At Middleburg Humane, This Price Is Just Right

At Middleburg Humane, This Price Is Just Right

By Leonard Shapiro

Sally Price likes to tell people that, “I retired, for one weekend.”

Her last day after six extremely productive years as the executive director of the Middleburg-based Land Trust of Virginia (LTV) occurred on a recent Friday in February. The following Monday, she was already setting up her new office in Marshall, where she is now executive director of the Middleburg Humane Foundation (MHF), one of the region’s largest diverse animal shelters. Located on a 23-acre property, the nonprofit facility is dedicated to saving cats, dogs, rabbits, horses, livestock, and other small mammals, providing many other animal welfare programs and services.

More than a year ago, Sally said she celebrated a “big birthday” and thought at the time it seemed like a good idea to retire from the LTV and call it a career. She had spent more than thirty years in a wide variety of executive and leadership positions, most of them involving small non-profits, including a two-year stint running an animal shelter in Charleston, South Carolina.

Sally Price offers a treat to Wally, being prepared for adoption.

Photo by Leonard Shapiro

When she approached the LTV board about leaving, she was asked to stay for another year, the better to provide a seamless transition and help in the search for her replacement. As it turned out, Ashton Cole was already in the building, as LTV’s long-time conservation easement specialist over the last 15 years. Sally thought he was the perfect candidate to replace her and the board eventually concurred. They obviously thought so much of Sally, they named her to the board, as well.

As it turned out, another LTV board member, Polly Gault, also served on the MHF board, which also was searching for its own new executive director. She convinced Sally to put off her retirement and take the job at Middleburg Humane.

“I’ve done conservation work my whole life, with the exception of the shelter in South Carolina, which I really enjoyed,” Sally said. “Polly definitely talked me into this. They have built this beautiful building but really haven’t had a strategic plan. It’s one reason I got back into it. They need more staff, more money, better policy procedures, and that’s all part of the mission I’ve been given.”

At LTV, Sally tripled the staff and the amount of funds raised and also dramatically increased the number of conservation easements each year. LTV now holds more easements than any other private land trust in Virginia. While at The Ocean Conservancy from 2002 to 2004, a large non-profit, Price was instrumental in bringing in millions of dollars, far exceeding fundraising goals.

Josh Muss, chairman of the Middleburg Humane board, said, “We’re very excited to welcome Sally as executive director. Her experience, accomplishments, and skill set will be a huge asset to our organization.”

Middleburg Humane, founded in 1987, has been in its current location for about four years. They take in about 850 animals a year, most of them adopted or put into foster care, including 240 dogs and 466 cats in 2022. There are 23 employees, two of them full-time veterinary techs, and it depends mostly on donations and grants to meet its $1.2 million annual budget.

“MHF rescues, rehabilitates, and adopts out at-risk animals and promotes animal welfare through community outreach and humane education,” its mission statement reads. “We accomplish our mission through our various programs: intake and adoption, Trap-Neuter-Return, food and medical care assistance, humane education and internships, and volunteers.”

Fundraising is also a significant part of Sally’s personal mission, and after so many years doing just that, she said, “I’m hoping to do great things here. We have a great staff, unbelievably dedicated people. I want to feel like I’ve really helped get us on a solid footing.

“I’ve learned a lot of things over the years, and I came to love smaller nonprofits. There’s just a lot of freedom. You can be creative, there’s not this big hierarchy, if you come up with a good idea, you can make it happen.”

And fortunately for Middleburg Humane, Sally Price is definitely not the retiring type.

On April 29, Middleburg Humane will hold its annual “Denim & Diamonds” gala, the nonprofit’s major fundraiser, at The Middleburg Barn. Details and tickets: Middleburghumane.org.