It’s been a bit since I’ve posted, so it’s time to catch everyone up. We just sent our a Holiday email to all our donors thanking them for their support. We also got a new donor this week which always makes us smile. The big news is: we received notice from the El Paso Community Foundation that they are partially funding our grant submission, “Mandarin’s Toolbox”. We submitted the application last July and had requested assistance for about four major project areas. This was one of our first ever grant requests and, I think we were overly ambitious. We had asked for help in the following areas:
| Name | Estimated Cost |
| Infrastructure | $2,740 |
| Emergency Care | $3,000 |
| Grant Software | $2,000 |
| Ad Campaign | $1,000 |
| Total | $8,740 |
The infrastructure request was for new cat trees, littler boxes and a couple of cabinets to store all the towels and blankets we use to care for the cats. Emergency care was for help in vet bills for newly arrived kitties with serious problems like Toby, Stella, Cooper and Glen. The grant software request was to acquire a subscription to one of the software firms like Instrumentl or Foundation Directory. This request is now not necessary as we recently were given free access to Foundation Directory Essentials. The software allows us to search for possible grants to help the kitties. The last item on our request was some seed money to run a small ad campaign which would have included business cards, flyers to be posted at vets and other locations plus a small number of giveaway items.
We don’t yet know how we can use the $2,000. The grant paperwork will be released to us on the 29th and then we can make some plans. If the grant is unrestricted, the we’ll procure at least one new storage cabinet and one new WLO cat tree or similar quality goodie. The rest of the funds would then be allocated where the need is greater — and as always vet bills need to be paid. If the funds are for one specific line item of our request, then the funds will go entirely for that item.
So stay tuned and next week will provide us a clear picture on how we’ll be able to use the grant funds. No matter how the money is allocated, we want to heartily thank the El Paso Community Foundation for their confidence in us and their support for the well being of all Mandarin’s Retreat furballs.
