Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log
THURSDAY APRIL 22 2004
Morning report on Rocky
Dr. Reeves says Rocky is eating better and looking better, but he may have to stay at Dr. Reeves' clinic a few more days.
Thanks so much to everyone who has contributed and who continues to contribute to Straydog
Before we mailed out the 3-Piece April Newsletter, we were at least two weeks worth of expenses into credit card debt and slipping further and further into debt fast. We are as of this moment out of credit card debt and almost six weeks ahead in current funding vs. weekly expenses. (Now I can sleep again without waking in a panic several times during the night.)
The answer to fund raising is to expand (or grow) our mailing list. It seems the Internet is still too young to do the job. (Probably the Internet is to raising money now in 2004 much the same as the telephone was to fund raising in 1904.)
Of the 300 people who visit our website daily and of the approximately 2,500 people on our mailing list (all of whom have contributed at least once to Straydog) we have a very solid base of supporters who regularly give $5, $10, $15, $20, $25, $50, $100, $250, $500, and even $1,000 or more, and these regulars are who keep Straydog afloat.
This solid base of regular contributors can't be all the people in the world who would feel toward Straydog the way you and I do. If we could just grow our list of regular contributors, it would lessen the burden on those who already contribute regularly and would increase our funding enough so that we wouldn't constantly be sliding into the panic zone.
Let me quote from a few of the letters accompanying recent donations:
15 April 2004All your efforts and determination to take care of the many dogs is too great for words to express. I will send another check later (along with my prayers daily).
Elizabeth M.
4/16/04
Please accept this very small but well meaning donation for your shelter. As I am 84 years old, my income is somewhat restricted (to say the least). My own precious dog ... is 13 years old and has cataracts.
I mailed a small amount to the vet you mentioned [in your newsletter]. My running tab at my vet sometimes is staggering.
Perhaps I can send more in the future.
Sincerely,
Betty Kate W.
16 April 2004
Dear Bill,
I'm a 10-year-old Lab mix and am sending you a small donation in loving memory of Gloria Paneck, my previous guardian. I've since been adopted again by a family with six stray cats and two other rescued dogs. I love it here.
I miss Gloria, but I feel lucky to have been adopted twice in my life. Hopefully, your dogs will have the same good fortune.
Zee
Every letter accompanying every check we receive expresses similar sentiment
I often cry reading the notes and letters accompanying donations. Before the first article about Straydog was published in The Dallas Morning News (on March 13, 1997) I didn't know there was anyone else in the world who felt the way Pat and I felt about homeless dogs. We believed that most people thought we were crazy. During 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and the first quarter of 1997, we (with no donations from anyone) paid all the expenses of taking care of all our rescues--a total population of eight dogs in 1992 which had increased to 24 dogs at the time of the publication of The Dallas Morning News article in 1997. Pat and I always felt tremendous appreciation for the financial and moral support we began receiving from our supporters after that first article appeared in the newspaper. Six hundred people contributed more than $40,000 to Straydog (or the original "Arnold Stray Dog Fund") in March 1997, and from that point we continued to grow and grow and grow.
We appreciate all the fund-raising ideas and projects many of you propose and undertake on our behalf--PLEASE KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!
Sue Knudsen's garage sale last Saturday is a good example of a much appreciated fund raising project, and we welcome such endeavors. Not only do such fund raisers bring in a lot of much needed funding, but they also spread the word about Straydog and hopefully increase our website audience and add names to our mailing list of contributors, which is ultimately the key to ensuring the survival of Straydog Inc.
Expanding (or growing) our list of contributors will be our salvation
If a mailing list of 2,500 people can sustain our operation as it has, just think what a mailing list of 3,000 or 3,500 contributors could do.
What can you do to help? ... Figure out ways to bring more people to this website and get more names added to our mailing list of contributors.