Nonprofit = no sleep

May 5

I've been awake all night…

Trying to figure out how to get more money for Cheyne Ranch. I analyzed my family's personal finances to find out how large of a donation we will be able to make to Cheyne Ranch this summer. The answer is... not enough.

tl;dr / cliff notes: We need donations to continue operating

I've analyzed the Cheyne Ranch revenue as well as our expenses to find out where we can squeeze out more money. Our 2 primary expense categories are as expected - 1) animal care and 2) staff costs. I used to keep the simple math in my head that each month, our classes and events need to generate enough money to go in those 2 directions - half for the animals, half for the staff wages. Our animal care costs are about $3,000 each month. Our staffing costs range from about $1,000 - $3,000 each month.

*Note: my kids and I do not receive a salary

Administrative Reality

But a surprisingly high cost category now sits in 3rd place - our administrative and overhead costs. Cheyne Ranch is committed to following high safety standards set by PATH, Intl. It is expensive to implement proper safety precautions, meaning hours invested in staff and volunteer training, there is a cost to ensure our staff is Red Cross first aid and CPR certified, costs for a dedicated phone line, fire extinguishers, first aid supplies, costs for our newly upgraded equestrian helmets and costs to maintain my membership with PATH, Intl. We carry professional liability insurance, and it is expensive (about 8%).

It costs money to receive money, we pay a processing fee on every dollar of money we collect (about 3%). Additionally, we pay for the banking software, website services, scheduling software, tax software. And there is a cost to remain accountable to the county, state and federal government for our activities and transactions to remain compliant as a 501(c)(3). Not to mention the hundreds of (wo)man hours required to keep all this bookkeeping, record keeping and rule following up-to-date (although this is technically “free” since I don’t receive a salary). All these are line items on an expense list - none of these are optional, nothing here is negotiable. Running Cheyne Ranch as a professional nonprofit while meeting a high level of safety precautions, standards and insurance is a shocking 20% of our total expenses.

Scholarships

There is one particular "expense” category that I haven’t mentioned yet - because it is a fuzzy expense in my non-accounting mind. It is something I am particularly committed to, and one of the reasons I founded Cheyne Ranch. This important "expense" is scholarships. Such as when a student attends our already low cost program for a reduced or even free cost. About 10% of our students attend for free. An additional 25% of our students attend for a reduced cost (50% off). Our programs operate at capacity and usually with a waiting list. We could close off our scholarships and only allow full paying families to benefit, but... It isn't who we are. Cheyne Ranch exists to share the benefits of the animals, to teach animal care and connection, and to offer that opportunity to our community members who may not have the resources to pay.

There is a reason I love this work, and I’m driven to continue day in and day out. It is because our efforts matter - and we make a profound impact on so many of the families in our Cheyne Ranch community. I hear stories every single week from parent’s telling me how their child is growing in confidence, work stamina, knowledge and empathy because of their time here.

$13,000,000 or $120,000

Six days a week we drive our 17 year old daughter, Grace, downtown to the Orlando Ballet School (OBS). She participates in an intense ballet training program that is subsidized by donations raised by the school. The Orlando Ballet School is in fact, also a nonprofit organization.

Each time I look at the beautiful ballet school recently constructed for Thirteen MILLION dollars, I stop and share my gratitude that enough people believed in their mission - to make it happen.

All the same, Cheyne Ranch is also a nonprofit organization, trying to make our community a better place. And needing to find donations to carryout our mission.

Thankfully, Cheyne Ranch is operating on a completely different scale than the Orlando Ballet School. Our 2023 projected expenses are about $120,000 with expected revenue from classes and events of about $90,000.

DONATE! (finally, thank you for reading this far!)

Will you please help us? We are fortunate to make our community impact without needing to raise millions of dollars. For 2023, we already have pledges of $10,000, we need to raise another $20,000 this year. .We need $10,000 to operate through the summer months.

There are so many ways to donate:

chra.us/pay (zelle is fee free!)
Be amazing and help purchase our Cheyne Ranch shirts for the summer camp kids. We have an invoice waiting from Atticus print shop (change the amount due to whatever amount you want to pay)
Buy us a Lowes, Home Depot, or Tractor Supply gift card.
Call Horstmeyer’s in Sanford and add money to our account - this is where we buy a lot of our hay & feed.
Purchase anything from our Amazon wish list

Sponsor one of our NEW PROGRAMS! **still open to nifty name ideas
- Treasures curriculum (for middle school girls) - learn animal care, build confidence, make connections, find community
  - $320 sponsors a student to participate in this 8 week summer program

<still need nifty name> (for teen boys from BoysTown, Oviedo) - learn animal care, build confidence, make connections, find community
- $320 sponsors a student to participate in this 8 week summer program

Feeling low on funds?

Here are some ways to support Cheyne Ranch that are not monetary donations:

REFER US! WE love offering family visits, birthday parties and meeting new people. Tell your friends and neighbors about us so they will come see us too!
REVIEW US! One of the primary ways small businesses gain new customers is by having a lot of positive online reviews! Please write us a positive review us on google, facebook, or anywhere else you visit on the web
FOLLOW US! By following us on social media, you help keep our sporadic posts in other people’s news feed. More views creates more views. Interacting with a photo or a post on social media (like, comment, share) is even better!
VOLUNTEER! If you are an existing family who is part of our Cheyne Ranch community, please reach out to me and let me know if you want to come clean some stalls, sweep the floor, fill some waters or even organize anything! Email me for more info