October 2024 Maddie's Monthly Foster Connection: Foster Volunteer Retention - Identifying Practices That Support Healthy and Satisfied Volunteers
Foster volunteers are critical to the success of shelters and rescues and to the welfare of the animals in their care. Given the required investment in recruiting and training volunteers, it is critical that their experience is emotionally satisfying and encourages their continued participation. This presentation, based on surveys of over 900 foster volunteers, identifies the factors related to volunteer satisfaction and their intention to continue providing foster care. It examines the emotional needs of volunteers, the types of support that they would most like to see provided by their organizations, and the shelter and rescue practices that lead to greater satisfaction among foster care volunteers.
Guest Speaker: Dr. Laura Reese, Professor, Departments of Urban and Regional Planning, Global Urban Studies, and Political Science, Michigan State University
Dr. Laura Reese is Professor Emeritus at Michigan State University and is a research consultant at the College of Charleston. Her research focuses on issues of animal welfare policy and shelter management. She wrote the book, Strategies for Successful Animal Shelters, and has published numerous articles on local animal ordinances, dog bite risks, animal cruelty, compassion fatigue, animal foster programs, and animal shelter volunteer satisfaction. She is the president of Professional Animal Welfare Services which provides consulting services to animal shelters and rescues and founded The Un-Shelter a foster-based rescue in Michigan. Dr. Reese also volunteers in and provides foster care for local animal shelters in the Charleston, SC area.
Register here: https://maddies.fund/MonthlyFosterRegistration
About Maddie's Monthly Foster Connection:
Join us on the first Thursday of every month to discuss successful foster innovations and programs, collaborate with others in the field, answer questions and talk through complex foster-related issues.
Who should join: Foster managers, coordinators, volunteers and any staff who are interested in learning about what’s working in foster programs.
You only need to register once for all meetings: https://maddies.fund/MonthlyFosterRegistration
Can't attend live? Register anyway and you will get a link to the recording within a day or two after each meeting.
All recordings and resources shared during the webcast will also be available on the Maddie's Monthly Foster Connection page on Maddie's Pet Forum https://maddies.fund/monthlyfosterconnectionMPF
Maddie's Fund does not share registration information.
The opinions expressed by webinar presenters are their own and do not necessarily represent those of Maddie’s Fund.
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