Without a steady flow of cash — either through donations or, ideally, more members — the off-leash dog parks enjoyed by thousands around the county won’t last through the year.
The parks, DOGPAW President Mark Fruechtel said, have a free-rider problem: Less than 10 percent of users pay for their upkeep, but the rest likely don’t even know the parks receive no taxpayer support.
“Most people are under the assumption that the county pays for it,” he said.
During busier months, between 5,000 and 7,000 people daily patronize the five parks operated by DOGPAW, or the Dog Owners Group for Park Access in Washington.
But only about 700 people are paying members of the private nonprofit, Fruechtel said. He estimates DOGPAW would need about 4,000 paying members to break even. A membership costs $25 per year.
Love DOGPAW Volunteer Fair
DOGPAW, which manages the county’s five off-leash dog parks, will host a volunteer fair with vendors, raffle, food, park information and chances to meet Ringo, a K-9 from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, from 1-4 p.m. March 18 at Providence Academy, 400 E. Evergreen Blvd.
Without some kind of income boost, the parks have enough resources to last only another nine months.
None of the off-leash parks in the county are publicly managed. Three of them sit on county land, another on Bonneville Power Administration property and the fifth, in Washougal, on private land that’s due for development.
If DOGPAW can’t uphold its end of the bargain with BPA or the county to take care of the land, the fences and gates will come down, and there will be no off-leash areas left, he said.
‘Life vest’ disappearing
Last year, the nonprofit spent more than twice what it was able to generate in revenue. To make up for the shortfall, DOGPAW used some of a $100,000 gift someone willed to the organization.
Much of DOGPAW’s $60,000 in expenses last year went to park upkeep: about $20,000 for mowing and $14,000 for building and maintenance, according to DOGPAW.
The organization spent another $5,600 last year on dog waste disposal, and another $2,400 to pay for doggie bags.
DOGPAW said it also had close to $18,000 in “other” expenses last year, mostly for marketing and event planning to boost membership.
The nonprofit’s income last year was about $24,000, with about half of that coming from donations. Memberships provided roughly $9,000.
That left the nonprofit with about a $36,000 funding gap, which it covered using money from the $100,000 gift. Without a big influx of donations and members, DOGPAW has relied on what’s left of that generous gift, Fruechtel said.
“That has been our life vest,” he said. “We’ve been living on that, but we’ve been bleeding to death.”
Fruechtel was brought onto the organization’s board in part for his experience volunteering with other animal welfare organizations.
The first park opened in 2005. Four parks later, and after years of volunteers coming and going, it was becoming clear the organization needed help, he said.
“People started dropping away. Now you have a handful of people doing all the work and they’re just trying to keep the parks open,” he said. “Nobody at any point was really going, ‘Are we letting people know that we’re a nonprofit organization that runs the parks?'”
Plans in the works
Fruechtel said the short-term plan is to find more volunteers, add more members and search for patrons or partnerships.
DOGPAW will host a volunteer fair with vendors and food March 18, in an effort to drum up more support and get the word out about the parks.
He also hopes DOGPAW can find ways to work with the Humane Society for Southwest Washington and the county animal control department to raise his organization’s profile while furthering all three groups’ pet owner education and animal welfare goals.
Fruechtel said the organization is also starting to think long term. DOGPAW is adding new board members, he said, and working toward doing more and better marketing.
“The good thing is we have great financial booking and accounting,” he said. “But the thing is, nobody ever spent money on making money. It’s a tough thing, but you’ve gotta do that.”
Ultimately, the board would like to add more dog parks and amenities for users and one day privatize the parks, he said.
The Stevenson Dog Park in Washougal is due to close April 28.
With more people coursing into the county each year, and an estimated 100,000 dogs in the county already, he said, the demand for four-legged play spaces will likely increase.
“It’s important to people,” Fruechtel said. “They want their dog parks.”
