterinary care during this time, you probably received “curbside” service. Some staff and clients loved it, and others didn’t. The pandemic created a difficult work environment and added to the typical stress experienced at vet clinics across the world, leading to a veterinary care shortage.
Sadly, just before the end of the fiscal year, my father died due to complications associated with Parkinson’s disease. It was a tough year so like many others who were getting closer to their retirement years, I was considering my current and future role at One Health Organization.
Thankfully, the year ended with three special one-time gifts totaling $72,000. Those gifts helped maintain financial stability during this uncertain time.
Like many during the pandemic, we reflected on where we stood as an organization and prepared for a year of recovery.
As the new fiscal year started on 7/1/2020, we began the exercise of succession planning and what could happen to One Health Organization when I ultimately need to leave (by choice or by chance). We started thinking about the different opportunities. Between Board Members and staff, no one was identified as a suitable successor. That was a hole we knew we needed to fill.
As the Founder, I asked myself if we would be relevant for the foreseeable future or not. Given that our most popular program is related to giving low-income families financial support to access veterinary care, the ideal solution is to end poverty. I would love to end poverty around the world or even in Northeast Ohio. I don’t see that happening in my lifetime, but if we did, would we still be relevant? The answer is a resounding YES! People living with pets will always want to get the best care for their dogs and cats.
So despite the ongoing pandemic, we needed to look forward with a positive outlook. The Cleveland area is known for its generous and philanthropic community members (anyone who donates at any level is a philanthropist), and yet there’s still a lot of need to keep our communities healthy as well as happy. Pets provide oodles of happiness, but that can change to worry and anxiety when veterinary care is required throughout their pets’ lives and providing care isn’t within reach.
In the meantime, I was geeking out over the science behind COVID. I learned what my former colleagues working in lung health endeavors were doing to provide support for those who came down with COVID-19, and was astounded by the fast pace of creating a new vaccine. That scientists were able to develop a safe and effective vaccine in less than a year was nothing short of miraculous. How lucky to live through a pandemic starting in 2020 rather than during the 1918 pandemic when vaccines weren’t readily available.
My staff and I got vaccinated as soon as they were available to us. I still wasn’t comfortable with the idea of being in the presence of others, so I stayed home and connected more often with others over Zoom, email, and phone.
Before the pandemic, I was working on securing a big gift. By January, we received another special, one-time gift of $500,000. This was the largest gift we ever received and we wanted to use it wisely. The Board chose to invest most of these funds by setting up an Organizational Fund with the Cleveland Foundation, as well as funds invested with a woman-owned and woman-led firm called Endeavor Wealth Advisors. The purpose of these investments is to start endowed funds for sustaining our organization in the future. Having a fund held at the Cleveland Foundation helps expand our reach within the organization to help secure additional funding from people who entrusted their philanthropic gifts to the Cleveland Foundation.
The other big investment was to hire a digital marketing group called Yodelpop. They started using our previous blog posts and spreading the word through social media (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter). The increase in the number of followers and likes has increased steadily since then. They also redesigned our website, started us on the path of writing two blogs a month, and sending out an electronic newsletter once a month. Their marketing strategy is to encourage people looking for information about donating, volunteering, and seeking help for living healthy lives with their pets rather than to send out pushy emails to people who didn’t want to see our messages.
As we looked at our staffing situation and what made most sense to help propel us forward, we made the difficult decision to eliminate one staff position and look for someone to fill a major gifts role. Thankfully, we had the professionals at The Hodge Group help us with that process.
Beyond the Voucher Program, we started getting requests again from senior residential facilities for us to give educational talks to their residents who live with a dog or cat. I love these kinds of opportunities and gave a talk at the Barton Senior Center located in the Westerly Apartments, as well as at Fedor Manor Apartments and Knickerbocker Apartments.
To increase our ability to sustain and grow our programs, we knew we needed to raise community awareness that our organization does great work beyond digital marketing. We looked hard for just the right person to fill the role of “Director of Community Relations and Development.” We had many applicants and interviews. We finally came down to two promising people and chose to hire Melissa Elick. This was indeed, a turning point for us as an organization.
Melissa’s first day was in January 2022 and she hit the ground running. I am thrilled to have such a young, professionally mature woman to be by my side as we work to raise the funds needed to meet our mission. She wanted to help a small, growing organization that combined her interest in social work and love of animals to bring it to life. She didn’t want to be bored. I promised her that she wouldn’t be bored, and I’ve held up my end of the bargain.
Two weeks into Melissa’s new role with us, The Hodge Group led our next Strategic Plan as we were wrapping up the 2020-2022 Strategic Plan. We were able to engage more volunteers in the process, thereby strengthening the plan. We are grateful for their active participation held over Zoom.
Before Melissa’s arrival, I was working on another one-time gift of $100,000 restricted to spending on fundraising initiatives. We received the gift shortly after she was hired and it was used to cover her salary. The donor knew that we’d need to invest in fundraising and with individuals being our largest donors, we needed to focus on working with them. As the year progressed, Melissa started to get to know our donors.
Meanwhile, I remembered the time when we were investigating the opportunities to purchase a veterinary franchise and/or work with a national organization helping to increase access to veterinary care for low-income pet parents. In partnership with our Board, One Health Organization considered these programmatic options and created a comprehensive, goal-based budget. Of course, the major roadblock centered around raising the funds needed, so Melissa and I got started working on a comprehensive fundraising campaign. Adding several new volunteers with fundraising expertise helps, too.
We wrapped up these three fiscal years with the following in place.
Three full-time staff members; only two are adequately compensated.
An expert digital marketing team to increase awareness of our organization, our programs, and how people can help.
A plan to augment existing programs to make a bigger impact in the world.
A better understanding of the expenses needed to reach bigger goals.
A comprehensive campaign plan to meet and exceed fundraising goals.
A plan to engage more volunteers to help meet the mission.
As always, we look to increase the impact we make. It truly is a group effort and we work best as a team. Volunteers support staff efforts and donors help make it all happen. If you’re interested in learning more about how you can get involved, contact us.