North Texas Basset Hound Rescue

Our plan for the future is ultimately to be able to rescue more dogs. There are various methods of achieving this goal, but we have patterned our plan after those basset rescue organizations that are already successful.
We have been very successful in the past at raising money, but our major need at the current time is
volunteers to fill the many needed positions required to run the organization effectively and create opportunities for growth.
We have found that turnover is high in volunteer participation, and so we need to develop an
ongoing plan of volunteer recruitment and retention. We believe that through more social networking and dog event participation, we will be able to identify and recruit those people to help us in specific needs. We also plan to use our Linked-In contacts to fill needed management positions and develop a leadership succession plan.
Our longer term goal is to obtain property for events, storage, office space and short term boarding (for dogs transitioning to fosters).

The strategy for growing volunteers is to identify event attendees who may have an interest in donating time. In addition, adopters and donors will be contacted for interest in volunteer opportunities.
We plan to add 3 professionals to our board of directors, including a dog trainer, a veterinarian, and investment consultant.
We provide training for our volunteers through webinars, and participation in off site training opportunities offered by PetSmart Charities, Petco and Petfinder.
We also plan social events for our foster families to share their experiences and help to build a sense of support for them.
We very often provide food for their foster-dogs, to minimize the financial commitment. We cover all of the medical expenses for each dog we rescue, and provide a nearby veterinarian for the foster family to use.

Event attendee contact information is available for review to aid in identifying potential volunteers. We maintain a database of over 2000 individuals that have expressed an interest in either adopting or participating in our fundraising events. From this list of individuals we are able to send out specific requests for special needs.
We have 3 certified dog trainers that work with our rescued dogs to assist us in placement. We have a network of about 50 volunteers who currently assist with adoption application processing, home visits and fostering the dogs that we have in our program.

Over the past 10 years, our volunteer base has grown from about 10 to 50 active volunteers who will transport dogs from shelters to veterinarians, and then to foster homes. They also help with planning and implementation of fundraising events, adoption events, newsletters, and community outreach.
We have a veterinarian base which has grown from 2 to 15 regional veterinarians who treat our dogs, perform exams, spay/neuter, vaccinate, treat for heartworms and perform other necessary medical treatment for the dogs to become adoptable.
Our fundraising capability has grown in the past 10 years from an average of $25,000/year to an average of $75,000/year, which gives us the opportunity to take on serious medical conditions in dogs that would otherwise be euthanized or unadoptable.
We expect that within the next few years we will be able to purchase property for our events, and to temporarily house some dogs that are in transition or quarantine.