Is it time for us to close our doors? Is it time for Stolen Horse International to stop providing services to many searching for missing animals? Is it time to find someone new to oversee the organization's day-to-day functions? We want to hear from you.
"Many nonprofits count on fees from client services as part of their annual income. It is a common misperception that all nonprofits get all their revenue from donations. In 2015, according to the Urban Institute, nearly half of the total revenue for public charities came from fees for services and goods. That is, nonprofits commonly sell things or services to help support their missions." - Joanne Fritz, 2019, Should Nonprofits Charge for Services and Sell Products?
Why are we bringing this up now? Once again, we are under attack for charging our report services fees for stealing, missing, and searching for horses and pets. We have never tried to hide this fact, as this old video on our Facebook page 2016 illustrates. Click here to see this video on our Facebook page.
Stolen Horse International is a 3rd party organization that does our best to provide services and educational information to those in need when a horse or pet is missing. We are being accused now of being "all about the money." If that were true, this organization would have folded long ago. The sacrifices our founders and all the volunteers who have helped over almost 23 years have made, the number of hours and heartache we've all witnessed, and the angry attacks we've endured have never been about the money.
We offer a reporting service where people who have lost or found horses and pets can come to our website, pay a fee, and for that fee, gets a webpage and a flyer. This service cost to this organization is a minimum of $400 a month to maintain our website. How does that bill, and others get paid?
Anyone can file a report and explain why it is under their chosen category of "missing." There is a small base fee for this service. There are also add-ons for more chosen services. All of the money from these fees support this organization.
We are not perfect, and we've found that neither are some of the people who file reports with us. We offer service on every report that allows someone disagreeing with the report to dispute the claim made on the report. We do not post the names of an 'accused' party involved. We never have. However, if that party identifies themselves in a public format, that is their choice to do so, to a point.
We rarely know the people on either side of an issue and do not pretend to be a judge or jury. We are fair and ask that both the party that files a report and the party disputing it put their concerns into a form on the website. There is no fee to flag a report, and we do take them seriously. This is our procedure of documentation for our records which has been very successful over the years.
Our new website is more automatic than before for one simple reason. There is no extra money here to pay staff to do the many jobs this organization needs daily. Yet, we still try and do our best. We have never paid a salary to anyone, not even the hardest-working volunteers or our founders.
But like every business and a nonprofit is a business, we have operating expenses, and our bills must be paid. This organization is supported mostly by service fees, product sales, and donations.
Our organization started because of the theft of one horse, Idaho. The owners wanted to pay for the kindness strangers showed them worldwide in 1997 and started this organization. And pay it forward; they have done it!
Our name may be Stolen Horse International, but our reports are not just stolen horse reports like in the beginning. We help those who have had horses stolen, or missing in various situations and those searching for a horse they once sold or gave away. We offer a free found horse report as well.
Our website hosts a variety of services such as news and educational articles, a searchable horse auction database, a newsletter, and alerts on social media platforms, all of which cost the organization to support and is created by volunteers.
Speaking of social media, we allow the exchange of some of these cases on our Facebook page as an educational resource for those reading a post. We hope those reading the post will find ways to prepare themselves before a nasty "situation better" occurs for them in the future. Reality is an excellent teacher and a resource for knowledge. We reserve the right to hide or remove remarks with fragrant speech or falsehoods and slander about this organization.
We are at risk of closing our doors. Because honestly, the love for what our founders have created, what they have achieved, and the thousands of people they have helped is still present. However, Debi and Harold are weary from the fight to survive financially, the attacks by disgruntled people, and most importantly, the pain they have endured over 23 years with so many victims.
We are looking for a qualified person to take over the organization, willing to work 40-60 hours a week without pay. A fierce passion for helping others in the face of adversity is required.
We are actively looking for someone to become the official fundraiser so that funds will be here to support our programs. Without your support, we cease to exist.
If you are a person that fits the job descriptions above, please click on contact us and send us an email.
Stolen Horse International provides news and other resources for free on this website. As a charitable organization we survive on the kindness of people like you. Please consider donating to help fund the organization or purchasing a NetPosse ID for your horse, dog or cat to help protect your beloved animals!
Debi Metcalfe
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