The Butterfly Fund’s purpose is to use donations to start for-profit businesses (FP) around the world, and use profits from those businesses to open and support non-profit (NP) animal rescues, clinics, and sanctuaries, as well as animal compassion education centers. The primary focus will be hospitality businesses with a preference for hostels. The long term goal of the organization is a 20% ROI. This means a one time donation of $1,000 would create a yearly benefit to the NPs of $200 a year indefinitely. Some profits will be used to grow the businesses, which means a single donation can have a compounding effect. If the business expands 10% a year, then that $200 a year becomes nearly $500 a year in ten years. That $1,000 single donation brings in over $10,000 in 20 years, and over $200,000 in 50 years for the NPs. Hostel patrons are often young, open-minded, and adventurous individuals who are motivated to volunteer and make a difference. We can use our patrons as a pool from which to not only draw volunteers, but employees as well. Hostels have very good ROI potential, they are less impacted by economic downturns because they are so much less expensive than hotels. They have low overhead and provide living accommodations for employees and volunteers. When working with organizations such as “World Vets” in which a large number of vets visit for mass spaying and neutering campaigns, the hostels are perfect for providing the vets accommodations during their stays. Will you operate other businesses besides hostels? Yes, we will consider hotels, B&B’s, restaurants, and other businesses with the right profit potential. Also, we want to be able to offer employees the opportunity to travel to other parts of the world and work in different establishments. A large hostel which is helping to run a large rescue/clinic will be very stressful for many individuals. Burn out is a very common condition in animal rescue work, and we want to give employees the chance to recover by working at a slower paced operation, such as a hotel or B&B with a small animal sanctuary. Restaurants can be very profitable, and they can also serve as animal compassion education centers. We can also teach people how they can eat in a way to reduce their environmental impact. Some of the rescues will also serve as veterinary clinics that will provide regular pet care services to whom it is affordable. In some countries, vertical development might be necessary to achieve the goals of the organization. For example, we might consider opening a bike rental store, surf shop, ski rental, etc. near the hostel/hotel/B&B if their are no other options available. Will the businesses be environmentally friendly? It is not possible to show animals compassion while simultaneously destroying their environment. Nor is it possible to massively exploit animals and be environmentally friendly. Animals are a part of the environment, so the businesses must be environmentally friendly and the education centers will teach this as well. All the businesses will recycle, reduce, and reuse resources as much as possible. When available, gardens will be grown to provide food for the operations, and renewable energy sources will be utilized. Any activities that the businesses offer will be designed with the goal of educating individuals on how to lessen ones impact on their environment. For example, if we offered hikes or tours, we would explain the importance of keeping a distance from wild animals, picking up litter, and remaining on designated trails. Will real estate be purchased or rented? Ideally, we will purchase most real estate unless the rent is very favorable. In many countries, mortgages are often a maximum of 10 years with interests rates as high as 15% if they can be obtained at all. The rental costs reflect the difficulty in obtaining mortgages and loans. If the organization has the cash to purchase the property, the sellers might accept very low offers because they know it is difficult to obtain loans. We might purchase living quarters for employees as well if it is financially sound. If a hotel room is making $2,000 a month, it would be far more logical to purchase a small apartment for $50,000 than have an employee live in that hotel room. I have a large amount of money I want to donate to help animals. Why should I donate to your organization instead of directly to an animal rescue or sanctuary? Many non-profit animal rescue organizations that received a large windfall of money have actually been damaged in the long run. Animal lovers are very dedicated and compassionate people. They want to do as much for the animals as they can right now. This often means that a $100,000 donation is used to expand their organization and help more animals in the short term. However, if the organization expands and increases its overall costs based on receiving that $100,000, then the next year when they don’t receive that same windfall, they are struggling to cover the costs of the previous years expansion. That same $100,000 donation to our organization would mean as much as $20,000 a year indefinitely to helping NPs. In addition, when they spend the money to help the animals, the money is gone. It doesn’t go to sustaining the organization in anyway unless they use it for advertising. Many organizations spend a large percentage of their donations on advertising instead of on the intended cause. They must do this to maintain a constant donor base. Since our organization only uses donor money to grow the businesses, a loss of all of our donor money won’t effect the funding for the benefit of the animals. And our advertising money will eventually only come from the businesses themselves, not the donors. During the start-up stage while building the donor base, we will have to use donor money for advertising. Will you help other animal rescue organizations in need? Yes. If another organization is in need of help, we will certainly consider helping that organization. If the organization is in need of financial help because it is being poorly operated, we will offer to take over the organization, or accept into our care all the animals for which they are currently providing care. Who will manage the businesses? Each business will have a dedicated manager(s) trained in the area in which they are operating. We currently have potential managers with experience to start the first hostels/restaurants. However, managers-in-training for new businesses will first serve under experienced managers for a period of time until they are capable of managing a new facility. They will be trained in hospitality management, restaurant management, and management of the non-profit in which they will be funding. How will employees be paid? Our goal is to attract people who want to work for our organization for life. Employees will be able to rotate to other operations in other parts of the world at set intervals so they will have the opportunity to see the world. They will always have room and board covered, a small salary, and possibly profit sharing for managers. Long term employees interested in manager training will have the option of operating their own business and rescue. Eventually, we will plan for some form of community retirement program. What are your preferred donations? We would rather have someone commit to a donation of $10 a month than a $100 one-time donation. First of all, $10 a month allows us to better strategize the financial goals of the organization. In addition, we don’t want people to stop giving to other organizations in favor of our concept, so if you normally give $100 a month to several animal rescue organizations, we would still prefer $10 a month so you can continue to give that other $90 to the organizations who are counting on those donations. Single large donations that do not impact the finances of other rescue organizations would certainly be very appreciated. Do donors receive any benefits? We will provide a monthly newsletter outlining our plans and activities, and recurring monthly donors will receive a 20% discount on any of our accommodations that we will open in the future. Donors will also have full access to our website forum and can help with the decision making processes of the business. Also, we will maintain full transparency of all financials and major operational decisions to the donors. What are your funding goals? We are aiming for 10,000 compassionate individuals willing to commit to $10 per month. $100,000 a month would allow us to open on average 4 businesses a year. With the profits from the businesses helping us expand, plus increased efficiency, we plan to increase that number. As donor numbers increase, the faster the organization is able to expand. In ten years, it is conceivable to have over 100 businesses in operation around the world. These business may be able to support several hundred rescues/clinics/sanctuaries. Do the directors of the organization receive a salary or any pay? No, not at present. The directors will all keep their present jobs and will only become employees of the organization if they cannot dedicate enough time to both their jobs and the organization. Salaries will be a maximum of 3 times the minimum wage. In what locations will the first businesses and rescues be started? We are focusing on several locations at present which include Central and South America, Europe, and Asia. We have to carefully balance between profitability of a business and the need for a rescue. The businesses will be established in areas in which profit potential is high, but the rescues might be in a different location depending on need. A single hostel business that generates $5,000 a month profit for the rescues would be able to support as many as 5 rescues in some areas of Central and South America. What kind of rescues will be supported? They will vary depending on the area. Some areas will have rescues focused on catching and sterilizing strays. Other areas will focus on providing free or low cost vet care for the local population, and adopting out adoptable animals. And still other areas might focus on farm animal rescue, sanctuary, and education. Some of the rescues will have clinics that will charge normal rates for pet care to whom it is affordable, so the rescue/clinic itself can have the potential to become sustainable which will free up profits to open more rescues. Who will provide the vet care? We will seek volunteer vets if possible, or hire local vets to work in our rescue/clinics. We will also work with international veterinary organizations who have vets interested in volunteering periodically. Why help animals and not humans? Humans are animals, and we won’t turn out backs on a human that is in need of help. However, there are far more laws that protect humans and organizations that help them directly. Our message will certainly help humans indirectly. In societies in which animals are given more respect, the humans in those societies also receive more respect from other humans. We are attempting to raise the level of human consciousness toward animals, and in doing so, we will effectively raise the level of human consciousness toward other humans. Furthermore, this concept provides jobs for the dedicated animal lovers who likely might work a job that doesn’t align with their beliefs simply so they can afford to volunteer their time. We provide a way for people to make a living doing something they love while helping animals which is a win-win for the humans and the animals.
