Animal Welfare Professionals

Hi, all--

As a follow up to my previous post, I'd like to hear feedback about what might make shelters hesitant to sign up with my nonprofit. The idea is simple:

• Determine which dogs would benefit from being relocated to ensure adoption.
• Work with @Doobert to implement the move
• (Once we are funded) Reimburse the sending shelter for health certificate/other relevant costs + 10%
• Provide handmade blankets to the receiving shelter compliments of Comfort for Critters!

My question is: why might shelters hesitate to join this? What additional factors need to be considered?

Thank you!

Where to begin...ignorance, apathy, fear of change, fear of not being in control....

I'm offering something similar to shelters in an area where 80% of animals rely on rescue for survival and the intake rate has not slowed at all in the last five years. Our group is set up to host adoptions in a demographically desirable location, free boarding & training from a respected, experienced trainer at a premium facility, we are paying required vetting, providing volunteers, transport, adopter premiums...And getting lots of excuses & hesitation from the very people who supposedly want to place the animals.

Maybe sounds too good to be true? Maybe don't trust our judgement on potential adopters? I have reassured them that they will have role in decision making. Statistically, 96+% of people have good intentions toward companion animals but some people will miss out on opportunities to help the many to avoid risk from the few. Nonsensical, I know, but human nature.

I would say start small (maybe one or two focus shelters or rescues), build references, really listen to objections and prepare talking points to overcome them, document success stories and share on social media and have your marketing create an air of exclusivity...make people feel important and special to be invited to participate and let them know the animals are missing out if they don't take advantage of the opportunity! Good luck! <3

Thank you. This is really helpful. I'm currently developing my strategy--since people don't know my organization it's more difficult since I have to develop trust. I'm planning to strategically partner with some shelters and then record testimonials from them to show other shelters they can trust the process.

Some reasons they may hesitate:

-They already know which ones would benefit from relocation - in a simple sense, any ‘safe’ animal that they have difficulty placing would benefit. You could certainly develop a network of rescues bigger than theirs, but the initial response to your pitch could be “I don’t need help with that”.

-They have been in the trenches for years or decades, and regularly experience suggestions from people they consider to be naive newbies who don’t understand their struggles, and in my experience, often they are right about this and sometimes they are wrong. Sometimes they are too burned out or stuck in their ways to be open to new ideas, or they just don’t have the luxury of bandwidth to even contemplate something innovative.

-they are likely concerned that you may want to market dogs to rescues they consider to be dangerous. They likely want to be the ones who decide which animals can be transferred

-In your bulleted list you don’t mention that you would develop relationships with rescue groups and market dogs to them-this is part of your plan, right? This could be very appealing, BUT you will need to gain the shelter’s trust, because: (a) they carefully vet each rescue (or should be!)- some “rescues” are hoarders who get in over their heads, or they don’t adequately screen adopters (b) the shelter should legitimately be concerned about passing on accurate information about behavior and health issues, and they are sensitive on messaging in general - they don’t want messaging to rescues to be “save this dog before the shelter kills them!”. 

I think you should start small with a few shelters as silver comet said, and approach shelters with questions like what are your roadblocks to getting animals transferred? What would help you the most? What types of animals would benefit the most? Could you share your vetting process for new rescue partners and is this something I can help with?

maybe YOU should be the rescue they transfer the animals to, in which case you would need to demonstrate competence in ensuring that you keep animals and people safe, and that you ensure the welfare of the animal during transport and after placement. 

For better or worse, questions like these may go over better than suggestions or pitches.

I think you should start small with a few shelters as silver comet said, and approach shelters with questions like what are your roadblocks to getting animals transferred? What would help you the most? What types of animals would benefit the most?

My blog http://formulaswiss.com

Thanks everyone. I'm planning to start only in Texas and expand nationwide from there.