HOPE FOR CATS INC

HFC: Hope for Cats is a cat rescue, shelter and adoption organization serving cats who have been surrendered or abandoned. The shelter, Jake's Place, and foster homes serve as either a temporary home until a cat is adopted, or as a permanent sanctuary for cats who are never adopted. The organization serves cats who are quite readily adoptable, as well as cats who are not often included in the populations of other rescue groups (i.e. those with medical or behavioral conditions, FIV-positive cats, and older cats). Thus, Hope for Cats aims to find suitable adoptive homes for cats, while also providing sanctuary to other cats who may not find a new home, but who have an equal right to a secure life.
While the organization exists to serve its feline residents, an ancillary impact has been to assist human clients who must surrender their cats, assuring them that their cat(s) will always be provided for; to occasionally provide temporary housing for cats whose owners are leaving for military assignment, are temporarily without housing, or in domestic violence situations requiring rapid relocation-in several instances reuniting the cats with their owners when their temporary needs had ended; to occasionally provide funds for veterinary care to a member of the public so that a cat can remain in its home, avoiding either euthanasia or surrender due to lack of financial resources; to occasionally allow an individual to use the organization's website to find a new home for a cat, without surrendering the cat to the shelter.
The organization intends to continue to:
• assure the ability to provide excellent veterinary care, making decisions in the best interest of the cats, not on cost alone
• treat the cats in our care as if they were our personal pets, meeting their physical and emotional needs
• allow adopters to return a cat to Hope for Cats at any time in the future, if for any reason the adoption is no longer workable
• operate as a limited-admission, no-kill organization

HFC: In order to continue and expand Hope for Cats' outreach to homeless cats:
• The Board of Directors has established a fundraising plan to be updated annually, with the goal of increasing income from fundraising activities and grants.
• The organization has begun a partnership with a local non-profit which has a cat adoption center in a local mall, in order to increase our adoption rate, allowing us to rescue more cats.

HFC: The Board of Directors members each have at least several years experience volunteering for Hope for Cats and other animal welfare organizations. Many other volunteers also have lengthy experience. The Board and other volunteers also bring a variety of other talents from employment and education, including website and social media development, legal and accounting background, computer literacy, management, human resources and human services backgrounds, and veterinary technology education.
Hope for Cats became a member of the Animal Alliance of Western New York, a collaboration of local animal rescue and welfare organizations, in 2009. This participation enabled establishing relationships such as that with the mall adoption center manager, and the ability to engage in pet expos and other joint activities.
Board members and other volunteers use relationships with employers and other local businesses to conduct fundraisers.

HFC: Progress toward the quantitative and qualitative goals:
• Partnership with mall adoption center (August 2013)--adoptions set records in 2013 & 2014.
• Website enhancements including ease of “Wish-list" shopping & donations, and “donate" button with PayPal link
• Increased grantwriting efforts and education
* Approved organization for CFC & SEFA (state & federal employees payroll deductions)
* Newsletter fundraising
Opportunities:
• Increase funding base (grants, individuals, events & activities)
• Develop specific Board Development Plan
• Develop specific volunteer communication and recruitment plan