We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Beca Thompson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Beca, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

I never thought that my best friends would be two goats, and what truly great best friends they were. I founded Tiny Hooves Sanctuary in 2015 with those two best friends, Peanut and Trixie, and their herd mates – goats Venus, Raiden, and Eclipse, and mini donkeys Pebbles, Cassie, Zaara, Zola, Tavie, and Kizzy. Tiny Hooves Sanctuary is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is committed to providing forever sanctuary to abused, abandoned, and neglected farmed animals, while promoting positive change with compassionate education. We are a vegan and woman-led organization with the highest standard of care and huge hearts!

It all started when I met Peanut. He was a very sickly little baby goat, with a poor prognosis. Both his mom and sister passed away before he was even two months of age. That’s when our true bond began. I became his everything, and he became mine. At the time I was a volunteer at another organization where he was living. It was so hard to go home every night without him, especially knowing he wasn’t getting all the specialized care that he should have been given. I did the best I could as a volunteer to give him everything he needed. Ultimately, he did end up coming home and starting the sanctuary with me!

Trixie was the tiniest little fluff ball of a goat – feisty and gorgeous. She was originally rescued from a hoarding and neglect case by the organization I volunteered for. On the day I met her I fell head over heels in love. She had been very sick and was still healing, yet through that, her bright light shone. She was a very pregnant little lady when we met. I was so honored to help her through her pregnancy and witness her little boy come into this life, Raiden. Both Raiden and Trixie were also able to come home with me, and helped to start the sanctuary, as well! Trixie was our namesake because she had the tiniest hooves I had ever seen, hence our name Tiny Hooves Sanctuary.

Both Peanut and Trixie have unfortunately since passed, and though my heart aches deeply missing my best friends, I continue in their legacy and feel them surrounding me daily in my volunteer work for the organization I work tirelessly for today – for them and everyone like them. They truly sparked my passion for rescuing farmed animals from a world where they are numbers, products, and items. Farmed animals have no rights – they are not treated with dignity, respect, or kindness in a world where they are slaughtered by the millions every minute and eaten by our society in three meals a day. If there were any animal that needed my outreach efforts, I knew I had found them, and I chose to dedicate my entire life to that mission.

Today we are a forever home to over 170 rescued farmed animals and we operate daily with 3 employees and 50 regular volunteers. We went from starting on a small farm with 11 animals and just myself, to a beautiful 33 acre farm with 10 sprawling pastures and a big barn and dozens of people helping around the clock to make this place a reality.

Starting in the beginning was difficult. I learned everything on my own by reading lots of books and doing online research. I hired a lawyer to process and file our nonprofit and 501c3 applications, but operating a small business in any terms is much harder than people initially know. Just the daily practices of upkeep can be overwhelming, and operating a nonprofit that revolves around daily care of lives can create some obstacles with emergency health care or intakes from animal control. It’s all about balance and prioritization, and of course, remembering self care within all of it.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started working in animal rescue care in 2012, and over the years have cared for 100+ species of animals. Being a vegan and aware of what the animal agriculture industry is like, what always held my heart most was farmed animal rescue. Myself, surrounded by a massive team of volunteers, family, and friends, have created what is Tiny Hooves Sanctuary today. I’m proud to have created and to maintain a safe, comfortable, healthy forever home to the animal residents in our care and to those that need us, while also offering compassionate education to our guests and visitors. I want people to know how amazing farmed animals truly are. They are individuals with complex emotions, thoughts, and lives, and they just want the opportunity to be who they are.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Transparency, about struggles and gains, as well as kindness, really are what build your org or business in a way that others will respond to in a positive way! This has furthered our reputation within the sanctuary community, as well as fosters relationships with our donors.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

First and foremost, appreciation. Show your team how much they mean to you often. This can be done with words and praise, to gifts of appreciation, acknowledgement or their excellent work, and so much more. If your team feels appreciated, as they should, they will be committed to your mission – whether that is nonprofit or for profit work.

Secondly, and honestly just as important, is keeping an open line of communication. Make sure you are accessible to your team, and responsive when and if they need you.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tinyhooves.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tiny_hooves_sanctuary/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tinyhoovesrescue
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tiny-hooves-sanctuary
• Other: www.patreon.com/tinyhooves