Since the above anaysis, we have implemented a change to the approach to assisting our communties with spay/neuter needs by charging the community $20 flat fee for a spay/neuter of any dog or cat. We partnered with Tri-State Spay & Neuter Clinic located in Murphy, NC and they offered us a matching grant. Since the inception of the new program (SNIP), we have seen a 390% increase in the number of spay/neuters being performed! To address the low turn-over rate at the shelter, we have decided that it will be necessary to partner with out-of-state rescue organizations that are located in areas where there is higher demand for adoptable animals. We wrote a grant for a transport van and we received a grant for $47,000 to purchase the van and crates needed. We are in the process of vetting partner rescue groups and hope to begin transporing sometime in 2020. Our initial goal is to move animals through the shelter in less than 60 days thus improving our turn-over rate significantly. We are also currently raising funds to do a $100,000 shelter expansion project to increase the number of animals we can rescue. We have raised $40,000 towards our goal and hope to begin construction by mid-2020.

Making changes to our approach to the community spay and neuter needs made a huge difference. Recognizing that we have to transport animals out of our area for adoption will improve the turn rate at the shelter allowing us to rescue more animals for the local Animal Control and other Animal Control establishments in the North Georgia area that place animals at risk of being destroyed. Fundraising is a key part of our abilty to implement these changes.

We have a very successful track record and have been operating the shelter since 2006. We have a community that is very supportive of our efforts, including the local County government.

We track our metrics closely and report monthly results at the Board meetings.

We have seen a 390% improvement in the communtiy spay/neuter since implementing the SNIP $20 spay/neuter program in August, 2019! Working on the transport of adoptable pets and the shelter expansion for 2020. Our TNR program continues to grow YoY. We operate a very successful Thrift Store, which provides significant revenue for the shelter.