Grant Application

Organizational Profile and Administration:
The Coral Ridge Spay and Neuter Clinic (hereafter, “the Clinic”) was founded in August 2004. We are located at the corner of the Coralville Strip (Hwy. 6), and 4th Avenue. The Clinic is an animal clinic that spays or neuters cats or dogs at low or no cost. The Clinic also acts as a temporary animal shelter, providing overflow service to the Iowa City shelter as well as meeting the Coralville area’s temporary animal control needs. Our goal is to eradicate stray and unwanted animals in the Iowa City and Coralville metro area. The Clinic also strives to provide community education. If the community does not know that their pets need to be neutered, and how to care for their animals, we cannot solve the stray and unwanted pet problem.
The clinic has four full-time staff members, a team of volunteers, and a board comprised of 15 individuals. Their titles and responsibilities are as follows:
Executive Director – Program planning, open communication to the board of directors, public relations
Volunteer Coordinator – Manages volunteers and volunteer responsibilities.
Head Veterinarian – Oversees the spay and neutering operations, ensures a high level of safety and guides the student veterinarian volunteers
Office Manager – The face of the clinic, secretary, receptionist, completes business paperwork, mails in and out.
Volunteers – Clean the clinic, provide basic care for animals, and assist in mailings
Board of Directors – Assures maintenance of the Clinic’s mission, hires Executive Director, provide performance reviews of Executive Director, plan and monitor resources

As the board of directors, in cooperation with the Executive Director, plans activities for the Clinic, they also set objective, quantifiable goals. Our programs are evaluated by how well and completely we have met these goals.
Since the Clinic is a relatively new organization, steps to strengthen our institutional capacity have centered upon public awareness. These include:
o A pet look alike contest at Coralville’s 4th of July festivities
o Visiting all elementary schools in the Iowa City Community School district (public and private) with our stray animals
o Ads in several local newspapers (Gazette, Press Citizen, Daily Iowan)
o Held a school district wide donation drive to help feed our stray animals
o Spoke at all Iowa City community schools on the proper treatment and care of pets
o Participated as a sponsor of the Hospice Road Races
We have a partnership with the University of Iowa Biology and Preveterinarian Programs. We provide their students with the learning experience of hands-on clinical procedures. They provide us with capable and enthusiastic students to assist in the spay and neutering procedure.

Community Outreach
The Clinic aims to eradicate stray animals in the Coralville and Iowa City area by providing free or low cost spaying and neutering. Without this service, those with little expendable income would not be able to afford the fixing procedure for their pets. Unfortunately, many times those who cannot afford to spay or neuter their pets end up with many puppies or kittens on their hands that they can ill afford, and these animals generally end up on the streets or in shelters. We must reach out to those in need if we are to eliminate the stray animal population. The Clinic does so on a regular basis through its Iowa City Community School District mini-lecture circuit. Through this program, we can address and educate children of all ages, income levels, and ethnic backgrounds.
The proposed project, the Coral Ridge Art Fair (hereafter, CRAF), will expand on this not by only educating families of all shapes and sizes in the arts and proper animal care, but also raising funds to help pay for the spaying or neutering of pets with lower income families (or no family at all!). It will do so by providing free and varied arts opportunities as well as animal education programs. CRAF will be held in ST Morrison Park in Coralville, which provides not only handicapped access, but also is located on a main bus route. Because of its location, economic, physical and geographic restraints are minimized. For those unable to leave their houses, highlights will be broadcast on the local news channels.

Community Arts Project - Project Goals
The mission of the Coral Ridge Spay and Neuter is decrease the population of stray and unwanted pets in the city of Coralville, Iowa and surrounding areas. It will proactively improve the animals’ quality of life by providing low cost spay and neuter surgery as well as temporary shelter facilities.
Unless we create public awareness, we cannot carry out our mission statement. The Clinic must create awareness of its existence in order for citizens to take advantage of its services. CRAF is designed to simultaneously raise awareness of the Clinic and promote Coralville and Iowa City as a destination for the arts enthusiasts of Iowa. Coralville has no art museum, or art fair. Without a proper showcase for the artists of the area, or even world-renowned artists, Coralville cannot uphold its status as a quickly growing community. The CRAF will provide an opportunity to simultaneously further both the animal welfare cause and the arts community.

Proposed Activities
The CRAF will feature a weeklong exhibition of local and regional artists’ work featuring animals – both in abused situations and in happy homes. Some of the art will be for sale at a silent auction at the close of the week. This will bring local and regional artists together as well as set the tone for the week’s theme of animal wellness. In addition, CRAF will host several painting and craft-making workshops for adults, teens, and children. These will focus on art with animals as the focus, and crafts one can do about the home to make it safer and more pet friendly. There will also be a “portrait with your pet” service. This will consist of either a photograph taken by a professional photographer, or a painted portrait of attendants, pets, and various combinations of such. If attendees have no pet of their own, they can “borrow” one of several stray animals brought by the Clinic.
Since the Clinic is just over a year old, as well as being completely not-for-profit, we have undergone major fundraising drives to help pay for staff and promote the CRAF. Our donors include:
o Local families and sponsors
o Funds from the school district wide donation drive
o PetCo Animal Supply Store
o University of Iowa
o KCRG News Channel 9
o The Press Citizen
o The Humane Society of Iowa City

The Proctor and Gamble Company will also provide funds matching our highest donor. The Humane Society’s donation consists of a fleet of 20 volunteers, bringing our total to around 40. The University of Iowa and the Press Citizen have donated space in their respective newspapers and publications. All other donors have given financial donations, which will be used primarily for marketing, to provide accommodations, and secure artists from across the state and country. Grant monies provided by the Iowa Arts Council would fund the latter.

Marketing
The Clinic will use an integrated approach to market the CRAF. Ads are to be placed in:
The Iowa City Press Citizen (Newspaper)
Des Moines Register (Newspaper)
Daily Iowan (Newspaper)
KGAN (Local News Channel)
KCRG (Local News Channel)
KRUI (Local Radio Station)
Hancher Auditorium
Riverside Theater
Dick Blick Art Store
The Coral Ridge Mall
Sycamore Mall
Old Capitol Mall
Wesley House Free Lunch Program
Salvation Army locations throughout the city
Iowa City Community School District Monthly Mailings
University of Iowa Listserv
University of Iowa Hospital’s Noon Notes

This plan was developed with our target audiences in mind. These include K-12 students in the Iowa City Community School District and their families, and students, faculty, staff and families of the University of Iowa. Through careful research of several reference guides, such as Bacon’s and Zip Code Demographics, we have discerned that the two largest pet-owning populations were the aforementioned groups. These also are coincidentally two of the lowest household income demographics in Johnson County. In our first year of existence, 2004-2005, we served 489 animals from 450 families. In the next year we hope to increase the number of animals neutered or spayed to 600. By placing our advertisements in the three malls mentioned, we will reach a target audience with perhaps a slightly larger expendable income. However, we will post our ads during peak sales periods, such as the day after Thanksgiving and the day after Christmas so that those with lower incomes that might be looking for sales will also be exposed to them. By placing ads in the Free Lunch Program and Salvation Army locations, we will reach those whose pets may need to be spayed or neutered or are interested in the arts, but do not have schoolchildren or are not in school themselves. By placing ads in the local theaters and art stores, we will reach those who are interested in arts, or have pets, but again may not have children in school or be in school themselves. To place these many ads, we have collaborated, as aforementioned, with the University of Iowa, KCRG TV, and the Iowa City Press Citizen.

Project Evaluation
The success of the CRAF will be evaluated in several ways:
Attendance Counts – Our goal is 5000 visitors
Art Sales – 100% of Silent Auction pieces
New Additions to our mail and E-mail lists – 1000 households
Appointments for animal spaying or neutering – 100 pets
Evaluation Survey handed out on site as well as posted on our website – Approval rating of 65%
Volunteers will tally the total for each category. They will then report their findings to the Executive Director, who will prepare a report for the Board of Directors. A written report will also be made available to the Iowa Arts Council.