CEO Update - Contract Negotiations
We are currently working with peers and partners across the country to try and make sense of the City and County's requests for line-item finances. We have concerns that providing those documents will result in their micromanaging our expenditures, vendor relationships, payroll, etc. There is also concern that those line-item details will aid the City in preparing their plans for their own facility.
Even so, in the interest of pursuing the best possible care with the best possible outcomes for the animals of Cheyenne and Laramie County, we are continuing to work through a way to handle this request.
As of this update, we have reduced the amount of money we are requesting, have offered a multi-year contract at that fixed rate, and have made it clear we are willing to consider a reasonable counter-offer. We are prepared to establish agreed-upon reporting and to work toward a better relationship overall. Our hope is that we will receive communication in response to those gestures by the end of this week.
The Shelter maintains that we are best prepared to provide the necessary facilities, expertise, care, and outcomes this community has grown accustomed to expecting and supporting.
We also wanted to use this update to help answer some of the questions we’ve been receiving:
Will the Cheyenne Animal Shelter close without these contracts?
The most common question we’ve received from supporters is what will become of the Shelter if these contracts are not granted. Our answer – we’re not going anywhere and intend to serve the pets and people of this community for many years to come. The contracts provide for about 37% of our total annual revenue right now, but we have already begun reinvesting in our fundraising programs and evaluating the cost/benefit of each of the existing programs. Our goal has always been to increase our total revenue-to-contract ratio and we are already making great progress toward this goal. We have generous philanthropic support from our community and some revenue-generating programs and services. While the services may change, the mission would remain alive.
What about financial transparency?
As a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, the Cheyenne Animal Shelter is legally required to make its annual tax filings public. Nonprofit tax filings detail revenue, expenses, major initiatives, organizational changes, board members, executive staff salaries, and more. They are a vehicle for transparency. These documents have always been available to the public via several well-known websites. Those websites are maintained by independent third parties who use the information to rate the Shelter and other nonprofit organizations on transparency. The Shelter has been awarded a Platinum seal for transparency, which is the highest rating available. You can see that profile here. Our filing for fiscal year 2022 is not yet finalized.
These questions of transparency have revealed to us ways to improve. While we maintain that transparency itself is not the issue, we do now realize that our reporting has lacked consistency and sophistication. When we launched our new website last summer, we made a space for these financial documents on it, but neglected to actually populate the page with the docs. That has been resolved and you can now find our 990s plus our financial audits here. Furthermore, under new leadership, our approach to annual reports has also changed and you can expect to see annual financial data in those reports. They will generally come out in August, following the end of our fiscal year. You can have notice of the delivery of those reports sent directly to your email by signing up for our e-newsletter via our homepage. Once produced, they will be permanently available on the website as well.
How can we help?
We are so grateful to those who have reached out in support of the Cheyenne Animal Shelter to ask how they can help. The best way is to continue reaching out to your city elected officials and county commissioners to share your thoughts and ask for continued negotiations. Share your stories, share your concerns, and help us inform our community. While the initial sentiment of conversations on all sides has been abrasive and very emotional, we ask that you help in spreading compassion and concern instead.
