If you had told me in 2019 that LOPE would triple its results, I would have never believed you. But here I am — writing to tell you that LOPE is very close to doing that! We will triple our 2019 results by the end of this year.
We weren’t sure what to expect as 2021 began. But January kicked off with a rapid adoption (of a lovely OTTB mare) — and we were off and running!
Because of the support of people like you, here’s just a sample of what LOPE ‘s results will be for 2021:
- Tripling the number of youth served in our education programs
- Tripling the number of horses we helped transition from the track.
- Launching summer apprenticeship program for college students
- Creating a partnership with Foster Village to create pilot horse program for at-risk foster youth and their caretakers
- Expanding our youth program into 3 tiers for different education needs: long-term vocational, short- term skill building; single workshop for intro to basics
- Building collaboration with national racing groups to identify warhorses in need of placement and facilitate their entry into LOPE.
These results represent many wonderful stories of growth, change and transition (for both horses and youth). Download our annual report about Doctoriat, Nubin Ridge, Daelynn and Layla — and their journeys here at LOPE. It has been such an honor to watch them come of age together!
Inspired by the year’s progress, we sat down to plan even more ambitious goals for 2022. How can we help horses and youth in a BIG way? We put our heads together, laying out what it would take — how many work hours, veterinary exams, teaching materials and hay bales.
And that’s when we realized that a key obstacle was standing in our way.
LOPE has always been great at bootstrapping — figuring out how to increase results while keeping costs low and staff small. But I can see now that this approach is outdated — and is limiting LOPE’s ability to grow its programs and build our work so we can help MANY more horses and youth for the next decade. We have maximized what we can do in our current structure.
I realized that it isn’t only the teen interns and warhorses who are coming of age. So is LOPE. We are 18 years old, the perfect age for a big leap into the next phase!
It’s time for a change
We’ve been consulting with development and business leaders — and looking ahead to LOPE’s future. We’re ready to grow — in a planned way that makes sense from a business standpoint. Our goal is to become a charitable organization that can help 100 young people and 20 warhorses annually — within two years.
We’ve launched a campaign for our long-term growth. Between now and 2023, we plan to increase our annual fund to $375,000 — so we can help those 100 young people and 20 warhorses each and every year (in a sustainable way).
This plan requires several steps — spread out over 2021, 2022 and 2023 — to gradually advance our program capacity, revenue streams and warhorse intake.
programs by 2023.
The first step
The first step is to launch into 2022 with a growth initiative fund, to fuel the primary phase of expansion. Our first step goal is to raise $75,000 by 12/31/21. A major donor has already pledged a matching donation of $25,000 as the lead gift — which expires on December 31st!
In order to make this kind of leap, we need loyal supporters like you to believe in and invest in this effort. You have been the heart of our current success for the past 18 years!
With your continued support, LOPE can help so many more horses and youth. Can we count on a gift from you? Your donation will be matched, thanks to the generous matching gift by our lead donor. Click here to donate now.
Thank you as always for everything you have done for LOPE. Our work isn’t possible without generous supporters like you!
Lynn Reardon, Executive Director
P.S., If you are interested in more details about our plan, please contact me and I will send you more materials.
