We were lucky to catch up with Britnee Kinard recently and have shared our conversation below.

Britnee, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

In 2005 my husband was hit by an IED while serving in Iraq. After he was medically retired from the military due to a traumatic brain injury, the Department of Veterans Affairs informed us that he needed a service animal. Obtaining a service animal was not a short or easy process then.

While we were fighting for our service animal, we had a friend who owned a service animal but could not afford veterinary care when needed. Ultimately, he could not pay his bill, and the veterinarian would not let him pick up his dog. I guess you would say that he repossessed the dog. When that happened, our friend committed suicide two weeks later. I realized something needed to change during that time.

In 2013, service dogs were not as prevalent as they are now. It was also common that once you received a service animal, you received no additional services afterward. During this time, I decided to start my nonprofit, the SD Gunner Fund.

When I started the nonprofit, we focused solely on providing financial support for obtaining and maintaining service animals. Our goal was to prevent what happened to our friend from ever happening to someone else again. So once I got the idea that I wanted to start a nonprofit, I had to sit down and figure out what I wanted to name it.

If you know my family, you would automatically realize that our nonprofit is named after my husband’s service animal. We wanted to make it personal for our family. My husband has a service animal named Gunner, and “gunner” was his position when he deployed overseas. After we figured out the name and logo, we had to find an attorney that would help us create and document our articles of incorporation. You will need to file these documents with the IRS when forming a nonprofit. Once we got our articles of incorporation filed, it took almost six months to get approval from the IRS for our nonprofit.

Once we did that, we took that documentation and filed it with
the state. When forming a nonprofit organization, several steps must be completed to ensure it is done correctly. Not only does it have its articles of incorporation, but it must also have an operating manual. That manual describes how the nonprofit wants to do business.

A Board of Directors must also be formed, which can sometimes be challenging. A board should be filled with business-minded individuals who love their communities and want to be involved but can also benefit your nonprofit. For example, it’s great to have a PR person on a nonprofit board because they can help get the word out. Having an attorney on a board is also great because they can assist with most of the legal process.

Once we got all of that setup, we were ready to move forward. That next step forward is hiring an Executive Director or someone that can help distribute your vision and run your nonprofit how you see fit. In total, it took us about a year from start to finish to get all the documentation, filings, board members, etc., before we were officially up and running.

Britnee, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My husband served 20 years in the US Army. He deployed in 2004 and 2005 and was involved in over 13 IEDs. On March 15, 2005, my husband was hit directly by an IED, leaving him unconscious and in a coma for three days. Once he awoke, he was diagnosed with a severe traumatic brain injury, hearing loss, and eventually, 56 other injuries. In 2012, the Department of Veterans Affairs decided he would benefit from a service animal. That is how we ended up with SD Gunner, and our nonprofit eventually earned its name.

I was never really built to be a stay-at-home mom or wife. I had to leave my employment in order to care for my husband. By doing that, I needed something that the both of us could do that would allow me to continue to work with him and the flexibility to continue to care for my husband. So we decided to start a nonprofit. The SD Gunner Fund was formed in June 2013 and continues to serve individuals today. We have dogs all over the United States.

We provide service animals to veterans, first responders, and special needs children. We also offer therapy dogs for facilities such as hospitals, therapy clinics, museums, and more. We have dogs all over the United States. We provide service animals to veterans, first responders, and special needs children. We also offer therapy dogs to facilities such as hospitals, therapy clinics, museums, and more. We also support an excellent program in our local school system called the sunflower Café. Teaches children with disabilities daily living skills, job skills, and the monies they make from running the café goes back into the system to help pay for their unique needs field trips and special needs field day events.

We also have a Christmas blessing program where we partner With a local pediatric facility and pay off their past-due accounts right before Christmas. We do that hoping the parents will have money to buy Christmas presents instead of worrying about paying a bill.

I can’t pinpoint one thing that I am most proud of. However, I am not only proud but blessed to have been chosen to serve my community in the capacity that I do. Community means everything to my organization and my family. When my husband was injured, and our family was dealing with many different variables regarding his care and our home life, we experienced firsthand what it’s like not to have the resources or the help available. I don’t want anyone to feel how my family and I felt. That is a horrible feeling and why we vowed to serve our community in hopes that no one would ever feel like we did. Our organization will move mountains to help people. And if it is outside the scope of our assistance, we have tons of resources available that will hopefully fill that need.

As of date, we have assisted/provided over 85 dogs through our program. We have five therapy dogs; last year alone, those dogs served over XXX children (should be in the annual report). Our organization spent almost 20,000 hours training our amazing dogs and recipients last year.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Running a business means that you are constantly evolving and constantly learning. You are going to make a lot of mistakes, and that’s OK. There are many things people told me growing up that I had to unlearn once I started my own business. There are also things I had to unlearn when the Pandemic happened. A couple of things I would like to focus on would be:

1. You must have people physically available to work. That statement is so far from the truth. I run a nonprofit, which means I rely heavily on volunteers. My volunteers are scattered across the entire United States. They work virtually, and we can all communicate via email, telephone, and Google Drive.

2. Making Money vs. Taking Care of Your Employees. Profit is essential, don’t get me wrong, but it is not primary. Caring about your employees and their overall well-being will increase your business productivity.

3. What I (boss) say goes. A business leader should always accept ideas, suggestions, and support. The idea of it being my way or the highway is no longer relevant today. Open and feedback-friendly business culture is appreciated and encouraged. Your employees’ voice matters, and when you bring them into your project, they feel valued and understood.

4. Busy – Success. I was taught that being busy and productive or directly related to your success. Now that I am a business owner, that is not true. I believe that being a successful business leader means focusing on fewer but more meaningful things. By prioritizing those items, you can even try bolder things. It took me the longest time to learn this but saying no to less important meetings and matters are what’s needed. I constantly had to multitask or switch tasks, which left me exhausted on both cognitive and emotional levels. It was not a healthy working environment for my staff or me. Reminding my team to have a healthy relationship with today’s modern world and digital gadgets like cell phones means encouraging them and myself to take breaks and pauses. It would help if you fostered an environment to reclaim life from crazy busyness. Work will always be there. Life will not.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I don’t think there is any specific formula for building a good reputation. I do believe that particular characteristics help your reputation to stand out.

1. Be honest with yourself. Being honest with oneself is very hard for most individuals to do. But sitting down and doing an internal audit of yourself, thinking through what you did and why you did it, is key to success and keeping yourself in check.

2. Be legitimately sincere with others. No one admires someone who is constantly trying to spin events. I understand that many people do not like blunt or direct individuals, but I have found in my line of work that being straightforward is the best way to go.

3. Stick to your word. Do what you say. If you commit to it, then follow through. No excuses. Judgment usually applies to our values, but trust comes with follow-through.

4. Be unusually authentic in your relationships. Encourage a culture of openness. I always love to hear when people describe me that what you see is what you get. I don’t hide anything or sugarcoat anything. I am 100% authentically myself.

5. Listen first, talk second. Ask for others’ views and opinions but don’t get defensive if they differ from yours. Learn to appreciate others’ points of view.

6. Nothing is more critical than excepting responsibility. If you are wrong, say so and apologize. Be humble, not proud.

7. Give credit where credit is due. Share authority and responsibility. It’s not about giving power to others but more about encouraging the power in others. By doing that, they will live up to the challenge. And they often show you the most amazing things.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sdgunner.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sd_gunner_fund/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SDGunner/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sd-gunner-fund-inc/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/sdgunnerfund
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmNXi-lvlABuUZ6OqvGBDGg

Image Credits
Professional Photos (headshots) done by: Shot by Somi