Diane, Kelly is doing exactly what needs to happen. Fifteen years of call data is gold. The fact that you're logging it at all puts you ahead of most orgs.
What we do differently is track what happens after the call. Not just "someone called about X" but "we connected them to Y resource, followed up 7 days later, and the pet stayed home." Or didn't. That outcome piece is what turns call logs into evidence.
Right now we're building toward a formal research study with university partners to prove that prevention interventions actually reduce shelter intake. The call data is the foundation of that. Every logged reason, every resource deployed, every follow-up outcome becomes a data point in a longitudinal study across our 7-county service area.
Kelly's spreadsheet has 15 years of reasons people call. If you ever wanted to answer "what would have kept these animals out of our system," that data is the starting point. Even without a formal research design underneath it, you could pull patterns out of it tomorrow. Most common reasons by season, repeat callers, which resources actually resolved the crisis versus which ones just delayed it.
The short answer to your question: we're using ours to build the published evidence base that prevention works. Because right now the field runs on gut feeling and anecdotes. The data exists to prove it. Someone just has to collect it with intention.
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BJ Adkins
Founder/Director
Animal-Angels Foundation
Pinson, AL
bjadkins@animal-angels.organimal-angelsfoundation.org
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-03-2026 05:28 AM
From: Diane Metz
Subject: The call nobody tracks
Good morning, BJ. Once again, you are deeply thought-provoking! The person who returns all our calls and emails logs every call in a spreadsheet, what the issue was, and what recommendations (including suggestions for surrender prevention, where appropriate) she made if the cat isn't taken into OSC. Kelly has "worked the phones" as she calls it for probably 15 years with OSC and other organizations and we all feel lucky to have her. She keeps up with resources, sister organizations, and surrender prevention knowledge. We aren't 100% sure what we'll do with all that data at this time, but we keep it. Sometimes, the not-ready-now folks call back when the timing is critical, and sometimes we will be able to intake at the time. But turning that data into something reportable, we haven't made that leap yet. I'd also love to hear, if I may piggyback on your post, BJ, what your organization is doing with the data you keep?
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Diane Metz
Board of Directors, Volunteer, and Foster Mom
Orange Street Cats, Inc.
Albany NY
Original Message:
Sent: 05-02-2026 06:28 PM
From: Bj Adkins
Subject: The call nobody tracks
Every shelter gets it. Someone calls, they're not ready to surrender yet, but they're close. Maybe it's a vet bill they can't cover, or a landlord giving them 30 days, or their kid's allergies are getting worse and the spouse is pushing.
You give them a number. Maybe a website. "Try calling [local org]." And then they hang up.
What happens after that call?
In most cases, nobody knows. There's no follow-up. No system tracking whether they connected with help. No flag that says "this family called three weeks ago and now they're at your front counter surrendering."
We started logging every single one of those calls. Not just the ones that turn into intakes. The ones where people are still holding on. And what we're finding is that most of them needed one thing. Not five resources. One specific thing, delivered fast.
What does your org do with the calls that aren't surrenders yet? Curious what people are tracking, if anything.
#PetSupportServices*
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BJ Adkins
Founder/Director
Animal-Angels Foundation
Pinson, AL
bjadkins@animal-angels.org
animal-angelsfoundation.org
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