Animal Welfare Professionals

One month ago I/our nonprofit scheduled a free workshop focusing on building strategies to build resilience from compassion fatigue. We have tried to offer this multiple times since 2019 and only one organization asked us to present a workshop and followed through with the presentation (that was in 2019).  Another organization that we worked closely with asked for the workshop and then had to cancel at the last minute due to a court case. We offered a free workshop where one individual registered but then had to go to court. We had one actual attendee at that workshop, and I'm pretty sure she just stayed because she was meeting me to get stuffies for her rescue's cats to snuggle. 

The workshop was approved by proper authority for ACOs in our state to earn continuing education credit and I felt like we had a really clear description and objective. The facilitator (me) doesn't have any formal credentials in animal welfare or pyschology other than a compassion fatigue educator course certificate, but I've been a teacher for 20 years so I like to think I have good public speaking skills and can make engaging activities. I've been volunteering in animal welfare for nine years.

At this point, I don't know if I can justify continuing to offer public workshops as an investment of our very small organization's time and funds if people aren't going to show up. If you've had these kinds of workshops for your organization, I'm very interested to learn about how you got people to attend or why you booked them for your organization. Should we focus on getting a better known presenter? Fundraise or try to get a grant to book a professional? Charge a fee to get some "buy in?" Provide grants for those who want to attend a conference or online class? Schedule it on a weekend or evening, even though that goes against the message of work-life balance we are trying to send?

I started off prioritizing the event for animal welfare staff and volunteers thinking that there would be a big demand. Eventually we opened it up for anyone who was interested, even if they were just curious about what compassion fatigue was.

For reference here is the event as it was publicized on Facebook: More Than Stressed: A Compassion Fatigue Workshop with Practical Applications

Your workshop sounds awesome! Is it possible to try doing one online? It might make it more accessible to people, plus you may be able to record part or all of it. We've found with the Maddie's Monthly Connection webcasts that sometimes the number of people who watch the recording is more than the number who attended live.

One month ago I/our nonprofit scheduled a free workshop focusing on building strategies to build resilience from compassion fatigue. We have tried to offer this multiple times since 2019 and only one organization asked us to present a workshop and followed through with the presentation (that was in 2019).  Another organization that we worked closely with asked for the workshop and then had to cancel at the last minute due to a court case. We offered a free workshop where one individual registered but then had to go to court. We had one actual attendee at that workshop, and I'm pretty sure she just stayed because she was meeting me to get stuffies for her rescue's cats to snuggle. 

The workshop was approved by proper authority for ACOs in our state to earn continuing education credit and I felt like we had a really clear description and objective. The facilitator (me) doesn't have any formal credentials in animal welfare or pyschology other than a compassion fatigue educator course certificate, but I've been a teacher for 20 years so I like to think I have good public speaking skills and can make engaging activities. I've been volunteering in animal welfare for nine years.

At this point, I don't know if I can justify continuing to offer public workshops as an investment of our very small organization's time and funds if people aren't going to show up. If you've had these kinds of workshops for your organization, I'm very interested to learn about how you got people to attend or why you booked them for your organization. Should we focus on getting a better known presenter? Fundraise or try to get a grant to book a professional? Charge a fee to get some "buy in?" Provide grants for those who want to attend a conference or online class? Schedule it on a weekend or evening, even though that goes against the message of work-life balance we are trying to send?

I started off prioritizing the event for animal welfare staff and volunteers thinking that there would be a big demand. Eventually we opened it up for anyone who was interested, even if they were just curious about what compassion fatigue was.

For reference here is the event as it was publicized on Facebook: More Than Stressed: A Compassion Fatigue Workshop with Practical Applications