Dear GCFA supporters and friends,

I'm going to be completely transparent. Things are not going well here.

  • In 2024, we had revenue of $72,500 and expenses of $108,800 and operated at a net loss of $36,300. The foster ferrets in our care have ballooned to an unsustainable number with no regard for the future survival of the shelter. Our vet bills increased 40% last year over the year before while donations dropped considerably.
  • We nearly lost our 501(c)(3) status due to taxes not being filed on time. A fraudulent tax return was filed showing $0 in income and expenses, and signed off by our previous president.
  • We have not had a financial audit or annual report for years.
  • The shelter lost its #1 fundraiser, the Greatest Ferret Show on Earth last year, due to drama and favoritism.
  • We stopped even attempting to apply for grants. Donations that were meant to be earmarked for specific purposes were not appropriately handled.
  • The shelter Nominating, Membership, Public Relations, Fundraising, and Newsletter committees have disbanded (all of which are required by our by-laws)
  • Board meetings have been completely ineffective, the Nominating committee which is supposed to analyze the performance of board members has disbanded, meaning the board has been held unaccountable.
  • Membership has dwindled. Less than 10% of our members renew each year. Our membership list has been disorganized.
  • The shelter has been stuck in an old, decrepit building for years. We were extremely lucky that a volunteer was present when our bathroom fan caught fire. We've been dealing with HVAC issues, broken floor tiles, and pests for years.
  • We lost our phone #. Additionally, our website domain and credit card were registered with private individuals; passwords were not securely stored. These could have easily been lost too.

Other shelters around the US have been closing at an alarming rate after their owner retires or passes away, or due to financial issues. Just a few I am aware of:

  • Wind & Willows Ferret Rescue (NV) - shut down after owner passed away (2010)
  • Hide-E-Hole Ferret Rescue (PA) - shut down after owner retired (2017)
  • Ferret Underground (WI) - shut down after owner passed away (2022)
  • Zoo’s Ferret Sanctuary (IL) - owner passed; spouse took over but reduced # of intakes (2024)
  • Ferret Nook (WI) - owners currently retiring and not accepting ferrets (2025)
  • Tiny Paws (Cincinnati, OH) - shut down due to financial issues (2025)
  • Pfeiffer’s Ferret Rescue (GA) - shut down due to financial issues (2025)

Things to need to change to assure that the GCFA will be here to stay.

As the new shelter president as of April, I'm excited to share some of my vision for the GCFA for the year 2025 and onward. I've been working closely with a few of our board members to ensure the future survival of the shelter so that we can continue rescuing ferrets and giving them loving homes for years to come.

Since April we have made progress in the following areas:

Finance

All of our accounting has moved from paper to Quickbooks and every expense and donation over the last 2 years has been itemized. Our board members all have access to this so that there is full transparency. We will resume publishing annual reports EOY 2025. We are in the process of auditing all past donations to ensure that any funds earmarked for specific purposes are being handled properly.

Fundraising

Our board member Tatiana has been handling fundraising and grant applications. She has acquired a $2,000 technology grant from Microsoft. Several other grant applications are in progress pending the completion of our 2024 financial audit. GFSOE has returned this year with our amazing show director Beth Cano. I personally donated to cover the cost of the venue this year to ensure that our show returned. We had a new Cubs suite fundraiser which raised nearly $4,000 for us (although the game sadly got rescheduled due to storms!) Tatiana led the marketing for this event as well.

Health

We have been working with in-house vet Dr. Kubala and our primary vets at VCA West Suburban to ensure that our records and theirs are kept in sync. Our board member Margaret, who also works at VCA, will be running our health committee to work on improving our shelter protocols.

Adoptions

Tatiana has also been handling all adoptions. Thanks to her we have not been overrun despite an influx of surrenders lately. She is working on standardizing and training additional adoption officers so that we can get more ferrets home ASAP. We are also looking into launching a temporary fostering program... stay tuned!

Physical Location

Unfortunately, despite our best attempts, we have remained stuck at our current physical location. This was partly due to having no insight into our own income or expenses and no budget. Undaunted, our board member Rhonda has continued searching and touring potential new locations for us. Lately we've dealt with additional issues with our ancient HVAC system. Despite 3 different commercial HVAC professionals looking at it, it has continued to give us issues during the recent heat waves. Rhonda and our volunteers Karen and Russ have been instrumental in ensuring that our ferrets are kept safe in the heat.

Public Relations

Margaret (along with her ferret Iroh) also gave us an awesome spotlight on the "Furever Home Friday" segment on ABC 7 Chicago! Scroll down to watch the adorable interview. Although we did miss a month, I'm glad that "Off the Paw" is back to share shelter news with all of our supporters and friends.

I'm optimistic that we can get the shelter in a much more organized and financially stable position by the end of the year. Thank you

Sincerely,

Andrew Weber
GCFA President