Katie Fergus

Senior Project Background and Proposed Ideas

Fall 2020
History of Bideawee
Bideawee was founded in 1903 by Flora D’Auby Jenkins Kibbe after a trip to Paris
inspired her to begin a “No Kill” shelter out of her Manhattan apartment. By 1906, alongside a
group of visionary women, Bideawee was established as a not-for-profit (501(c)3) organization.
In 1912, the first Bideawee shelter opened up in Manhattan on 38th Street and 1st Avenue,
strategically located near the East River where unwanted animals were unfortunately often
drowned. In 1956 Bideawee expanded by opening up an adoption center in Westhampton, NY to
serve Long Island. Today, Bideawee currently has locations in Manhattan, Wantagh and
Westhampton, New York. In addition to rescue and adoption services, Bideawee has various pet
therapy programs, is involved in the NYC Feral Cat Initiative, and a full service veterinary
hospital in Westhampton.

Pet Memorial Parks

The first Bideawee Pet Memorial Park was established in 1915 by Flora Kibbe in
Wantagh, NY as a final resting place for cherished pets. There is a second pet memorial park
located in Westhampton as well, which is where​ the organization’s crematorium is located​. The
Wantagh park, the main focus of this project, has more than ​65,000 pets resting peacefully in its
shaded fields. It is also a place where the pets of some well known figures have been laid to rest.
One of the most notable being President Richard Nixon’s dog, Checkers. The Pet Memorial
Parks even allows the option for owners to be buried along with their pets if they choose. There
are also onsite grief counselors and a healing room located at the parks. The Bideawee Pet
Memorial Parks hold a great amount of value to Pet lovers and the people of the Bideawee
community.

Current Problem
The current problem at Bideawee that the organization is looking to address is the lack of
funds to support the Pet Memorial Park, especially the Wantagh location. At the present moment,
not a single dollar received from donations to Bideawee goes toward the Pet Memorial Park. The
catch in this is that most of the people who are already making donations to the organization visit
and support the Pet Memorial Park, and decide to make a donation to the organization after
visiting. Essentially, the Pet Memorial Park is responsible for bringing in a large amount of
donors, yet the park itself never reaps any of the benefits of that. Without funding, it will be
difficult for the park to continue to be maintained and operated.

Potential Obstacles
One of the main obstacles of tackling this problem is the specific clientele group.
According to my supervisor at Bideawee, ⅔ of the clientele base are over the age of 40. This
means that the solution to this problem might not be digitally centered. My supervisor has
expressed that previous attempts of digital outreach have sometimes been strenuous due to the
lack of technological literacy among that age group. Another obstacle that was identified by my
supervisor was the fact that due to rules held internally within Bideawee, the Pet Memorial Parks
are not allowed to have their own social media accounts separate from the official Bideawee
social media pages. My supervisor has also struggled when working with the marketing team to
get them to agree to create content that promotes the Pet Memorial Parks. These are all issues
that I will most likely have to work around.

Desired Solution:
The desired solution of this problem would be to establish communication products that
will drive clients to make donations specifically to the Pet Memorial Park. These products can be
digital, print, or a variety of both.

Ideas to be Proposed:
● Creating a crowdfunding program as a means of Peer-to-Peer fundraising to support the
Pet Memorial Parks using a platform such as gofundme or kickstarter that will be passed
around on multiple platforms by those loyal to the Bideawee community.
○ This would be supplemented with communication materials such as a writing
template to go along with any posts made on social media about the crowdfunding
and custom designed imagery and graphics specific to the crowdfunding
campaign.
■ “90% of Millennials and Gen Xers are receptive to these peer-to-peer
fundraising campaigns, which are now generating ​⅓ of all online
donations​”
(https://clairification.com/2016/07/18/9-simple-ways-reach-different-gene
rations-donors-successfully/)
■ “49 percent of Boomers are enrolled in monthly giving campaigns and 35
percent donate to crowdfunding campaigns”
(​https://clairification.com/2016/07/18/9-simple-ways-reach-different-gene
rations-donors-successfully/​)
● Creating promotional materials that “sells” the value of the Pet Memorial Parks
○ Because a big age group that must be targeted is of an older demographic, one of
the methods in which my supervisor directed me to consider reaching out to this
audience was via mail. Material distributed through the mail could be in the form
of a postcard or flyer that sends a strong message about the importance of the Pet
Memorial Parks and includes clear instructions to direct the audience to make
donations to the Parks.
● Holiday Season Giving Campaign
● Place material in local media
○ Newspapers, Church Bulletins, Senior Centers
● Perfect email marketing
● Establish recurring giving programs for Pet Memorial Parks
○ Monthly/Annual Basis
● Identify key supporters and nurture relationship with them
○ Develop content geared specifically towards this group once identified