Project Proposal

Group Number:

Team Name:

Raise the Woof

Liaison:

Patrick

Recorder:

Erianne

Historian:

Nick

Treasurer 1:

Betty

Treasurer 2:

Dasia

7th Team Member & Role:

Zoe – Misc

Webmaster:

Tim

What platform will you use:

Wix - https://timborchardt.wixsite.com/raisethewoof

Team Rules:

Text back in the group chat to keep other group members updated on the project.
Do not miss a meeting unless absolutely necessary. If it is needed to miss a meeting then give the group prior notice one day in advance.
Do not be late. If someone is later than 10 minutes after the meeting has started, they are required to bring something into the next meeting.
Be positive and respectful towards all group members.
If a conflict presents itself, address it in a civil manner the first time it occurs.
Do your share of the work on time and perform to your best abilities. Make sure you are completing all that is required of your job’s responsibilities.
Be open-minded to other’s comments and suggestions.
Group decisions should be put to a vote and the majority rules.
Come to each group meeting prepared and ready to work.
Rules listed are subject to change and the group can add more if they feel it is needed.

Organizations in Preference:

1. Wishbone Canine Rescue

2. Home Sweet Home

3. Shopping with Denise

4. Baby Fold Festival of Trees

5. Operation Santa

6. Boys and Girls Club

Present, in your own words, an overview of your first choice organization - who is the community they serve and what services do they provide? (300-500 words. DO NOT copy paste directly from their site):

The number one organization that our group would like to work with is WishBone Canine Rescue (WBCR). They serve in the Bloomington, Illinois area and provide multiple services for dogs. According to the WishBone website, their mission is based on a no kill policy, which entails that all healthy and treatable homeless animals have the right to live. They will not turn away any breed unless absolutely necessary. Necessary circumstances include animals who are too sick, suffering through injury which cannot be rehabilitated, or too vicious behavior wise to be rehabilitated as well; in which case they will be euthanized. WishBone Canine Rescue works with people in their community to rescue, provide care for, and relocate dogs. They even have a program where they work with low-income families or families struggling financially to provide assistance with pet care (vaccinations, yearly check ups, etc.), pet supplies, and pet food; when supplies is available! Some other programs (or volunteer opportunities) that WishBone Canine Rescue has are:

Being apart of the application process for adoption
Working adoption events
Transporting the dogs to and from places (including vet sessions, adoption events, etc.)
Website creation and marketing (PetFinder profile, updating WBCR website, putting WBCR name out there in the community)
Grant writing team members

Just to name a few opportunities available. More volunteer opportunities can be found on WishBone’s website under the get involved tab. Besides volunteer opportunities, WishBone Canine Rescue provides adoption services to the community. The adoption services can also be found on the website, with tabs that contain information on the adoption process, policy, and application, McClean County Animal Control, and rehoming pets. Ultimately, WishBone Canine Rescue strives to save as many dogs as possible, while providing people with the necessary information.

Address a problem or social issue your first choice organization deals with. Where do they need help? Here you will probably need to do some research to help explain the issue (make sure you cite your sources). This should be about 500-700 words:

One problem and issue that WishBone Canine Rescue deals with is paying for supplies, or providing certain resources for the animals that they help. Not only does the website list supplies that would be appreciated for donation for the animals, but they also have supplies that are needed for the company’s office and miscellaneous items. With the company being known for helping animals specifically, a lot of the public’s donations are supplies to help the animals only. WishBone also is in need of things like “Business Envelopes, Legal pads, Post-it Notes, and Manilla folders” to name a few from their Wish List. WishBone has donations in monetary form, as well as physical items, but people often forget to help the organization as well. The company needs other donations and resources to help them run their office, finalize paperwork for dogs, and keep all business work in order. You can find out more information about items that are needed as listed on their website under their Wish List: http://www.wishbonecaninerescue.org/wish-list.html

WishBone can use help with a variety of tasks regarding the services they provide. Some of the tasks that they ask volunteers to do involve editing their website online. This includes writing bios for the dogs that they have at the shelter, updating the events and pictures on the website, and reviewing applications and scheduling visits with people interested in adopting an animal. WishBone also needs help with more hands on tasks regarding the animals and the shelter itself. These tasks include walking dogs, bathing and grooming the animals, and helping with various maintenance projects around the shelter. All information regarding the help that WishBone needs can be found on their website under the Volunteer Opportunities page: http://www.wishbonecaninerescue.org/volunteer-opportunities.html

Wishbone Canine Rescue is a small organization that strives to do big things. Along with that then comes large financial needs. One of the main problems we believe Wishbone needs the most is more funds. Wishbone every year brings in ranging from 600-900 dogs or more. Keep in mind that these dogs are not all in perfect health conditions. With that being said rescuing, providing homes, managing and caring for that many dogs takes a lot of money to pull resources, and supply the animals with what they need. This also incorporates any veterinary needs as well to make sure the dogs are as healthy as can be.

Other funds may include money to keep the online site running, money to advertise, money to set up fundraisers and events, and so much more. Wishbone also provides a program to help families with low income. Wishbone according to the main site states, “[They] Help families suffering from financial hardship keep pets in their homes by providing temporary assistance with pet food, supplies, and vaccinations. We do this as supplies and resources allow.” The organization can only help as far as the amount of resources they are provided. This shows that in order to help these families and their pet there needs to be large funds in order for the organization to provide these families with the resources and supplies they need.

Donations are also an important contribution to the organization. If Wishbone does not get enough donations, being a nonprofit organization, they would not have enough money to provide to all the dogs in need. A great statement we found from the wishbone main page covers the general usefulness and need for donations, it states, “Your donation enables us to first save a pet from euthanasia, but then your donation really goes to work! If the animal is sick, they are under our veterinary professional’s care and will receive all the needs to get well. If the animal need behavior training, we first have them assessed by our trainer and then they are go through behavior academy with behavior team until they are ready to be adopted. All of our dogs searching for loving homes need to be spayed or neutered - the key to reducing the number of unwanted pets! Of course, there is food to buy and the old chewy toy! Wish Bone Rescue depends on its supporters! Without you, we could not save the lives of our area's homeless dogs.” As you can see the organization is doing what it does today because of the donations and if they do not get enough donations each year that means what was stated above cannot be achieved, and not all of the animals and families can be helped which is a big problem, since this organization's goal is to provide these forms of care for the animals and families in need.

What would your team like to do to help combat this problem / issue? Here is where you connect your plan to fulfilling a need of the organization.

Help fundraise to provide for the animals or donate supplies that the organization is in need of. To fundraise money or supplies, we can do bake sales or even dog supply/office supply drives. The monetary donation of the supplies that we buy or are donated can be counted towards our Primary Goal. In order to gain more money for funds, one more problem we need to address is how to raise funds by getting more volunteers and donations. Since Wishbone is a nonprofit organization they rely a lot on volunteer involvement. “Wish Bone Canine Rescue could not exist without volunteers. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on the assistance of caring and hard-working volunteers in all our programs.” They have so many programs to aid dogs and families that volunteer increases are a necessity to lowering the funds needed to keep the organization running efficiently.

What are your three SMART goals? (First goal is $100/person x # of people in your group. The other two are up to you).

Primary - $100 per person. It can be in the form of dog walking hours or by fundraising supplies, donations, etc.

SMART Goal – By the end of the project due date, we would like to have attended at least one WishBone event.

SMART Goal – By the third week, we will have contacted WishBone, have the website set up, submitted minutes, and have taken pictures with our group.

What is your plan for achieving these goals?

Our plan for achieving these goals includes showing up to meetings prepared, getting in contact with our organization, finding the lists of events we can help volunteer at and choosing one, as well as committing to dog walking or fundraising for supplies.

What is your rough timeline for achieving these goals?

Sept 29th - Submit Proposal
Oct 6th - Get in contact with WishBone and find out what volunteer opportunities need the most help. Submit an online application to become a Volunteer.
Oct 7th - Attend Volunteer Orientation (12:30pm-1:30pm)
Oct 8th - Attend Adoption Event and T-Shirt Printing (12pm-3pm)
Oct 19th - Attend Volunteer Orientation (5:30pm-6:30pm)
Oct 28th - Attend 3rd annual 5K-9 Walk/Run and Adoption Event (9am-12pm)
Oct 30th - Attend WBCR Food Fundraiser at Portillo's (5pm-8pm)
Nov 10th - Submit our Project Early

What potential problems do you anticipate?

Problems that we anticipate with our plans include availability problems with each group member's schedule, or procrastination to attend an event (one of our SMART goals), or volunteer to reach our primary goal and SMART goals.

For fundraising, we may have problems collecting donations for the dogs, or monetary donations in general. Another fundraising problem that our group might encounter would be not having enough people show up to the fundraiser that we decide to have for WishBone.

Another potential problem that our group can anticipate is not receiving WishBone as our organization to work with during the semester. If this occurs, we will have to rethink our proposal.

What is your fallback plan? What is your “point of no return” date for implementing the fallback plan? (ex: “if we have not achieved 50% of our goal by midterm, we will switch to Plan B.”).

Our fallback plan is to reevaluate our work ethic and see if we are using our meeting time wisely. If necessary, we will meet outside of the designated Thursday meeting time to complete this fallback plan.

If we have not completed two of our goals by October 12th, then we will have to push our Submission back to the regular time, as well as reevaluate what work we are getting done in our meetings and how effective our time is being used. If we feel we cannot meet our goals at all, then we will have to create or edit our expectations and goals for the group to make sure that they are manageable and can be completed by the end of the semester.

Please list any team members who did NOT participate in creating your project proposal, or contributed very little. A quick explanation of what they did/didn't do would be helpful. This isn't to get anyone in trouble but to verify that everyone in the group has had a chance to comment on the plan you're turning in (and if they didn't, why not).

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