2015 Annual Report of AHWF

AMERICAN HERITAGE WILDLIFE FOUNDATION  2015 ANNUAL REPORT

                                                 

American Heritage Wildlife Foundation has the mission to conserve local wildlife through the efforts of rehabilitation of the injured or orphaned and community education. We are a 501c3 nonprofit organization and a registered state nonprofit incorporation. AHWF holds federal rehabilitation permits from the US Fish and Wildlife Service for all migratory bird species and Idaho State Fish and Game rehabilitation permits for all species of birds and small non-game mammals. This fall, permission was granted to allow AHWF to provide care for large game mammals once enclosures are constructed. We do not receive federal, state or county funding. We exist only because of community support.                 

2015 AHWF budget

EXPENSES:                  

  proposed  &  actual

     300              390      Fund Raising (including merchandise)

     543              716      Marketing

     960            1,676     Utilities

  4,000           9,740      Animal Care & Educational Mission  

  4,500           7,500      Large Flight Barn  

20,000                0        Nature Trail*                                                                                 

60,000                0        Classroom & Educational Items* 

2015

REVENUE:  

 1,750               6,002   Memberships & Merchandise       

 1,800                2,477   Event (donations) and Aluminum recycling & other programs                  

 3,500              12,112   Donations and Grants

80,000                  325   Phase III Funding* (raised to date)   

                          1,800   In-Kind contributions (excluding labor)   

I would like to express extreme gratitude to everyone that supported AHWF in the 2015 calendar year. Because of your contributions of time, treasure and talents, this year was our most successful to date.

WILDLIFE

By December 31, our total number of phone calls will be over 315. This is roughly 100 calls more than average.   The total number of cases = 50. The number of individual wild animals for 2015 is 88. Our smallest patient was a baby bat the size of a thumbnail. The largest was a young injured coyote. We provided care for a large variety of bird species as well as native non-game mammal. We tallied 1/3 more hours than last year. Currently we are near 3,500. As is the case every year, some of the animals were successfully released back into their wild habitat; some simply had injuries to traumatic to recover from. Each animal however, was provided the best environment we could offer with our very limited resources.    

We have no paid staff. The rate of pay for the donated hours would have been an estimated $27,600. We rely on our community to volunteer time. Our dedicated volunteers donated thousands of hours this year to provide care for our native neighbors. This year we did have sufficient funding to offer internships. Almost 800 were due to our interns. These wildlife care assistants resided at the facility and were available to provide round the clock care when needed. They were also able to respond immediately to phone calls. This is a wonderful improvement from previous years – the lead wildlife care specialist is not readily available since she needs to work away from the facility at various part time jobs. AHWF is a member with two professional wildlife rehabilitator associations; they provide a great deal of information relating to proper care.

The saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ is no less applicable to wild animals. Our total hours of volunteered time will be over 3,500 by the end of 2015.This is a 30% increase from previous year.  From May/June through October our three interns tallied 800 hours.   

Despite having three large fires burning very close to our facility we were still able to complete necessary projects: the large five room aviary, a small mammal yard, and adding sand to two of our existing enclosures as well as creation and mounting of a new exterior AHWF sign.  

We need your help to acquire funding to construct sufficient enclosures – Idaho Fish and Game has granted permission for us to rehabilitate large game species once we get our enclosures constructed. AHWF would be only one in the panhandle to assist these mega-charismatic mega fauna species.       

Education & Public Outreach         

Due to the quantity of wildlife cases, the number of phone calls and the busy hectic schedule of the primary lead volunteer, she was able to arrange or participate in only a handful of activities. The limited time also prevented regular posting on our social media sites, as many of you know we are only able to access dial-up internet at our facility.      We provide updates on our , ,  ,   ,  , ,  . We invite our supporters to write about their experiences with and score this nonprofit on                               &                

Our website provides a wealth of information about all our native neighbors, the various AHWF fundraising programs, wild animal photographs, volunteer and board member forms, and links to our illustrated children’s books. We also have created ‘hubs’ on the hubpages site which offers a variety of information on North Idaho topics. If you enjoy posting and tweeting and pinning and blogging PLEASE give us a call and we will be ever appreciative if you could take over as our s ocial media coordinator – it is a paid part time position!

Our ability to provide educational demonstrations was somewhat limited this year due to scheduling difficulties and lack of time from volunteers. We did provide a lecture at the North Idaho Animal Hospital and the Panhandle Animal Shelter. The topic was relating to wildlife babies and what to do if you find one.

We were invited to set up at the Majestic Landscaping and Garden Center grand opening event. Many wonderful volunteers painted faces and spoke about AHWF. We set up a table at the 7B Sunday event at Schweitzer Mountain, Independence Day celebration in Clark Fork, the Memorial Community Center in Hope, Pend Oreille Winery Sip n shop evening, and a table at the Christmas Craft Fair in the Bonner Mall. We also cleaned up our section of scenic highway 200 twice. We are very grateful to all the helpers for these events.

Additional exposure came from article in the Sandpoint Magazine summer issue. Advertisements were created for River Journal and Co-op magazines. We send out and post on our blog two annual newsletters – the native neighbor news. This publication details our activities. We have expanded our ability to introduce our nonprofit to the global community by expanding our reach through charity listing on several shopping/online sites as well as crowdfunding/donation sites. Locally: Yokes Market & Fred Meyers. Online: Amazon, Ebay, iGive, Good Shop/Good Search, Network for Good, Just Give, Welzoo, Good World, Razoo, Giving Grid, Love Animals & Go Fund Me. We are also investigating the sites:  global giving and generosity by indegogo. Each site for fundraising has their own level of ease and fees associated. Donation buttons are also linked to the facebook pages. We also are completing the project listing with justserve to gain volunteers. All these links are on our website. 

           

 

You can also check with your credit card company to find out if we are one of the recognized charities. For example through American Express the members give program supports recognized 501c3 nonprofits. 

We were saddened to see a local business close its doors after many years. Common Knowledge closed the summer of 2015. We had our series of books for children available with them. Five have been created:      Three (Logger’s Story, Logger Returns, Logger Makes New Friends) are enjoyable stores for younger children -perfect for bedtime stories and young readers. One is an activity book that everyone could find entertaining titled Fun time with Logger. It includes 54 activities such as crossword puzzles, word searches, dot to dot, wildlife trivia and color by number local birds. Adventures of a Wildlife Special Agent is the story written unlike most – it is a chose your own adventure book. The reader gets to decide which path the USFWS agent takes. Our hope is that readers young and old will enjoy the lessons taught by the story. We have been working to connect with a local artist to convert the entire Loggers Story series into a graphic novel (aka comic book).          They are still available at AHWF, Bonner Books, Vanderfords as well as online through the publisher Lulu     .             I believe they are also found through online book publishers – in the ebook formats: amazon’s kindle, barnes & nobles nook, kobu, apple’s ebook. The Sandpoint and Clark Fork Libraries have been given copies as well.  All proceeds go directly to AHWF; they provide a small amount of revenue for the cause of wildlife rehab and community education. An educational magazine that provides a portion of the subscription to help our cause is Bird Watchers Digest.

Funds  

We began the year with high hopes. A grant was being reviewed to allow us to construct a nature walk. We had sufficient funding to begin and complete our large aviary. A handful of public outreach events were scheduled – which allow not only education and awareness but also donation capacity. 

Our 2015 total expenses for the year were are $20,022. Despite being frugal, we still operate on a budget requiring a minimum $10,000 annually. The categories are Wildlife, Education & Outreach, and Administrative & General Operating.

Wildlife expenses were for food, medical supplies & attention, professional membership fees, fuel cost to deliver or retrieve wildlife, and enclosure building materials, Northern Lights electricity & Frontier phone. The mission of Education & Outreach costs included venue reservations, educational materials, & fuel reimbursement.  The total for this category is $9,740. This included the intern cost of $1,659. The cost to complete the large aviary was $7,500.    

We attended eight events and held one firewood raffle. This allowed our community to support us financially. We have several online platforms, shopping bars, and other programs which also provide a means to financially support our mission. The AHWF merchandise site on Café Press is a means to provide revenue as well as expand our reach into several different communities. Café Press offers items such as coffee mugs, teddy bears, a variety of tee shirt styles, tote bags, aprons and baby clothes. We also have the series of books written and illustrated by AHWF founders.  The total raised $2,387 

We are so grateful to Jackie, Judy, Sue, Jan, Darcy, Earthworks, Sharon, Donna, Monarch Market, Blue Lake RV, George, Scott, Mya, Kathleen, Tomas & Margaurite, Sandy, Deanna, Mary, Haden, Kara, Delorie, Jennifer, Jeannie, WW, Christine, Robert & Marilyn, Tammi, Melissa, Lois, Vance, Dave & Suzy, Susan, Jack & Diane, Alice, Sally, WCT. We also wish to thank those who gave supplies or readily traveled long distances, such as Priest River & Orofino to deliver the wild animals in need. Because of their contributions, we did not have to expend our financial resources. 2015 would not have been as successful without all of you! 

Each of these folks made regular pledges each month, joined the membership,   donated through online campaigns, or contributed significant amounts. They made the promise to present the present as a present for future generations. In 2016 … will you?

 The total revenue (including in-kind & labor) received to date an estimated $34,200 .

Future

First and foremost I will announce that we need more board members. Many of our current directors are retiring their volunteer positions due to health problems. We can have as many as seven members. Vacancies exist for all positions – basic Directors, Secretary, Treasurer, Vice President, and President. We must have a board of directors to remain compliant with all nonprofit regulatory agencies. Applications can be found online or call us directly. The obligation is a monthly meeting in whatever format (phone, email, in person) is chosen. The directors are the guiding force for the foundation. The tasks include reviewing the wildlife and financial information, planning and organizing outreach events.        

The immediate future promises sweets and fun. In 2016, we will offer a gourmet cheesecake and coffee fundraising event. Additionally, we will be bringing back the ‘wild Wednesday’ educational presentations. If you recall, in 2012/2013 AHWF offered monthly presentations on a variety of topics relating to our North Idaho environment and the inhabitants. These educational and entertaining evenings were well attended.  Keep posted on the dates by calling or checking our social media sites.            

At some point, before the Spring baby season begins, we need to replace our animal infirmary room floor. This room is our examination and intake room for new patients, a nursery for youngsters, as well as critical care unit for those with serious injuries. The floor is giving out from the heavy traffic. A crowdfunding site page has been established on GoFundMe. You can also submit a donation with the memo note for floor replacement. 

We will again pursue to hire interns to assist us during the busy Spring/Summer season – April/May through September. We hope to again find candidates that are willing to learn and be taught, able to live without cell phone or high speed internet and remain courteous despite long hours. Applications will be available on the website.  The 2015 interns completed an exit questionnaire. The results were 1) there is a great deal to learn and 2) the wish that the lead wildlife caregiver was more available. As you are aware, the lead caregiver has been affiliated with AHWF since day one, but has to supplement her income with several part time paying jobs. The quick solution would be to provide a cell phone with frontier phone service (they seem to be the most reliable of all the carriers for the Clark Fork region). The long term solution would be to raise sufficient funds and offer a seasonal part time position to allow side by side training.     

We will again join other Idaho Nonprofits for the IDAHOGIVES one day online day of giving. Each May all these charities come together in one place through Idaho Nonprofit Development Corporation to ask their communities to support their mission. Each year we have received generous support from those both near and far.

We applied for a grant to assist the creation of a meandering Nature Walk through the diverse habitat on the leased AHWF property. We did pass the first round of reviews but unfortunately did not make the final round. This could be a wonderful community service project for those able bodies willing to use rakes and shovels to level out the land, carry buckets of bark and mulch, pack wood beams to line the trail, paint signage, etc. Our hope for this trail is not only to offer hands on approach to outdoor education. Once completed, we would encourage school groups, seniors, and all others to schedule appointments and meet with one of our trained guides. We want everyone to get out and explore a sample of North Idaho wilderness in a safe and informative setting. We anticipated this type of educational opportunity could provide a stable means of revenue for AHWF. If you want to help us make this happen give us a call.          

We were not able to take advantage of the generous offer from the Bird of Prey NW founder. She offered to teach topics involving restraint, diagnosis of trauma & medical care for wing breaks so that we may improve our care of these valuable species. The time was simply not available. The mission of St. Maries based nonprofit is to provide education with and rehabilitation for injured raptors. Our newly completed 24 foot by 32 foot aviary will allow AHWF to offer our assistance to BoPNW and provide care for many of the raptor species in North Idaho.    

There will be two Scenic Highway 200 clean-up projects, traditionally April and October. We will also schedule two in-house clean-up projects – the spring spruce up and fall inventory days. With the exception of one year we have attended the annual celebration in Clark Fork on July 4^th for the past 15 years. We have attended the December Craft Fair in the Bonner Mall for the past several years. This is wonderful time to introduce our important mission and offer unique gift options.

Future plans for American Heritage Wildlife Foundation is continuing to expand our ability to care for all North Idaho wildlife species. The state of Idaho has granted permission for AHWF to construct and then receive a large game mammal rehabilitation permit. This means that all the calls relating to orphaned bear cubs or cougars can be immediately responded to. Idaho Black Bear Rehab in the Boise area has offered to assist in any way they can.           

American Heritage Wildlife Foundation is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization and all donations may be tax deductible. We are also an Idaho Nonprofit Incorporation; this does not however provide financial relief in any form. We are a member of the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association and the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council. AHWF holds permits from the USFWS migratory bird department and Idaho State Fish and Game. The one acre we lease is a certified wildlife habitat. We are 100 % volunteer.       

                                                                            completed 28 December 2015 by K. St. Clair – McGee