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| Volunteer Camie Kirkevold works with a cat named Kiki on Wednesday at the Longmont Humane Society. (Matthew Jonas/Times-Call) |
According to
The Longmont Humane Society they have reached their Phase 1 goal of their "Now and Forever" Campaign. They avoided foreclosure! They were able to make their November payment of $772,227.68 "because of the generous support of our friends and donors in Longmont."
They did it "after cashing in its investments," director Liz Smokowski told the Longmont
Times Call. The investments netted $363,118, which combined with $526,932 in donations exceeded the amount needed for this year's payment.
The shelter's Board members have worked diligently to "improve and augment" their operating finances which the Longmont Humane Society has been concerned about for several years. Over the past two years, Longmont Humane Society changed leadership in order to take a new direction and respond to the urgency of their financial situation. As a result, they have raised animal adoption prices, reduced staffing costs and marketing expenditures, increased the number of volunteer positions, and boosted their fundraising efforts. "Longmont Humane Society has achieved a combined positive cash flow from operating and investing activities over the past two years." They say their cash drain "is related to financing of the construction project and the related bond offering that was taken."Without their principal and interest payments, Longmont Humane Society would be wholly sustainable.
The Longmont Humane Society will still need to raise the final $2.4 million even after this payment. Liz Smokowski, hired in 2011 by the Longmont Humane Society, told the
Times Call the shelter is "still seeking donations to cover the payment because cashing in the investments drained all of the its savings." Their operating expenses are now compromised and they have no reserves.
The fundraising campaign is titled, "The Longmont Humane Society: Serving the Community Now and Forever." Focused on the November payment until now, they now seek "to raise $3.1 million to pay off the remaining loan amount by the fall of 2014." Next year's loan payment is also $772,000, so they are far from out of the woods. Phase 2 of their campaign is to raise $2.4 million by the end of 2014.
