Animal Welfare Professionals

For those who are from communities that have more than one shelter/rescue/animal welfare organization, I'm curious to hear if you ever experience feelings of competition from other organizations. If so, how do you respond? What are some ways you work to lessen that and collaborate with other organizations?

Story Time:
My shelter is in the middle of a capital campaign to build a much needed, upgraded facility. Over the years, our organization has built relationships, grown our program offerings to extend our reach to new areas of need (working cats, medical resources, senior assistance, pet bereavement services, etc.) and because of this we've earned the trust of many in our community.

One of our main supporters over the years is a family that has been with us since the beginning, has a love of our shelter and has provided financial support for various projects. The matriarch of the family passed away, and a $2million donation was made towards our capital campaign in her honor. While many are supportive, appreciative, and as excited as we are, there are also people from other animal organizations that are upset it was given to us and state we don't deserve it for the following reasons:

• We maintain contracts with the city and county in regards to stray animals
• Our current building is city owned and was "given to us" (It also houses city Animal Control which is a separate entity)
• Earlier this year the city voted to donate an unused piece of land for our new building to be constructed on
• We have recently partnered with a university who is starting a new veterinary school in town to grow our medical program/resources
• Other organizations get less money than ours does
• People remember the way things were 20 years ago, before our organization became a 501(c)(3), before new leadership, before so many programs were changed and we truly became a no-kill/low-kill shelter
• People are spreading rumors that we falsify our transparency data because they don't understand how our processes work, and are stuck in this mindset that our save rate can't possibly be as high as it is (I promise it's 100% accurate)

Our shelter truly has transformed over the last 5 years especially, and though I may be biased we have worked our butts off to overturn any previous misconceptions. People can SEE the difference. There is a reason so many people choose to support us. We have become so much more than "just a shelter."

So what are your tips on creating a community of collaboration, rather than competition? How do you you educate people and get them to see that it is not/should not be one organization against another?

Could any of your programs possibly help the other rescues in your area too? For example, maybe the new veterinary partnership could provide spay/neuter services to some of their animals as well as the ones in your program. Or maybe next time you have a training that could benefit them also you could invite them to open the lines of communication?

For those who are from communities that have more than one shelter/rescue/animal welfare organization, I'm curious to hear if you ever experience feelings of competition from other organizations. If so, how do you respond? What are some ways you work to lessen that and collaborate with other organizations?

Story Time:
My shelter is in the middle of a capital campaign to build a much needed, upgraded facility. Over the years, our organization has built relationships, grown our program offerings to extend our reach to new areas of need (working cats, medical resources, senior assistance, pet bereavement services, etc.) and because of this we've earned the trust of many in our community.

One of our main supporters over the years is a family that has been with us since the beginning, has a love of our shelter and has provided financial support for various projects. The matriarch of the family passed away, and a $2million donation was made towards our capital campaign in her honor. While many are supportive, appreciative, and as excited as we are, there are also people from other animal organizations that are upset it was given to us and state we don't deserve it for the following reasons:

• We maintain contracts with the city and county in regards to stray animals
• Our current building is city owned and was "given to us" (It also houses city Animal Control which is a separate entity)
• Earlier this year the city voted to donate an unused piece of land for our new building to be constructed on
• We have recently partnered with a university who is starting a new veterinary school in town to grow our medical program/resources
• Other organizations get less money than ours does
• People remember the way things were 20 years ago, before our organization became a 501(c)(3), before new leadership, before so many programs were changed and we truly became a no-kill/low-kill shelter
• People are spreading rumors that we falsify our transparency data because they don't understand how our processes work, and are stuck in this mindset that our save rate can't possibly be as high as it is (I promise it's 100% accurate)

Our shelter truly has transformed over the last 5 years especially, and though I may be biased we have worked our butts off to overturn any previous misconceptions. People can SEE the difference. There is a reason so many people choose to support us. We have become so much more than "just a shelter."

So what are your tips on creating a community of collaboration, rather than competition? How do you you educate people and get them to see that it is not/should not be one organization against another?

For those who are from communities that have more than one shelter/rescue/animal welfare organization, I'm curious to hear if you ever experience feelings of competition from other organizations. If so, how do you respond? What are some ways you work to lessen that and collaborate with other organizations?

Story Time:
My shelter is in the middle of a capital campaign to build a much needed, upgraded facility. Over the years, our organization has built relationships, grown our program offerings to extend our reach to new areas of need (working cats, medical resources, senior assistance, pet bereavement services, etc.) and because of this we've earned the trust of many in our community.

One of our main supporters over the years is a family that has been with us since the beginning, has a love of our shelter and has provided financial support for various projects. The matriarch of the family passed away, and a $2million donation was made towards our capital campaign in her honor. While many are supportive, appreciative, and as excited as we are, there are also people from other animal organizations that are upset it was given to us and state we don't deserve it for the following reasons:

• We maintain contracts with the city and county in regards to stray animals
• Our current building is city owned and was "given to us" (It also houses city Animal Control which is a separate entity)
• Earlier this year the city voted to donate an unused piece of land for our new building to be constructed on
• We have recently partnered with a university who is starting a new veterinary school in town to grow our medical program/resources
• Other organizations get less money than ours does
• People remember the way things were 20 years ago, before our organization became a 501(c)(3), before new leadership, before so many programs were changed and we truly became a no-kill/low-kill shelter
• People are spreading rumors that we falsify our transparency data because they don't understand how our processes work, and are stuck in this mindset that our save rate can't possibly be as high as it is (I promise it's 100% accurate)

Our shelter truly has transformed over the last 5 years especially, and though I may be biased we have worked our butts off to overturn any previous misconceptions. People can SEE the difference. There is a reason so many people choose to support us. We have become so much more than "just a shelter."

So what are your tips on creating a community of collaboration, rather than competition? How do you you educate people and get them to see that it is not/should not be one organization against another?