Best Friends Course
Honest to goodness I believe I gave you all the test answers to starting your own animal Sanctuary by suggesting the 3-month course by Best Friends : Running A Sanctuary.
These people run the nation’s largest no-kill sanctuary for companion animals and the course is designed to help everyday people like you and me start our own Sanctuary.
Best Friends is like the Julia Childs of cooking, the Jane Goodall of chimpanzees, the Kim Kardashian of reality TV, and the Harvard of colleges. What they say has a lot of value and merit.
For the sake of liking to finish what I start, I’ll keep writing these blogs and sharing my story and process of starting Bear Den Sanctuary.
Board of Directors
I knew I needed a team of people to help me. In the US, to start a nonprofit and register with the IRS to receive your 501©(3), you need a Board of Directors. Allow me to introduce you to my incredible Board:
Patrick : Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Bear Den Sanctuary
Patrick is a dream come true and a bit of an anomaly. He is one of the original founders of the Sanctuary. He is a CPA who helps keep me organized with finances.
Taxes for nonprofits is a whole process so having a CPA who is our CFO is a wonderful advantage to help keep us on the straight and narrow. He has never had a cat but he has a huge heart and wholly believes in the mission and what we are trying to accomplish.
Patrick is an excellent public speaker. This has been a wonderful benefit on many occasions.
We recently had a meeting with our City Shelter who euthanizes animals daily due to overpopulation. We met with them to see how we can facilitate helping save more cats and dogs from the kill list. Having a Board member who is calm, cool, collected and eloquent in speaking is an enormous benefit when talking to a variety of audiences.
Patrick is an integral part of the organization and essential to making it run successfully.
Alison : Treasurer for Bear Den Sanctuary
Alison is a funny gal with cojones! She is an absolute badass who left her own corporate job to follow her dream and start her lifelong goal of starting an upscale apothecary and boutique.
Just this week she called me to talk about the Sanctuary. She encouraged me to go all in with Bear Den as a full-time job. Take out a loan, she said! Write the blogs, connect with people who want to help cats, change the world for animals in need. She said if not me, who? If not now, when?
Alison is such an inspiration because she is doing the scary thing too! She quit a job that was safe and secure yet uninspiring to open up her beautiful boutique that sells Bear Den Sanctuary merch!
Honey Mercantile is Alison’s dream that she made come true and I am so proud of her. She is a gift in my life and this journey.
Marcela : Secretary for Bear Den Sanctuary
Marcela is funny and doesn’t have any pets. She has told me more than once, always with love, that I’m batshit crazy for starting the Sanctuary.
While she loves to chap my hide about this crazy dream to save all the homeless cats, she has a heart of gold.
She has picked up cats from the vet and brought them back to the Sanctuary when I was at work. She cooks and brings delicious food to Board meetings and to luncheons for the Sanctuary volunteers.
While she tells me to my face my ideas are nuts, she also tells me she wholeheartedly admires my drive and tenacity to persevere in the vision of saving cats.
It’s people like Marcela who keep it real, call me out on my crazy and still love and support me in my vision who I need close by my side.
Selecting Board Members
This is the part where I tell you what I could have done differently. In hindsight, I would have added additional Board Members to the team.
In selecting my Board of Directors (BOD), I had the erroneous idea that I should choose people who while, yes, they loved my vision and dream, would not have a lot to say in the decisions I make for the Sanctuary. (Patrick actually has a lot to say…mainly watch the spending!)
In talking with CEOs and Presidents of other nonprofit Rescues and Sanctuaries who I respect dearly, I learned they chose BOD members who have special skill sets for their individual nonprofit, and a passion for the mission.
The BOD members ideally have opinions and ideas that both challenge and enhance the organization as a whole and they are willing to get down and dirty with tasks often required on a regular if not daily basis.
The San Antonio Feral Cat Coalition has an attorney on the board along with members of other animal welfare organizations. They have Board Members who are actively out in the streets trapping and fixing cats. These Board Members have longstanding experience in the field of animal welfare that brings a unique set of skills, opinions and ideas to the table that enhances and promotes the group’s overall mission.
Shout Out!
The Board of Directors for Bear Den Sanctuary is a wonderful group of beautiful people each of whom I’d give a kidney to if needed. None of us are paid.
What I’m attempting to convey is that ideally, a Board of Directors will help:
- In the grunt work and have knowledge and expertise in the focus areas of the organization.
- They will bring ideas to the table to help grow and enhance your work in the community.
- They will bring engaging ideas and challenge each other so that the organization can continue to excel.
Running a Sanctuary is a lot of work, and it is the greatest job ever! Having a strong Board of Directors will take some of the work load off your shoulders so that ultimately you can be more effective in saving animals in need.
