SPEAKER_01 0:00

I'm always out in the community. I'll I'll go anywhere to talk to anyone.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

All right, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Connections That Matter. Our guest today is Cliff Cullen, who is the executive director from the Longmont Humane Society. If you're not familiar with the Longmont Humane Society, it's a pretty big deal. They've won a lot of awards. And uh, Cliff, I recently toured your facility. It was really cool to see the scope and uh the size of everything that you take care of on a day-to-day basis.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Yeah, yeah, it's about a 58,000 square foot building, and uh we care for about 4,000 animals per year.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Wow. So uh when you say care for animals, uh, you know, I mean some people have an idea of what a humane society is, but uh when I toured, you guys do a lot more than what I I guess originally thought that you do. So share a little bit more about that.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Yeah, so um, like I said, it's about 4,000 animals per year. That includes cats, dogs, and small mammals, which can be anything from rabbits to guinea pigs, rats, mice. Um, and uh the only small mammal we don't take is ferrets because the space that we have is uh, you know, ferrets are predators and they freak out all the other small mammals, so we can't have them in the same space. Um but when animals come to us, uh, they go through um all of their medical needs. Um so we will microchip, um spay neuter, um, and vaccinate every single animal that comes through, no exceptions. Um, and then we can also care for a lot more of their medical needs, including up to surgeries, cancer treatments, all kinds of stuff. Um, and then we have a nationally recognized behavior team that cares for dogs that maybe need a little more work. Um we have uh we actually have a two-year waiting list for those dogs for shelters who around the nation who can't care for them. We will take them and care for them. And so because of that, we actually have a 98% save rate. So 98% of the animals that enter our facility um leave to a home. And what uh what's like an industry average? Uh I believe in the US, across every single state, the average is 85%. Wow. Um, Colorado is hovering right around 90. Um, if you hear the term no-kill a lot, um, no-kill numbers are above 90%. Um so that's that's kind of the the industry standard. I think Colorado was at 89% last I checked. It's really close. Um, but we're quite a bit above.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

98% is yeah, significantly above. Well, congratulations on that. Um how do you uh how do you pull it all off? Because you have uh what a hundred employees and 400 volunteers, like um, and you know, you're you're the the executive director at the top. So tell me about that. Talk to me about that.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Yeah, so it's I mean, it is there are constant moving parts. Um, there's a million things you kind of never really know what each day is going to bring because you're dealing with with animals. Yes, uh, you know, an animal could get sick or they could have extra needs. Um, so it really takes a team of dedicated staff and volunteers. We could not do what we do without our volunteers. Um, like like you mentioned, there's 400 of them. I mean, last time we counted up, which is a couple of years ago, we're gonna do this number again. Uh volunteers accounted for like 22 paid positions, which is just an incredible amount of budget that we're saving and work that they're providing for us because they happen to love animals. And so every single person who works there, who's paid to be there, also loves animals. They are there because they really deal with a lot of hard work. I mean, the first thing you have to do when you go in in the mornings is clean up every kennel. Um, you clean up after your own animals. Yeah. Uh imagine that times 200, 250. That's how many animals we might have on site at any one time. And um, it's just it's a lot of work. It's not easy. Um, and but we have people who are really committed to it. Um, and it just it takes a village. Um then we um, but every single person that's there really loves the work that we do and they really care about the animals.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Well, and one thing I see you do, Cliff, is you're out networking, you're out building relationships. I mean, there's a lot of local businesses that are sponsoring your events or uh sponsoring different animals or uh different things there. So how do you um you know walk me through the the sponsorship process? What do you do to attract sponsors or to create that community engagement?

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Yeah, absolutely. That's a that's a great question because um we are a nonprofit. Um, we're a private nonprofit. We actually are not connected with um the Humane Society of the United States. That's primarily prime primarily a lobbying organization. They don't actually directly care for animals. Um, so we're our own private thing. We don't have government support, we do have a contract with the local city to take in strays. Um, but um, as far as our support goes, 50% of our revenue is paid for by donations. Um so that is pure and simple where all that comes from. Um adoption fees really only cover about 10% of what it costs to care for all of the animals. Um, it's a really small amount. And so 50% comes from donations that includes sponsorships. So that includes partnerships with local businesses. Um, we're trying to build that up even more. That can be um an even higher number, but uh it's um we offer sponsorships of events where we actually will market for local businesses in exchange for support of those events. So we we are really happy to put a business name all over whatever we can think of. Um, you know, we host Longmont's Oktoberfest in the fall. Um, we'll put people's names on the stage, um, you know, depending on what level they support at. Um so I'm out there meeting with people, talking with them. We have a golf tournament coming up in July. We have several businesses that are joining and being a part of that. And they'll have like a whole team from their business come together and um spend the day on the golf course. Um, so it's a nice outing for them. And then it's also supportive of us because that money goes right back to the animals.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

Cool. Well, and it sounds very like a win-win situation where they get a, you know, donate to a cause that they believe in, but also you you've built quite an audience uh with just your traffic or what you do in Longmont to be able to showcase that um on your platforms. How do you set that up? Like I guess walk me through it if somebody wants to sponsor an event or get involved some way. Um, how do you set up that reciprocity?

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Yeah. Yeah. So we have um different levels of sponsorship that are available, starting usually at about $250. So it's kind of available for businesses of any size, all the way up to, of course, you know, $5,000, $7,500, $10,000. Um, you know, we'll never say no to a $10,000 gift. Um but um and it's um there's different benefits that go along with each level. Um, so like for instance, in our um for our gala back in February, um, our $5,000 sponsorship, we did, we partnered with a local brewery and did a brewer for a day for that $5,000 sponsor where they came in and actually brewed the beer that we served at the gala. Cool. Um, and so that was really cool. That actually that sponsor was was Valley Subaru, which is the our local Subaru dealership in Longmont. Um they've been really supportive of us. Um, and so we we put that together as kind of a special gift for them. And it was it was a lot of fun. Um, we really enjoyed that. Um, and then there's also um kennel sponsorship. So if someone wants to actually sponsor one of the kennels that the animals live in, there could be eight or ten animals that live in that kennel over the course of a year, and their sponsorship helps cover that um their needs during the time that they're living with us. And um, then we put, you know, we decorate it um according to how the business wants it decorated. Um, so that's really fun. Quarters um bar and arcade that's in Longmont has sponsored one of those, so that's really fun. Um and um there's with the different levels. Oh, the that's where I was going. There's marketing that goes along with that. So we have 22,000, 23,000 email subscribers, and our email has a 50% open rate most of the time. So it's really good, really above industry average, um, even for nonprofits. And um, we have over a hundred thousand reach on social media. So we had a TikTok video that went viral last year and had over seven million views. So we get we get a lot of um content engagement. Um, you know, I mean, anytime you can put puppies and kittens and things like that out there, people people like it. People tend to engage with it. Um, so we're happy to put out um that marketing for businesses who support us. And so that kind of that gets people's information kind of out there in front of a big group of people.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Um are they are they approaching you like they're wanting to get involved or are you soliciting them through your networking efforts? Uh how how are you making the first contact?

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Um both. Um it's you know, I mean, the best day in the world is when a business comes in and says, hey, we want to partner with you guys. Um that does happen. That's that's rare, but it does happen. Yeah. Um I've had a couple businesses do that. But most of the time, um, it takes me being out in the public. Um I'm in a I'm in a couple of networking groups. We're part of the chamber, we're part of NIA. Um, we go to, I mean, I'll I'll go to any meeting anywhere and talk to people. Um, I've been to rotary clubs and presented. Um, it really just depends. And I always bring information about sponsorships, flyers, and things like that. Um, and that's always the first thing I mentioned is because for us, you know, a lot of people might think as a nonprofit that we're in the business of just taking money. Um, and yeah, we we do need donations in order to survive. But for us, it's very much reciprocal. We are not in the business of just taking and not giving back. And so um, for businesses, we know marketing's important. And so um, I'm more than happy to um provide that reciprocity for other businesses and work together with them to figure out what works best. I mean, if they come to us and have an idea, um, we'll figure it out and we'll work with them. Um, so yeah, I'm I'm always out in the community. I'll I'll go anywhere to talk to anyone.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Well, and then if you get a walk dogs and you know, I mean, it's it's good content and stuff there too. Um I guess uh I want to I want to go into like why why animals end up in your shelter. What I mean it could be um there was a a a fire or flood in a home and now a family is displaced and you house animals, but I guess talk to me some of the key situations of how you get animals or people end up in your not people, animals end up in your in your shop.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Yeah, so um there's kind of four different ways that animals end up um at the shelter. So usually I think I think our number one intake is uh um a stray. So it's an animal that has gotten loose, animal control finds them, a good Samaritan finds them, they're just out and we take them in. Um our goal is always to return them to the owner if we can. Um so we always scan for microchips. There's my little plug. Always microchip your animals, it helps us find you a lot easier. Um, but uh the um once they have been with us for five days, if their owner doesn't claim them, they become ours. So that's probably our number one. And then we also receive um surrenders. So if someone's in a changing living situation, um, they might need, they may not be able to bring their animal with them. Um that happens a lot. Um, people entering assisted living facilities, that'll happen. Um, people with new babies, that happens a lot, where the the dog or cat just isn't handling the new addition very well. And so sometimes they have to surrender them. Um, it's always a judgment-free zone because we don't know every situation. Um, but that's a big one. Um, we also can transfer in from shelters across the US for whatever reason. Um, it might be easier for us to adopt. This is just an example. I don't know if this is true, but it might be easier for us to adopt labs um as opposed to somewhere in, say, Colorado Springs. Maybe they can't adopt labs out for some reason. It's weird. Sometimes things like that happen. So they'll transfer all their labs to us, and we might transfer our Great Danes or something to them because um people in that area want them for whatever reason. So there's transfers that go back and forth, um, behavior transfers because we have such a great behavior team. Um, and then the fourth way animals come to us is through um birth. Um, so we'll have puppies and kittens that are born at the shelter sometimes. Um, right now is just starting kitten season. So that's whenever it gets consistently above 60 degrees. Um kittens kitten season. Yeah, kitten season. So it runs from April-ish to October-ish. Um, and so we'll get in a lot of kittens that are strays that people have found, or they'll bring in a pregnant mother and she'll give birth at the shelter. Um, so most of our kittens come through during this time of year. Um, so that's the other way we kind of get them.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

I gotcha. Well, uh I would love to help you make some additional connections. You know, I for for the change in living situations, hey, um, I'm going to assisted living, I can't get up. There's there's other business owners who want to target people who are going through the same thing, like financial planners or uh in-home care kind of places. Uh, I'm sure you have some great connections already that you use. I would love for you to shout out one or two of those and then share some additional connections that if somebody watching could could reach out to you.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Yeah. So yeah, that's a great, great question. So, or um, so we do have a partnership with Alt House Law um that's in Longmont. And so they're a state planning attorney, um, and we we have their information um around. And um, and then of course we have um connections with other nonprofits. So if someone so again, our our goal is always to keep an animal with a person. So if someone comes to us and says, um, so an example would be like a domestic abuse situation if they're having to leave. Um in fact, a lot of people won't leave a domestic abuse situation if they can't take care of their animals or can't take their animals with them. Okay. Um the numbers are really, really high on that. So we will connect them with a lot of the women's shelters in town will also offer uh will allow people to bring their animals in with them. Or if they won't, um, then we can actually keep them for um up to a month um for a really inexpensive rate. Um but that's that's those are another great partnerships. Our Center is one that we have um a partnership with in town. Um we have a couple of um doggy daycares in town. If people just need short-term care during the day, um Camp Bow Wow is one, um, DOG is another. Um, we partner with them. Um but anytime that someone is going through a situation like that, oh, another one is Colorado Pet Pantry. If someone can't feed their animals, they provide food pickups. Um but whenever someone is going through a transition like that, any resources that we can provide them are really helpful. People share a lot with us um at our intake desk when they're having to surrender their animals. Um, and they will often ask us for resources. So if I mean that could be even as broad as like a divorce attorney or um an estate attorney, um, an assisted living facility in general. We don't have a partnership with a specific one yet. We actually would love that. So if there is an assisted living facility that would like to partner with us, reach out. Um I mean, it's it's really anytime if you think about life transitions, any organization that can help with those, have a conversation with me because I would we would love to be able to provide that to people. Right on.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Well, and then uh some people will just want to come and walk dogs or volunteer. So how can people get involved uh to volunteer with you?

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Yeah, so we have um a very robust volunteer department. Um, and that can be ongoing volunteering. So, like if you sign up for a shift per week, per month, whatever it is, um, you can set that up through our volunteer department. It's online. We have trainings every so often. So you can be trained to walk dogs, care for the cats. Although I will say, don't get your hopes up about working with the cats because Colorado and the US in general is kind of experiencing a cat shortage right now. Um it's actually really hard. But it's cat season. But it's getting season, so there might be more. But that's also a very coveted volunteer position. So um there's not always a lot of availability there, but that we can always use dog walkers. Um, if you're someone who really loves animals, but your heart is so tender for them, you can't, you just can't come to the shelter and work. Um, I get it. We totally get that. Um, we have events that you are that you could volunteer at. We actually have a fair amount of admin work that um can be done. We're you know a full nonprofit. It takes a lot of work to run a nonprofit um social media. We can always use volunteers for helping us with social media. There's a lot of different ways that uh people can volunteer, and that that can all be done through our volunteer department um through the website. And then we can also do um like day-long or half day or a few hour volunteer um events for businesses. Um so like if a business wants to do like a team building thing and they want to come, you know, 11 to 2 over their lunch break and do some work, there's always stuff that needs to be done. I mean, always. Um, you know, we don't we do all of our landscaping in-house because that's more money that we can put back towards the animals. So um, if we have a group come in and help us weed a flower bed, I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but that actually makes a huge difference for us because it allows us to put that money back into caring for the animals. Um that can, I mean, painting I this is this seems like a dumb one, painting the lines and the uh for the parking spots. Sure. You know, it's just it's it's stuff that is day-to-day that has to be done, someone has to do it. Um, and so we are when we have volunteers come in um and offer to do stuff like that, it's a huge help for us.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

Really cool. Um, and then if I'm a business owner that wants to sponsor, get involved in an event, um, maybe I want to sit down and do a one-to-one with you, how do I get a hold of you?

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Yeah, so you can uh uh my I you know share my phone number, email. So um, I mean my phone number um is 720-323-5615. That's my cell. Um, I am always on it. And then my email is um my first initial and last name. So it's C Cullen, C-U-L-L-E-N at longmonthumane.org. Um, and I will always um sit down and have one-to-ones with people. I am happy to give you a tour too. I love doing tours of the facility. Um, it takes, I mean, if we I can do a quick tour in 20 minutes, but um, to really get the full experience, it takes about 40. And always by about the 25 minute mark, people are like, wow, there's way more going on here than I ever anticipated. Yeah, I can always, I actually know where it's at in the building that people are usually like, wow, this is crazy. Um, so I'm more than happy to connect with anyone.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

Well, Cliff, thanks for coming on the show. Thanks for having me. One of the best networkers that I know, one of the people making Longmont, great place to live. Uh, thanks so much, and we'll see you around the Humane Society. Great. Thank you so much, Andrew. Appreciate it. Hey all, thanks for watching. I love networking and building relationships with other Northern Colorado business leaders. So if you want to come meet some of these podcast guests, meet me or meet some other amazing entrepreneurs in Northern Colorado, I would love to have you attend one of our next events. Uh, go in the podcast description. There's a way so that you can see our upcoming schedule. And maybe you could be a future podcast guest as well. Thanks.