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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Original Message:
Sent: 12-23-2025 11:47 AM
From: Julie Hall
Subject: connecting our rescue family
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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