This is long, but I think it's worth it. Stick with me. :)
I volunteer for a municipal high-intake open admission shelter. On the website, people can choose to direct their donations to adoptions, Angel Fund, community outreach, pet retention, critter care, or a trust. Donors can contribute to a fund generally or, in the case of adoptions, may choose to cover the adoption fee for a specific animal. While a donor can put in comments selecting an animal to sponsor, generally a donor wishing to sponsor a specific animal will speak with a staff member in addition to just donating online.
The shelter ALWAYS asks if a donor wants to be recognized, whether the donor is a business or an individual. It's an important part of relationship-building with the community. For example, there is a car dealership who sponsors a dog adoption nearly every month. The shelter gives them the opportunity to do a brief Facebook video with the dog where they are introduced as friends from ___ Automotive, and one of their staff members takes a few minutes to talk about the dog that they are sponsoring. For individual sponsors, the shelter offers to let the sponsor meet the animal and take a photo to advertise the waived fee or offer to list the adoption as being sponsored by so-and-so on social media. Some donors prefer to remain anonymous and in those cases, the animal is featured in a social media post that says they have had their adoption fee paid for by a generous donor. Generally, the animal's bio online will have a note about being fee waived.
I can tell you from personal experience that it makes a difference to thank donors and to make the offer to recognize them, whether they choose recognition or anonymity.
About a year ago around Christmas, I decided to sponsor the adoption fee for a cat who had been in the municipal open-admission shelter in my community for a couple of months. Since it was Christmas time, I had a lot of fun with the idea--I put together a gift bag to go home with the cat, containing new items like a bed, cardboard scratcher, toys and treats, etc. I also wrote a thank-you card for the adopter. I asked to sponsor anonymously, and the shelter invited me to meet the cat when I dropped off her gift bag. A staff member took the time to do this. It wasn't anything elaborate. But although it seems like very little, it actually meant a lot that they made an effort to have someone come out for a couple of minutes to say thanks in person, let me meet my sponsor animal, etc. It personalized the experience.
I decided that since we also have a large limited admission shelter in my community, I would do the same for a cat at that shelter. The experience couldn't have been more different. I came in to pay the sponsor fee and to drop off my gift for the adoptive family. They gave me a receipt. No thanks. No conversation. Nothing personal. It was just a business transaction. I'm not even confident that my donor gift went home with the cat I sponsored because they were so disorganized that they could not tell me which cat's fee I paid for. This is a large, very beloved and VERY well-supported shelter that regularly brings in $250k/fundraiser, and they do wonderful work--but they didn't even try.
Guess which shelter I sponsored for again and which one I volunteer for?
Small gestures make a big impact.
I went on to sponsor three more cats at the municipal shelter by February, became a volunteer by June, and joined a fundraising committee and personally secured 21 gift donations, a community grant for $1250, and helped negotiate $5000 in donation-matching. I also sponsored a total of 72 cat adoptions that year, every one anonymously.
Obviously, results may vary. Not everyone will make the same commitment. But what an opportunity. I'm not a wealthy person. I'm just an average member of the community. So--what opportunities are you missing if you don't take that moment to make a connection to your donors? Who could you reach?
In my experience--and I know because I read the shelter reports and ask a LOT of questions and talk to shelter staff--waiving and adoption fees doesn't correlate to animals going to an irresponsible home or experiencing a higher risk of return to the shelter. The adopters go through the same process, the same background check, the same interaction with adoptions staff. Some will take advantage of the fee waive, while others will still choose to donate. So who does it benefit? The animal that is highlighted. The animal who takes their place. The animals who have a chance and a space because adoptions are moving through the shelter because remember the objective? Successful adoptions. And in an open admission shelter, we need them to move into safe homes as quickly as possible.
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Erin Linsky
Volunteer, Kitten Foster
Fort Wayne IN
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2025 02:39 PM
From: Beck Bennett
Subject: Reduced Adoption Fees
We occasionally have people want to pay for an adoption fee. We are happy to do so and usually post that the adoption fee has been sponsored. Most of our donors want to stay anonymous. We have talked about having businesses and other donors help fund adoption fees and/or days but haven't got it off the ground yet.
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Beck Bennett
Shelter Manager
Bryant Animal Shelter
Bryant Arkansas
Original Message:
Sent: 01-23-2025 09:30 AM
From: Alicia Figueiredo
Subject: Reduced Adoption Fees
Hello!
I wanted to hear from other rescues that do any type of reduced adoption fee for their longer stay dogs. We have had some situations where donors would like to make a donation to reduce a dog's adoption fee. Do you accept this as a donation, or do you have them pay for part of the fee under a different your adoption side of accounting? Do you advertise the reduction in fees on your website or do you wait until someone inquires about the dog? Do you give any credit to the donor on your website that the dog was sponsored?
Thanks for your input!
Alicia
#FundraisingandDevelopment
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Alicia Figueiredo
Development Manager
Hearts and Bones Animal Rescue
TX
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