Animal Welfare Professionals

Hi all,

I work with a volunteer-based animal rescue in Maryland as a Grant Writer/Content Developer.  It's a relatively new rescue (foster-based), which started in February, 2024.  We use a communication platform called SLACK to communicate updates, ask questions, share ideas, and schedule Zoom calls. It's a great program, but I was wondering what others use. We also rely on Google Drive to store documents, which can get kind of hairy, digging through  multiple files to find information.  Also, do you have regular Zoom calls with staff/volunteers, and how are they structured? Do you keep a calendar for these? Thank you.

#PeopleManagement(includingVolunteerIntegration)

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Paula Vergara
volunteer grant writer/content developer
A Home of Their Own Animal Rescue
Bethesda MD
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Slack works well for quick updates, although channels can get messy without clear naming. A shared Google Calendar helps a lot with volunteer schedules and Zoom calls since everyone can see what is coming up without digging through chats. One thing that helped our group was keeping one single Google Drive folder with simple subfolders and using pinned posts in Slack to link the most used documents so people don't hunt for files every time.

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Daniel Burr
Operations Manager
Little Ones
MA
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We use email and text as our sole methods of communication, unfortunately. I have worked with several small, foster-based rescues previously, as well as one shelter, and have definitely preferred slack. Unfortunately, the shelter I am at currently, most of the volunteers are opposed to downloading a new app. 

My last shelter used Trello to post behavior information and updates about specific animals, and volunteers could comment on them and provide feedback that was viewable by other volunteers. I absolutely loved that, and am hoping to convince volunteers to at least try a similar "forum" style communication. 

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Anastasia Peterson
Volunteer Coordinator
Hayward Animal Services
CA
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