The struggling San Antonio Pets Alive! will avoid closure thanks to the San Antonio City Council and its one time grant of $375,000 to the nonprofit.
The money comes from the city’s budget which has just undergone a mid-year adjustment. SAPA will be required to have some contingencies in place in the coming months.
The Paul Jolly Adoption Center is the face of San Antonio Pets Alive!.
Without the city’s grant, Tommy McNish Chief Operating Officer says the agency would have lasted just a few more weeks.
“Unfortunately, our financial situation had gotten so dire, we literally only had enough money to pay one more payroll in the bank.”
McNish says that was due to a lack of fundraising leadership.
“Our fundraising fell off the plate a little bit, as well as the amount of funds we had historically gotten from the city, isn’t quite for the high care animals that we treat.”
SAPA removes about 6,000 animals a year from the city’s Animal Care Services that are waiting to be euthanized. The city pays SAPA $50 dollars for the first 3,000 animals rescued.
SAPA then finds forever or foster homes. San Antonio Pets Alive! began in 2012, District 4 City Councilman Rey Saldana says that’s when the city got closer to its no-kill goal.
“Until SAPA came in with a new mission that said we’re going to go after the hardest to adopt, we are going to make sure that we pull from the euthanasia list, we were not able to accomplish the goal.”
SAPA initially asked for $500,000 dollars. With the $375,000, SAPA must raise $150,000 of its own. It has already raised $125,000 through a separate grant.
As a condition, SAPA must also appoint a city of San Antonio representative on its board and hire a new executive director in the next 60 days. The City will also issue a request for proposals for control of the Paul Jolly Adoption Center which SAPA leases for free. SAPA will be allowed to re-apply.
