Lenice Shaw and Richard Shulenbarger tossed around a few ideas about how to digitally manage their dog park nonprofit’s membership. Shulenbarger, who said he has experience in information technology, mentioned a few digital fixes, while Shaw, the organization’s treasurer, said that the problem could be fixed simply by having one person monitor it.
From the back of the room, Rosemary McCuistion of Vancouver posed Shulenbarger a question: “Can you do it?”
The discussion came during an Oct. 22 meeting at the Vancouver Community Library about DOGPAW, or Dog Owners Group for Park Access in Washington, a volunteer nonprofit organization that manages four dog parks in Clark County.
Seemingly poised to dissolve last year due to turnover, new leadership and volunteers took on the cause earlier this year. But the group has faced additional turnover recently, with the departures of the group’s information technology director and business sponsor coordinator. Once again, DOGPAW is at a crossroads.
“There’s a lot of value in these volunteer services that we’ve been able to generate, but we’ve also had a lot of unevenness in our ability to maintain those key volunteers,” Shaw said. “At some point, the organization is just not sustainable in its current form.”
Eileen Cervantes stepped up in January as the group’s president after hearing that it was at risk of dissolving.
“The fix was getting someone from that group to apply for a position, and I’m the stupid one that held my hand up,” Cervantes joked during the meeting, prompting the audience of roughly 50 people to offer a round of applause.
Cervantes, who spent most of her working life with the city of Santa Clara, Calif., brought stability to the organization as it strengthened partnerships with Clark County and the city of Vancouver. For the first time in years, DOGPAW’s annual revenue is outpacing it operating expenses, according to the organization.
But financial stability came at the expense of the new board members’ time. Cervantes said she spends 40 to 60 hours per week in her volunteer duties, many of which don’t typically fall to an executive.
“We need people to step in. Burnout is real,” Cervantes said. “It’s getting to a point where people step up or I step down.”
Cervantes offered a few possibilities at the meeting: new volunteers can step up, the organization can hire contractors, or maintenance of the parks can be shifted to local governments. But even if the group hires contractors, additional volunteers will still be needed.
While operating costs have been slashed, membership and — by extension, revenue — have also decreased, Shaw said. To increase its membership, organization leaders have touted the need for a volunteer fundraiser.
The other option of handing over the parks didn’t sit well with those at the meeting.
That included Erica Irish of Vancouver, who takes her golden retriever, Roo, to Dakota Dog Park. She sported a “Dog Mom” T-shirt and took diligent notes throughout the meeting.
“My dog is my life. Not having these parks would affect my happiness,” Irish said. “These are our dogs. That’s why we’re here. We can’t expect the county to care as much about our dogs as much as we do.”
The grassroots sentiment has carried the organization through difficult times, including after the meeting. As the group began to file out of the library, the organization fielded one application for a membership administration position and another for a fundraising post, Cervantes said.
Cervantes admitted that her tenure as president has been much more intense than she expected. Why does she continue? At one point during her presentation, she displayed a photo of her dog Flynn, a Kooikerhondje.
“That’s Flynn,” Cervantes said, “and I’ll do anything in the world for Flynn.”
Those wishing to find out more about how to volunteer can visit www.dogpawoffleashparks.org.
