craigdailypress.com

lostyermarbles (Anonymous) says…

I think if you rethink how you do the calender you could make more money. It is all about “buddy favorites” and I counted how many of employee's pet's in there instead of contestents. Favorites doesn't always make for a good pet calender. How many black labs and other “just dog pictures” makes a good interesting calender?? I know everyone's pet is the best pet. So is mine I think but I think maybe employee's may not be allowed or get another kind of voting, it doesn't seem fair to the guy with a really good picture but not enough “friends” to put $$$ in your jar. And I am curious, is the meeting at the cavvy out of the pet's fund's??? Because if it is why can't you conduct it without their money?? Just wondering..

bearscout (Anonymous) says…

lostyermarbles - I am going to try to respond to your post because I know there are many people in the community that feel the same way that you do about the HSMC calendar voting procedures. I have helped put the calendar together for the last two years. In 2008, initial voting change from the vet clinics to 4 of our supporting businesses. After the photos have been narrowed to the top 24 we present the photos at various public venues for public voting. This usually generates about $900 which is used to print the calendars. The calendar is created by one of our members on her home computer so that we do not have to pay a professional graphic artist. With this in mind, I think the end product is pretty good! The HSMC does not have employees, we are all volunteers. This year two of the winning photos belong to HSMC members, January and May. You make a good point, so I think in the future we should prohibit our members from entering the contest. Every year our group debates about whether or not to produce the calendar and how we could do thing differently. I have asked other humane organizations how they produce their calendars. They all have tremendous financial support in their communities (one charged $250 to sponsor a page), they charge the public to enter the contest, and they charge over double what we do for our calendar. We would consider any ideas you or anyone else has that would produce a better calendar that people in our community feel is fairly created. I would also be willing to show you all of the photos that were entered last year so that you could judge whether or not deserving photos did not make the cut.
Our meetings at the Cavvy are open to the public and we would love to have new members to help with fundraising projects like the calendar and to provide fresh ideas. The Cavvy does not charge us to use their space and all meals are paid for by the individuals in attendance. We extend a monthly thank you to the Cavvy so that the community knows that they support us by providing the meeting room, nothing further.
I am the Treasurer of the HSMC and would open our finances to you or anyone else to examine. We take the public trust very seriously and assure you that money is not spent on anything but public education, supplies for the shelter animals, our transfer program and assisting people in our community in times of need. Many of our members spend their own money to tranport animals, purchase supplies, make copies, buy food etc. I only mention this because I want the community to know that our members are very dedicated and honest people. We try hard, but understand there is always room for improvement.
Carol Scott
P.O. Box 1587
Craig, CO 81626

lonelyone (Anonymous) says…

I'd love to enter our dogs, but they won't hold still long enough for a good picture! lol
I also think you'd lose interest if you charged people to enter the contest, if you want to call it that. If I had to pay then I would expect my dogs to be in the calander and if others felt the same way, well that could be a problem. So I kind of think the way your doing it works out pretty good for our area. You might need a few new ideas, it never hurts to get them, but I have none, so I will not try to give you any!

lostyermarbles (Anonymous) says…

Bearscout, Thanks for all the info on the Society. However I should of never wrote any suggestion. I didn't need to come under attack for it. As far as the two calender pages,on the back there were numerous “volunteers” pet's I noticed, however now I don't really care as I don't need to be proved too or be under attack for a comment that is noticed by many I just happen to be the one to bring it up. I just asked a simple question about the meetings, I am not the IRS. I wish you all well on the calender for the pet's. Hope a grand idea appears for ya. No further explaination needed here! Sorry I asked.

bearscout (Anonymous) says…

lostyermarbles - I really didn't mean to attack you with my post…and I didn't feel attacked by your post. I just felt like the contest needed to be explained - not just to you - but to anyone that has ever wondered why we do it the way we do. I really am serious about taking constructive criticism and suggestions regarding any of the activities that the HSMC is involved in. We are volunteers and not experts in fundraising, publicity, etc. I know there are people in our community that have lots of experience running a non-profit and we welcome any guidance. I got involved because I love animals and thought I could help in some way. Anyway, thanks for the support. Carol

lostyermarbles (Anonymous) says…

And in my statement I mentioned black labs and one of the 2 in the calender was yours . so I guess I hit a nerve on that. should of reworded it didn't know you would be the one to see my suggestion.