Animal Welfare Professionals

We are a foster based rescue. We are having trouble locating foster's for adult dogs and if they have issues it is even harder to find a home. How are other rescues locating new fosters?

With every new dog we take in, we include a fostering pitch when we post the dog to social media. Sometimes, people need to associate with an image of a dog in order to stir their interest. Now, we don't necessarily allow them to choose which dog they foster (we have a say in that... e.g., we're not going to give a trainwreck to a newbie), so we word the pitch accordingly.... "Are you ready to help us save more lives, like Punky's? Message us to learn how to apply today!" 

Yep-- this is the most effective technique for our rescue too. We also get a lot of fosters by word of mouth-- we ask fosters and volunteers every once and a while to help us share foster pleas and talk with friends and family about our program. 

We have a whole (free!) course on growing foster programs for adult dogs that you should check out: https://www.maddiesuniversity.org/Catalog/LrnrTab2332/catalog/LrnrCtrl2332/catalog/LrnrKC2332/true/FID2332/b0c1f755-b2d5-48c0-a535-c380c4375207

These blogs may also be helpful:

https://chewonthis.maddiesfund.org/2019/06/recruit-repurpose-recycle-how-to-get-more-pets-into-foster-care-right-now/

https://chewonthis.maddiesfund.org/2019/07/foster-friday-everyday-creating-a-community-culture-that-values-pet-fostering/?fbclid=IwAR3uNPDT1Xj74iCU6y2l4pwCbvlJ3x3PdAsHZrgYuc5ygIl-iZWojoEZ2bk