One of the first conversations Abigail and I had when I came to Chinook Horses was about telling our story. At the time, I was naïvely thinking we were talking about grant writing and telling our stories through profound moments in the arena between client and horse. After completing my first three months of VISTA service, I was inspired to tell our story through our finances and the fundraisers we do throughout the year. I began to embrace this Social Distancing time to analyze the use of donation dollars to tell our story. Now, now, I know eyes start to glaze over when you even use words like accounting, finance…but bear with me. These programs come to life as a result of your financial support. How we design and fund the programs is the way we deliver on our promises to our clients and commitments to you, our donors, something we take very seriously. Chinook Horses’ places our mission, to provide opportunities for individuals and families to engage, learn and thrive outside of the classroom and traditional therapeutic environments by practicing equine assisted activities, based on need not ability to pay, at the center of every decision we make. However, we are deeply committed to making the best use of your donated dollars by constantly evaluating the cost effectiveness of each of our programs.
We look to the future of Chinook Horses with great hope. We have a calm sense of gratitude. Our growth will come organically and although we continue to strategize grants and diversify financial streams, with COVID19, our services have come to a halt with the rest of the world. I want to share our financial situation with you. Because of our blessed relationship with White Aspen Ranch, if we don’t do sessions, we have few overhead costs. This scenario allows us to be sustainable. This sustainability reflects our ability to be resilient. At Chinook Horses we believe there will be pent up demand for our services. Unlike other mental health and special education services, we have healing components not available in Zoom meetings, offices or classrooms. We have horses, sunshine and nature! We don’t want to have to turn anyone away because we don’t have funds. We ask that you continue to believe in and fund our mission because funding the future is how we will get through this, together.
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