Everyday, the team at Unity Farm Sanctuary works toward improving the lives of our rescues. You might think of it as “the examined life”, where we look at both the individuals here and broader view, across our policies and procedures.
Every year the executive team and the board approve the UFS budget plan for the year ahead, so that we can be fiscally responsible.
Several years back, we discovered we could not properly care for the bovines (vaccines and exams) without our Arrowquip bovine squeeze chute to safely secure them for the veterinarian and for us. We focus on animal care budgets such as feed, veterinary, the Humane Education Director, animal caregiving staff and the Shelter Manager, and also the obvious such as vehicle maintenance, power costs, and property maintenance. We must do fundraising, the core of any not-for-profit 501(c)(3) but do not have a professional fundraiser on staff at the moment. The founders do not have a salary, but years away, we know there will need to be an executive director on payroll. Budgets evolve, but they help guide us to the number of rescues accepted, and programs held onsite.
Trust is earned with our public certified audited tax return 990’s. (did you know you can find the status of any non-profit and their posted 990’s right on the IRS?) Organizations with tax deductible donation ability are found there.
You can also research your not-for-profit organization ratings by going to websites such as Charity Navigator, Candid, and Great Nonprofits. Everyone wants their donations to go where they will do the most good for the cause and mission that matters to them.
We also do grantwriting, and that effort increases every year. We have worked hard to receive the Felicia Rose Grant, Aegon Transamerica, Binky Foundation, Vegfund, Mass Cultural Council, and the Middlesex Charitable Foundation Grant. More grants are applied for as well but they are highly competitive and are time consuming to craft.
We work hard to budget well and not do specialty project fundraising very often. We will choose to do a special fundraiser if there is a specific rescue animal to help, like the huge hospital bill for Hamish, or a few years ago for Dory and her new knee. We did not do a special fundraiser for Star Donkey last summer, but so many of our generous donors still donated directly in her honor at that time.
We take a break from fundraisers in August and instead do an awareness campaign with something fun for families during the summer. This summer it is a nature scavenger hunt!
This fall we will be asking for our supporters' help in several ways. We have our annual autumn Hay for Days fundraiser and then close up the year with Giving Tuesday and a final end-of-year giving fundraiser. Starting off September we have a very special fundraiser coming up for our amazing farm pigs. Just as we needed the Arrowquip bovine squeeze chute for the bovines, we truly need a Feet First lift for the large pigs and the Kune Kune so that we can better provide hoof care vaccinations and veterinary work right here onsite. This is not an ‘impulse buy’, we have been researching this for almost three years.
We welcome questions about our Sanctuary and our transparency, and our future. Reach out to us anytime, it is our pleasure to meet you all and talk about what matters to us; the saving of lives and the expanding of kindness and compassion.
