March 2026 Maddie's Monthly Foster Connection
Growing your Foster Program: Increasing Live Release Rate for At-Risk Animals
Fostering is a critical lifesaving pathway for most municipal shelters, but too often at-risk populations are overlooked in favor of highly adoptable animals. This presentation will focus on two of the highest risk animal groups in your shelter and how to make them a focus of your foster program: dogs with extended lengths of stay and neonatal kittens.
Short term fosters, or “Foster Field Trips” as they’re known, help dogs by giving them a psychological reset from the shelter with minimal effort from foster families. Foster Field Trips help you set up these high-risk dogs for success in two major ways - they help improve kennel presentation and overall behavior upon their return to the shelter as well as provide your team with valuable personality insights that matter to potential adopters.
Empowering your community to foster kittens before they even enter your shelter can not only increase your capacity for care, but also set these kittens up for the best shot at a healthy life. For the kittens already in your shelter, overcoming the barrier of “I’ve never fostered kittens before!” is often the first and only step you’ll need towards increasing your live release rate within this population.
Guest Speaker:
Ryan Miller, The Animal Foundation
Ryan Miller is currently the Grants Manager for The Animal Foundation, and has been with the company for nearly six years. He graduated from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 2010 with a degree in Mathematics and further pursued Master's coursework in Industrial Engineering with an emphasis in Project Management.
He has an educational and professional background in project management, financial forecasting, program development, and operational auditing. He refined these skills in large-scale retailers and technological law firms, gaining experience and has since carried this knowledge over into the nonprofit sector.
He left the for-profit corporate world in 2019 to pursue his lifelong passion in animal welfare. Starting in the animal admissions department and working his way through multiple areas including foster, community outreach, and accounting, he ultimately ended up in the Development department. In his current role, he works heavily with nearly all departments within the shelter, helping to create or enhance programs with funding, planning, and implementation.
In his off time, he enjoys hiking desert trails of the Mojave Desert, training his AmStaff soul dog, and reading fantasy novels.
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.
Register here: 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 in the Maddie's Monthly Foster Connection group 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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