Your Nonprofit – Make it Your Business

The Humane Society of Manatee County has had three (3) opportunities to participate in The Patterson Foundation funded Margin & Mission Ignition initiative. Margin & Mission Ignition helps build capacity, revenue, and mission impact through earned income and social enterprise. No Margin, No Mission is a national consulting company that works with nonprofits on “Thrivability Initiatives” and building sustainability.

Nationally less than fifty (50 )% of nonprofits have developed business plans, yet business plans are essential in building capacity and staying focused on creating innovative and diversified mission-based revenue sources. Working with Margin & Mission Ignition results in improved financial and social bottom lines. This initiative includes a strong partnership between No Margin, No mission, HSMC board members, and HSMC senior staff to seek areas of potential growth of capacity or developing new services that can create new revenue sources. This process also has the hidden treasure of transforming boards into supportive and entrepreneurial leaders.

Working with Margin & Mission Ignition in late 2016, Humane Society of Manatee County developed and launched a new three (3) year business plan that guided the expansion of veterinary clinic services to greatly increase capacity of both wellness and dental services and the associated earned income. Revenue in the veterinary clinic expanded and grew each year in excess of ten (10) % and the number of clients served increased by twenty (20) % over that same time period.

A second opportunity to work with Margin & Mission Ignition was made possible by The Patterson Foundation in late 2020. A newly created business plan was introduced in April 2021 that included introducing two new services, low-to-moderate cost Dermatology Services and Basic Orthopedic Surgery. This was a very challenging time period working through the COVID-19 pandemic, and staffing challenges delayed the introduction of the newly proposed services.

The Patterson Foundation and No Margin, No Mission reached out in May of 2022 to offer an amazing Reboot + Refresh initiative so that organizations could reassess business plans that were struggling to hit established goals and timelines. Realigning business plans according to existing reality, conditions and staffing allowed for a restructured business plan to be created in a six-week time frame.

Basic Orthopedic Surgery was removed from our immediate growth plan and will be considered again in the future. The restructured business plan focuses on Dermatology Services recognizing the overwhelming need in the community for affordable dermatology services. Providing these services for animals in our community suffering from skin, ear, and eye issues leads to more animals staying with their human families and enjoying a much better quality of life.

Thank you to The Patterson Foundation for your continued strong commitment to nonprofits by offering guidance and financial commitments for nonprofit’s sustainability and “Thrivability.”