Animal Welfare Professionals

I'm setting up an online community for our rescue's dog adopters/fosters/volunteers to connect.  People will use it to share pictures & updates among their dog's littermates' families, coordinate meeting up for training/hiking/playing, recommend dog professionals in their area (groomers, trainers, vet) or dog products they like, maybe trade off petsitting.  So I want it to be functional for both online communication (posting video, commenting/chatting), but also allow people to locate members of our rescue family nearby so they can cultivate in-person relationships as well (so maybe a map that people can choose to add their dog to and see which dogs are in their area?).  Any recommendations on a forum that would work well for keeping our rescue family connected and supported and be, of course, free or very inexpensive? Bonus points if it's relatively-easy to set up and run from my end and allows for sub-groups to form (so, for example, the adopters of puppies from a particular litter might want to be their own subgroup, or maybe adopters/foster/volunteers from a particular zip code want to meet up  at someone's pool for regular swim dates).  I don't want to use Facebook.  I'm looking at BFF or MeetUp maybe?  Thanks for any suggestions/recommendations!  Thank you!

#DataandTechnology
#MarketingandSocialMedia
#PeopleManagement(includingVolunteerIntegration)

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Julie Hall
Oracle Animal Rescue & Rehabilitation Inc
AZ
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We have only used private Facebook Groups. We currently have one group for our fosters and one for our adopters, which has made it really easy to keep communication organized while still building community. I am curious to hear what other people use! 

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Julie Beatty
Grants Coordinator
Ziva Dog Rescue
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At For Love of Dog where I volunteered for over 20 yrs, we use private Facebook groups & there haven't been any issues. One group is for 'Alumni', a second for Fosters/Volunteers. Sounds like that is what Julie Beatty is doing w/ different names 🙂. We chose not to mix the groups. Foster/Volunteers bring up issues that may not be appropriate for adopters/alumni. The latter group is looking to engage w/ other alumni and/or meet up & in general share with other alumni. A couple have formed "subgroups" on their own which are not part of the rescue. The Alumni group does share info on training, grooming etc & ask Qs.

Fosters/volunteers share concerns or ask for help w/ a behavior etc. as well as assess dogs so the right fit is found for each particular dog. They will also ask for help when they need a temp place when they have to leave for vaca or other travel.   A group I co-admin with in Alabama use private FB groups as well. One for volunteers/fosters & the Rescue group for everything else including alumni. As Julie said, be curious as to what other groups use especially if they are all volunteer as we are. 

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Laurie Methven
Volunteer
Twin Counties Humane Society
Virginia
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