Animal Welfare Professionals

Hello Everyone,

I have been tasked to develop a tier system for managing a well established foster program. The goal is to determine if we have enough staffing resources and foster homes based on our daily number of animals "awaiting foster". Factors to consider what staff do to support capacity and non-capacity tasks, how many foster parents we have for the three tiers which we have determined as: fast track (0-3 days to secure foster parent), regular (4-7 days) , and slow track (8 days+), current number of staff, their working hours etc..

Does anyone use this type tool in their own program to evaluate capacity? Are you willing to share?

Thanks in advance,

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KELLE E. GREENE (She/Her), BBA
DIRECTOR, VOLUNTEER & FOSTER
45 Hurst Way, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T 0R3
E KelleG@winnipeghumanesociety.ca

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Hi Kelle, 

This is such a good question!  I'd love to hear how others are determining staffing. Unfortunately there's not really research on staffing foster programs, and with so many factors at play (Are your current fosters feeling like they have enough support? Are pets getting adopted from foster, and how long is it taking? How many volunteers do you have helping to manage the program? etc.) it's a really hard thing to judge. I'm happy to chat with you about it if you like-- you can make an appointment here: 

https://calendly.com/duer/fosterconsult

Here are some resources that may be helpful:

PACC's foster program's organizational chart (13 min. video)

Humane Rescue Alliance's foster org chart (6 min. video)

Lifeline Animal Project (DeKalb)'s foster org chart (12 min. video)

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Kelly Duer
Senior Community Solutions Specialist
Maddie's Fund
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-04-2024 11:27 AM
From: Kelle Greene
Subject: Foster Capacity

Hello Everyone,

I have been tasked to develop a tier system for managing a well established foster program. The goal is to determine if we have enough staffing resources and foster homes based on our daily number of animals "awaiting foster". Factors to consider what staff do to support capacity and non-capacity tasks, how many foster parents we have for the three tiers which we have determined as: fast track (0-3 days to secure foster parent), regular (4-7 days) , and slow track (8 days+), current number of staff, their working hours etc..

Does anyone use this type tool in their own program to evaluate capacity? Are you willing to share?

Thanks in advance,

------------------------------
KELLE E. GREENE (She/Her), BBA
DIRECTOR, VOLUNTEER & FOSTER
45 Hurst Way, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T 0R3
E KelleG@winnipeghumanesociety.ca

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