Independent Cat Society - Westville, IN

2015 Year-end Report Infographic

As always, thanks to our hardworking volunteers, employees, and supporters. Without you, our work would not be possible. This document summarizes some of the activities that ICS has been involved with over the course of 2015. Our accomplishments this year include:

Shelter Improvement

Continued work on determining new building potential for the shelter, including extensive research and development of a four-phase plan that includes a reception/office addition to the western front end of the shelter building; a complete rehabilitation of the “Gift Shop” building to turn it into a proper isolation area for sick and injured cats; an addition to the north end of the larger shelter building that would include windowed “runs” for cats and a possible “catfé” meeting place for visitors; and finally, a clinic space for examinations and spay/neuter surgeries on-site. Special thanks to Roberta Jocius for her leadership in this effort.
Received an award of over 20,000 cases of wet cat food through a generous donation from Purina. This donation has gone a long way in feeding our cats throughout 2015, and has saved us approximately $10,000 on food costs this year.

Adoptions and Sponsorships

Number of cats currently sheltered or fostered by ICS to date: 219
2015 Adoptions: 297 (a record-breaking year compared to 222 adoptions in 2014 – an increase of almost 25%)
Implementation of extended adoption hours and adoption pricing specials during certain times to year to coincide with Best Friends events and to increase adoptions in general. These events have resulted in a notable increase in adoptions as compared to 2013, especially in the summer months.
Sponsor a Cat program earned: $30,824
Foster program includes 24 cats with special needs, and an additional 15 in temporary foster care.
Trap-Neuter-Release program continues to perform well, and this year ICS has been able to spay/neuter over 500 pets in the LaPorte and Porter County communities.

Finances and Grants

Grants from the Unity Foundation ($1694), Bissell Foundation ($5000), John W. Anderson Foundation ($2000), Porter County Community Foundation ($2500), and Banfield Community Trust ($6000) have been attained for helping people and pets in our community.
Primary yearly expenses:

Medical expenses for 2015: $57,163.15
Cat food and litter expenses for 2015: $28,730.45
Building maintenance expenses for 2015: $10826

Membership funds raised this year from individuals and families becoming ICS members: $15,890
Individual and corporate contributions: $57,710.45
A grant for the iPet Companion webcam, a new way of meeting and interacting with our shelter cats via the Internet.
A more formal budget was implemented this year for each committee to follow, developed under the guidance of Treasurer Natalie Cebulski. The budget has been an excellent tool in helping each committee understand how much money it should spend on a quarterly basis, and how much needs to be raised to support all of the different functions of our organization.

Outreach and Fundraising

As you might know, our income comes primarily from donations and from our many events throughout the year. Some of our most important fundraisers have raised the following this year:

Sweetheart Contest: $6757.75
Book Sale: $4732.85 (our best one ever!)
Yard Sale (spring and fall): $8118.00
Black Cat Boogie Fundraising Dinner: $7933.92
Calendar Fundraiser: $1862.30
Open House (Summer and Holiday): $6916.75

The ICS website was overhauled and updated in December, and now features a more modern look. The online adoption and volunteer applications continue to be useful and popular ways for potential adopters and volunteers to reach out to ICS.
Held an educational event at Purdue North Central featuring Dr. Linda Harper, well-known clinical psychologist and speaker at multiple Best Friends Annual Conferences. Dr. Harper provided copies of her book, The Power of Joy in Working with Animals, and discussed how to deal with the stress and difficulty in helping animals (and people) in need, providing strategies and support to over 20 audience members.
ICS volunteers also gained additional revenue ($1900) for ICS with the help of PNC by offering Grant Writing Workshops to the community. Over 30 community members learned about how to tell their stories and find the best grants to support their non-profit programs in 2015.

Volunteers and Committees

Our volunteers – over 100 of them – have contributed more than 15,273 hours of their time and talents in 2015.
Several new committee chairs joined us in 2015, including the chairs of the Foster program, the PR committee, and the Health and Wellness committee. These committees also saw several new members, and we welcomed five new adoption counselors.

As always, the work does not end there, however. There is still more yet to be done, and in 2016, we would like to work toward:

Increasing adoptions by continuing to work on expanding adoption hours and improving adoption processes.
Increasing public awareness of ICS efforts through continuing to work in the community and attend marketing and fundraising events.
Work with Purdue North Central and Purdue University Northwest (in July 2016) to establish a more diverse range of courses and workshops to be offered to the public.
Maintain and continue to improve the TNR program to ensure that cats in the community are spayed and neutered to reduce unwanted pet overpopulation.
Explore additional grant opportunities in order to help ICS increase its ability to help people in the community, adopt more animals, move forward with our plans for a better shelter facility, and hire a Shelter Director to oversee operations.