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October - December 2022 Resource Drive: Holiday Promotions

  • 1.  October - December 2022 Resource Drive: Holiday Promotions

    Posted 10-04-2022 02:22 PM

    The final resource drive for 2022 is all about Holiday Promotions! 

    Show & tell us about Fall/Winter Holiday Promotions you are planning to do, have done in the past, or have seen others do well!


    With the Fall season in full swing and Winter right around the corner, it's time to start thinking about what promotions or marketing campaigns your organization will try out to increase adoptions, find fosters, keep pets in homes, raise funds and engage your community around the holiday season. 

    In October you have the opportunity to play dress up with your adoptable pets in the most popular Halloween costumes of the year. November is Adopt a Senior Pet Month, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving and leads into December's giving season and the popular holiday season with Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and New Years' Eve. Many organizations also hold their end of year fundraising drives, galas and other special events.

    How to Participate: 

    1.  Reply on this thread with details about your most popular holiday promotions you've done in the past. Share links to social media posts, webpage links and other creative materials you used for the promotion.
    2.  Reply with what you plan to launch this year! What holidays is your organization planning to focus on, what goals you are trying to achieve (ex: we need to raise awareness about our pet food pantry), and how you plan to engage your audience.
    3.  Share a favorite holiday promotion you liked that another organization did. Be sure to give them credit by including that organization's name. 


    Where Will the Holiday Promotion Resources be Stored? How do I view them? 

    All holiday promotion resources shared on this thread will be accessible in the "Holiday Promotions" folder in the Maddie's Pet Forum Library: https://maddies.fund/holidaypromotionslibrary

    Share & You'll Be Entered To Win $50

    Everyone who uploads a file, shares a resource on this thread or replies with information about a holiday promotion from October through December will be entered to win a $50 gift card to Amazon, Petco or PetSmart (winner's choice).  Start sharing now!

    Pro-Tips for sharing resources: 

    • Use the "Upload File" button when replying to this thread to attach a file. We encourage you to attach the file versus hyperlinking to the file whenever possible. Files that are attached get automatically added to the Maddie's Pet Forum Resource Library so attaching helps make the resource searchable and improves accessibility within the forum.
    • Yes, you can share resources that your organization did not create. Sharing is caring and this applies to resources too! Make sure the creator allows the resource to be shared publicly and be sure to give credit to the creator or source organization.

     


    #AdoptionsandAdoptionPrograms
    #FundraisingandDevelopment
    #MarketingandSocialMedia

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    Kim Domerofski (she/her)
    Community Manager
    Maddie's Fund
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  • 2.  RE: October - December 2022 Resource Drive: Holiday Promotions

    Posted 10-05-2022 08:25 AM
    We're doing an October promotional adoption fee of $13 for all black, orange, tortie & tuxedo cats & kittens! We do tend to get some pushback for offering black cats for adoption during October, due to the myths associated with black cats and Halloween, but we provide a link to information correcting this mindset. We're having an adoption event at a local museum and participating in a huge Animal Welfare/Adoption event with a bunch of other local shelters & rescues in November. We're hosting an event at our thrift store, Gabbi's Holiday Party (Gabbi is one of our thrift store cats not up for adoption) with tickets being sold for an exclusive shopping event and potluck. During that event, we'll have a Holiday Open House at the shelter. I haven't worked out all the details yet, but the goal is to get kitties into their homes for the holidays, and find new people to support our mission.

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    Kim White
    Shelter Manager
    Save Our Cats and KIttens, Inc.
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  • 3.  RE: October - December 2022 Resource Drive: Holiday Promotions

    Posted 10-05-2022 10:38 AM
    So cute, Kim! Great idea about including a link with info about the myth of black cat adoptions in October. Do you have any graphics/social media posts/flyers etc. that you can attach so we can include it in our resource library for others to see?

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    Kim Domerofski (she/her)
    Community Manager
    Maddie's Fund
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  • 4.  RE: October - December 2022 Resource Drive: Holiday Promotions

    Posted 10-07-2022 09:29 AM
    https://humanepro.org/blog/black-cats-and-halloween?fbclid=IwAR0F2bTcqargfzknNIWriifJXGjzbp7xmPwKJcvLX3ksZJ7DMSv7Qwdkr5s

    This is just one of the links we frequently use. When I can find the others, I'll post those here too.

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    Kim White
    Shelter Manager
    Save Our Cats and KIttens, Inc.
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  • 5.  RE: October - December 2022 Resource Drive: Holiday Promotions

    Posted 10-06-2022 08:45 AM
    Hi Kim, I love this idea but have to admit that I'm one of those people that have been warned of the dangers of adopting out black cats at this time. If that's a link you can share here, I'd love to read that info!

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    Nisha Patel
    Sales & Business Developer
    Pawlytics
    Lincoln NE
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  • 6.  RE: October - December 2022 Resource Drive: Holiday Promotions

    Posted 10-07-2022 07:46 AM
    Check out this link, https://humanepro.org/blog/black-cats-and-halloween but also click on all the referenced links within the article.

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    Dylan Moore
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  • 7.  RE: October - December 2022 Resource Drive: Holiday Promotions

    Posted 10-06-2022 08:53 AM
    Hi Kim,

    I'd love to see the links that you used that show information about black cat myths in October. I always get asked about adopting them out.

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    Elizabeth Mausshardt
    Feline Manager
    Five Acres Animal Shelter
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  • 8.  RE: October - December 2022 Resource Drive: Holiday Promotions

    Posted 10-07-2022 07:46 AM
    Just to make sure you see my reply at least check out this link, https://humanepro.org/blog/black-cats-and-halloween but also click on all the referenced links within the article.

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    Dylan Moore
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  • 9.  RE: October - December 2022 Resource Drive: Holiday Promotions

    Posted 10-06-2022 03:20 PM
    Kim,

     These ideas are great. I love the fact that you will be having an open house. I think this will help to get exposure to the animals in the shelter. I hope that everything that you have planned is a success.   At one of my previous jobs we all dressed up as black cats for Halloween to push adoptions for our black kitties.

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    Marissa Reid
    Assistant Practice Manager
    Blue Pearl Specialty and Emergency Pet Hospital

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    Access To Care Specialist
    Clinic Management Specialist
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  • 10.  RE: October - December 2022 Resource Drive: Holiday Promotions

    Posted 11-22-2022 01:09 PM
    Really clever idea Kim! It is sad people's superstition around black cats and the potential harm to them around this time of year. Kudos to yall for reframing this!


    - Harrison Porter, HAB Certified
    Pet Therapy Advocate 
    Orlando Health Foundation

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    Harrison Porter
    Director of Development
    Orlando Health Foundation
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  • 11.  RE: October - December 2022 Resource Drive: Holiday Promotions

    Posted 10-05-2022 09:18 AM
      |   view attached
    I liked the 12 strays of Christmas promotions I was seeing and our shelter featured 12 long timer dogs and cats for adoption in Dec






  • 12.  RE: October - December 2022 Resource Drive: Holiday Promotions

    Posted 10-05-2022 10:40 AM
    Wow, Amber! That must have felt so good to find homes for your long-timers. Will you be doing that promotion again this year?

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    Kim Domerofski (she/her)
    Community Manager
    Maddie's Fund
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  • 13.  RE: October - December 2022 Resource Drive: Holiday Promotions

    Posted 10-07-2022 08:15 AM
    We do/have done quite a few feline adoption promotions. Most are for all cats & kittens, but our Halloween-themed one, "Pumpkin Spice and Black as Night" is for cats/kittens with any black or orange in their fur (so pretty much every cat except greys and whites). Our others are "Feline Fall Frenzy," "Adopt Till You Drop," and "Happy Mew Years!"

    We also hold a Halloween event at the shelter. Prior to COVID it was a "Howl-o-ween Party" where we'd hold a party with pumpkin painting, costume contests, and other kid-friendly things, and dress up the (willing) animals for a few hours and take small groups through to see them. Now we do a "Trunk-or-Treat" in our parking lot. 

    In December we also typically do a "Pet Portraits with Santa." We did a Holiday Party afterwards one year as well. This year we're also offering a day camp for kids during the winter break (27th-30th). We've run the camp during the summer for several years, but this is he first time we're doing it in the winter. Our year-end fundraising campaign is called "Gift of Hope" and it focuses on raising funds for our Animal Medical Fund, so we feature stories of animals who have come in needing extra medical care and were able to get that care because of this fund, and go on to be adopted. We run this campaign online and send out a mailer.

    I've attached some of the images we used to promote.

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    Samantha Maurice
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  • 14.  RE: October - December 2022 Resource Drive: Holiday Promotions

    Posted 10-11-2022 02:53 PM
    Thank you for sharing so many of your promo images, Samantha! Looks like your end of the year is super busy with fun promotions.

    I'd love to hear more about your day camp for kids during winter break. How long are they there each day? What ages are the kids? What types of activities do they do?

    Thanks again for sharing all of these. I hope they're all hugely successful!

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    Kim Domerofski (she/her)
    Community Manager
    Maddie's Fund
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  • 15.  RE: October - December 2022 Resource Drive: Holiday Promotions

    Posted 10-12-2022 07:30 AM
    The camp runs from 9 am to 4 pm each day, and it's for kids from 5 to 12 years. In our past camps we've had presentations from the local police K9 units, local herpetological society, dog sports demos like doggie dancing and carting, an author of an animal-related book, local ferret rescue, local House Rabbit Society chapter, and conservation-themed theater. The kids do crafts like making adoption posters for current adoptable animals, no-sew blankets, treats, cat wand toys, etc. Of course they also get a shelter tour and meet shelter animals and/or pets of our shelter staff if we don't have any dogs that would be comfortable with large groups of kids at the time.  I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting, but I'm not directly involved so I'm just trying to remember based off of our promo materials and the info I'm given to share on social media.

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    Samantha Maurice
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  • 16.  RE: October - December 2022 Resource Drive: Holiday Promotions

    Posted 10-12-2022 10:53 AM
    Wow, so many fun activities. Lucky kids!! Thanks for sharing the details of your camp!

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    Kim Domerofski (she/her)
    Community Manager
    Maddie's Fund
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  • 17.  RE: October - December 2022 Resource Drive: Holiday Promotions