Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Española Humane serves an impoverished area where the number of unwanted animals is distressingly high. In affluent communities, such as nearby Los Alamos, shelter intake is about one unwanted animal per sixty households; in our service area the number is approximately one per five. A further consequence of poverty in the area is that humane care is beyond the economic reach of many households. The high number of unwanted animals is overwhelming local shelters in northern New Mexico and, in most cases, animals are euthanized for a lack of space. We have decreased the number of unwanted animals at our shelter through high-volume spay/neuter, and believe it is the only real, sustainable way for communities to end the euthanasia of healthy and treatable animals.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
All are welcome
Open admissions, no-fee animal shelter
Free for Locals
Free spay/neuter surgeries, vaccinations, and microchips
Where we work
External reviews

Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of pets microchipped
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Free for Locals
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We microchip every animal received at our shelter and every pet that is spayed/neutered through our clinic. Microchips are a critical way of returning lost but loved pets to their guardians.
Average number of animals spayed and neutered per day
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Free for Locals
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of animals spayed and neutered
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Free for Locals
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Average number of days of shelter stay for cats and small animals
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
All are welcome
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Average number of days of shelter stay for dogs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
All are welcome
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of animals returned to their owner
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Decreasing
Number of animals receiving subsidized or free spay/neuter services
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Free for Locals
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Decreasing
Number of sheltered animals
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
All are welcome
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Decreasing
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Española Humane currently works with residents in Rio Arriba County, northern Santa Fe County, and the pueblos of Ohkay Owingeh, San Ildefonso and Santa Clara. Our primary goal is to reduce the number of unwanted dogs and cats through free spay/ neuter surgeries and vaccinations. Put simply, too many unwanted animals are born and too few are adopted. Underpinning the goal are two measurable strategies:
1. Complete an average of 6,500 free spay/neuter surgeries per year in underserved areas that are located within 20 miles of the shelter; and
2. Reduce the intake of unwanted animals at the shelter by 70 percent over the next five years.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Our “Pet Amigos” outreach program helps to reduce the number of unwanted animals by encouraging free spay/neuter surgeries. To reach the “low hanging fruit” (pet owners already motived but with insufficient resources), we will informally partner with churches, senior centers and youth groups to help spread the word about free spay/neuter surgeries. The local Sonic Drive-Ins and Family Dollar discount stores will stuff bags with our spay/neuter leaflets.
For the “higher-hanging fruit,” we will deploy our Pet Amigos team. The bilingual team goes door-to-door in targeted neighborhoods, shaking hands and meeting people, providing advice on animal humane issues, and encouraging residents to take advantage of our offer to alter and vaccinate their pets for free. The team has initially targeted the City of Española, which accounts for the highest number of surrenders at the shelter.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Most of our management team has been working together for years. Bridget Lindquist joined Española Humane in 2005 and inherited an overwhelmed shelter staff in an aging facility with a live release rate of 56 percent. Bridget recruited highly skilled talent and “incentivized” the staff to increase adoptions and spay/neuter. Española Humane continued to be an open-admissions shelter, refusing to turn away any animal, but these days our live release rate is 80 percent.
Dr. Tom has worked with our organization for seven years and was the mobile van surgeon for a neighboring shelter before that. Dr. Tom has a passion for low-cost, high-quality, large volume clinics and has visited Humane Alliance in North Carolina to learn their techniques. He has worked as a volunteer surgeon with the HSUS RAVS team on remote Native American lands in Arizona as well as with World Vets doing free rural clinics in Nicaragua and Peru.
Gretchen Yost, DVM has been with our organization since 2007 and was medical director until 2012. Dr. Gretchen is also a spay/neuter surgeon who has done volunteer work with World Vets in Nicaragua. As a former electrical engineer, she has a keen interest in data interpretation and statistical reporting. She took the lead role in securing and completing all required follow-up reporting for our major spay/neuter grant applications.
Our Director of Operations, Karina Exell, came to us from PAWS Chicago where she developed a community outreach program that accomplished 773 spay/neuter surgeries in the first year. Karina has also directed the operations of two veterinary hospitals, managing teams as large as 29 staff and seven veterinarians. Her focus at Española Humane is improving the accessibility of spay/neuter services.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We have made great progress—from about 2,800 annual surgeries a few years ago to over 4,603 in 2021. In 2022, we hope to expand Pet Amigos into further communities within our service area. Eventually and ideally, as our shelter's intake decreases due to our success in addressing the animal overpopulation problem, we will need to spend less money sheltering animals. Initially, this has not happened and will not happen for a time, as we spend more per intake by treating more illness and giving more time for adoption. However, over years of decreasing intake we expect that there will be some savings, and these savings will contribute to our ability to continue offering free sterilizations.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Espanola Humane
Board of directorsas of 5/7/2022
Lea Ann Knight
Financial planning
Term: 2026 - 2020
Ardith Eicher
Retired marketing executive
Mike Hodges
Corporate finance/equity
Gayle Mills
Biotech consultant
Terry Riley
Retired psychologist
Carlos Duno
Retired executive recruiter
Britt Klein
Real estate agent
Edie Gonzales
Financial services
John Brunett
Retired investment officer
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data