as to finances - prior to this current month, we were running about $2k per month behind in donations, and $6k per month higher in expenses. These amts are vs 2009. Sent from my Peek - Pam ------------------------------------- Michelle Yesney wrote: I'll take a stab at the answers and others can correct/modify/supplement my answers. My answers are in blue. On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 8:36 PM, Elizabeth Y wrote:

I've left a VM for the reporter. Along with talking about the ban, I'd like to share how Mickaboo is constantly having to struggle to raise all the money and recruit all the volunteers it takes to do this work.

A couple of assumptions/questions I'd appreciate having info on-

-Our income is holding steady but expenses are going up- true? Or are donations down? I believe the donations are holding steady and expenses are going up.

-Our volunteer involvement is holding steady or growing- true? Or are we seeing any downward trend? I don't think we track "volunteer" participation as such. I don't know if our numbers of incoming adoptins are holding steady.

-How many volunteers do we have? (Including those active this year, let's say.) I'm not sure how we would count an "active" volunteer. Any ideas?

-How many foster homes do we currently have fostering the ~350 birds? don't know yet

-What is our 'recidivism' rate for returned birds? (to date, I know it's increasing) Again, we don't track this, and any birds returned are usually from several years ago. We allow a 30-day-return (with refund) when a bird just isn't a good fit in a household, and the adopter can choose another bird until he finds one that works in his household/flock. If we look at the hundreds (thousands now?) of birds we have adopted out, I would estimate the recidivism rate as 1-2%.

Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.

Elizabeth Y www.RescueReport.org