Animal Welfare Professionals

Hi all, hoping to obtain some advice and open a discussion about how various organizations run their foster programs. 

Bit of a rant (making this post anonymously to preserve the privacy of the volunteers who we've encouraged to participate here) - we are a small foster based rescue organization, we're a tight ship : every dog is fully vetted, adopters are required to check-in, fosters are highly resourced; we pride ourselves on educating the public (and everyone in the rescue) to decrease the surrendering population, we have a very low return rate (under 5% for our entire existence of almost 10years),  etc . With all the great things to say about our organization we have had a difficult turnover of our foster coordinator position, it is mostly costly to our own morale and psyche. We tried so many different things, but at the end of the day no one lasts more than a few months. We have had this position as a volunteer for many years, then we decided to allocated a full time salary to it so we can hire a professional person who is driven, committed and aligned with our mission.  As core staff - we feel depressed and deflated each time the hired person decides to leave.

So I'm reaching out for some advice, some information, some understanding of what we can try differently to help secure a long term person:
How do you run YOUR foster programs? 
What is the title of the person in charge of your foster program? (ie manager, coordinator, director, etc)
How do you breakup any duties related to how the program runs?
Do you pay a foster coordinator? if so, what is the range of salaries? 
How many people are in the Foster Program (not discussing fosters but rather those who work with them)?
Do you have mentors? 
What means of communication do you use? (slack, email, calls, texts, facebook groups, whatsapp etc)

and finally - where do you suggest we look for this  type of person to help us save lives? 

any and all advice would be appreciated, thank you all in advance. 

I am the Foster Care Coordinator for our foster-based organization.  I was hired five years ago after the organization had numerous problems with the then volunteer foster care coordinator. I get an hourly salary of $23, which does not include insurance  or paid sick days, but does includes 5 days vacation and paid holidays. Since we are a foster-based rescue, I work out of my home.  Communication with caregivers is primarily via email and texts. I am the only paid employee in our organization.  I oversee all aspects of the foster care program from soliciting and approving caregivers, choosing animals to foster, coordinating vet visits, supporting caregivers, promoting adoptions via Facebook, Instagram, Petfinder, Adopt-a-Pet, etc. , as well as approving and processing the majority of adoptions.

Thank you so much for your response, great details; how many animals are you in charge of on average? 

I am the Foster Program Manager for my organization. I am a full-time, salaried position, and I have a full-time staff of three. I have one placement coordinator who does all the match-making, and two medical techs who handle all of the medical needs of all the animals in our foster program. We average about 275-300 animals/month in foster care during kitten season, and about 100/month or so in the ever-shortening "off" season. 

We are a private organization with a county contract to run our county shelter. We have a brick-and-mortar adoption center, so our foster program is reserved for animals that are not yet ready for adoption due to age or medical/behavioral status. Once an animal has been cleared for adoption, we schedule it to return to our adoption center to be adopted. We provide our foster families with all the basic care supplies, food, and medication they need during their time keeping the animal, and we typically see each animal every 2-4 weeks for a wellness exam/recheck exam with one of our med techs. Our placement coordinator is in charge of taking the animals we have in need and matching them with foster volunteers. They do this by having a conversation with the foster families that have signed up to take the specific animal-type (URI dogs/cats, neonates, nursing moms, etc) and go over all the needs of that specific animal to ensure the foster parent is fully informed and feeling up to the task. They are also the main point person for our fosters to reach out to if they need additional supplies. Our medical techs handle anything medically related, from sneezing to limping to full-on crashing. They also handle any medication refills the foster parent may need. They work closely with our organization's veterinarian, but they are given autonomy to treat animals as they see fit according to guidelines given by our vet, and they do NOT have to run every decision by the vet before proceeding with a treatment plan & prescribing medications. For more severe/involved cases they will involve the veterinarian.  As the manager, I oversee daily operations and ensure my team has everything they need to get their daily tasks done, I make sure all of the information we hand out to our foster parents is all up to date/work on updating policies & procedures, and I, of course, have the "manager" conversations with foster parents who are being problematic. 

I earn in the low $20s per hour, with the rest of my team earning in the high teens per hour. Our organization also provides really generous PTO each paycheck, as well as health, dental, vision, and life insurances. We have a total staff of just under 100 people. We use Slack as our internal messaging system. To communicate with foster parents we generally text and email, with the occasional phone call (we found most people respond quicker to texts & emails). We use Setmore to schedule our appointments, and Shelterluv as our internal database. We also have a Facebook group where we'll sometimes post pleas, but we generally don't get a lot of responses from those posts so it's most commonly used by our foster parents to post photos and videos and communicate with each other. Any time our organization is hiring, we post on Indeed as well as our website. For our higher leadership roles, we'll also post on places like The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement. 

I hope this information helps! I've been with my org for just over 9 years, 8 of which have been working in the foster department. When I started, it was just my boss, myself, and one person from our medical team who was assigned to handle foster appointments. I was in charge of handling pretty much everything from match-making to developing policies to growing the program when I first started. It's been a long road to get where we are now (and I still have big plans to continue expanding!), and there have been more than a handful of times I considered leaving because, as we all know - it's a LOT! I've always had fantastic bosses who hear me when I tell them I need help and who fight for me to get the support I (and the program) need. Our animal care department typically has a very high turnover rate, so I can definitely commiserate with you on the wear and tear that takes on other staff! Have you tried reaching out to the folks who have left to ask them for constructive feedback? 

Good luck!