Animal Welfare Professionals

Where I am located, we are drowning in cats and dogs, as I'm sure most of you are.  We took in 19 dogs in ONE day recently.  We are open admission and cannot, and will not turn down taking in dogs/cats.  It is so hard when our small building is literally busting at the seams with dog crates in every nook and cranny of our building.  Aside from approaching our local city council, and begging for our ordinances to be enforced (we are doing that)...what have you all done to help keep euth. rates down, and adoptions up (well screened adopters)?  How do we widen our foster base?  We have been working with Best Friends, and are currently working to hone the talents of our staff and volunteers...but we need help.  Underfunded, overcrowded and no end in sight.

Hello, Gwen:  Sadly, we are all in a similar predicament, all over the US.  However, there are a few things that you may or may not be doing yet, that might help!  

Our shelter is in Santa Paula, CA is an open admission, non-profit, City shelter, we face the same challenges as you.  However, we have been a completely no kill shelter, where every single animal gets their second chance at life, since our opening in 2012 and have had to work even harder to maintain our no kill mission, post Covid, so we empathize with you.

1. If you have a Facebook page, be sure to ramp it up to become extremely community-oriented.  Include information and explain how important the members of the community are to your mission.  Invite them to be part of the solution.  Post as many adoptable animals  (with great photos/videos) as possible, daily.  Facebook gurus say to limit posts to 1-2 per day, but animal shelters are one of the few industries which still truly benefits from more posts on FB.   If you have compelling stories, in addition to your "adoptables posts, all the better and 8-10 posts, daily,  are acceptable if you have a devoted following and you involve them in the story.   Provide a short, but compelling story for every animal, explain how full you are and always ask people to SHARE!  Instagram is also a valuable tool to gain exposure for adoptable animals, of course.  If you are promoting an individual animal, be sure to provide the beginning, middle and happy end of their story in posts, to keep your audience glued to your social media pages!
2. Participate in national or local shelter adoption promotions at every opportunity, whether it's Bissell Empty the Shelters or NBC Universal, Clear the Shelters or any local promos you are offered.  Bissell offers multiple events every year and it's well worth participating every time, to get more animals adopted, faster and they generously pay for the adoptions, up to a certain amount.  Maybe there are some local businesses who would like to sponsor a promo for you?
3. Send out interesting press releases about animals at the shelter or special events or special promotions at least once per month, always explaining the challenges facing shelter animals at this time.  Develop relationships with local media and be sure to have someone assigned to maintain those relationships.  Writing press releases according to set rules is important, so Google for information on how to send a proper press release.  Invite TV stations to a press conference and tour of your shelter to better understand the challenges you face.
4. Organize a special recruitment promotion for fosters and volunteers for a full month, posting invitation, daily on social media.  Hold a community meeting with a carefully written Powerpoint presentation, to re-introduce the community to your shelter and to encourage sign-up at the event.  Follow-up with a press release and photos and compelling emails to all of those who allowed you to save their email addresses, explaining what exactly what the situation is at your shelter and what fostering is and how important it is in saving lives!  Once fosters are signed-up. ask them to start Instagram and/or Facebook page to gain exposure for their foster and have them actively promote their foster for adoption.  If they're not computer savvy, they can come up with other ways of promoting their foster.  Final approval for adoptions should remain with the shelter and should be a priority.
5. Contact local boarding kennels and ask if they can board some of your dogs at special, low cost or free rates, perhaps in return for publicity.  Raise funds on social media to pay for the boarding fees and push the boarding animals for foster/adoption, every day to keep them moving.  Make sure all animal are spayed/neutered and vaccinated before they're sent to boarding.
6. It. is crucial to follow-up with foster families on a regular basis, every two weeks or so, as, if you have a large number in foster, you won't want them all at once,  asking you take animals back over holiday periods, when you probably won't have room.  It is a juggling act!
7. Explain the avalanche of intakes to your local City or County authority and ask if they can help publicize the need for adoptions and fostering, through their website or with bill mailing inserts.  Ask them if they have a TV channel and could you post animals on there?  Or could you make a video about the situation at the shelter to post on their channel?

No shelter ever seems to have enough manpower, but by soliciting more fosters and volunteers and focusing on marketing the animals with compelling stories and photos, we can ensure more stray and abandoned animals can  live long enough to be adopted!

I hope some of this is helpful for you, Gwen!  Good luck!

Nicky

Where I am located, we are drowning in cats and dogs, as I'm sure most of you are.  We took in 19 dogs in ONE day recently.  We are open admission and cannot, and will not turn down taking in dogs/cats.  It is so hard when our small building is literally busting at the seams with dog crates in every nook and cranny of our building.  Aside from approaching our local city council, and begging for our ordinances to be enforced (we are doing that)...what have you all done to help keep euth. rates down, and adoptions up (well screened adopters)?  How do we widen our foster base?  We have been working with Best Friends, and are currently working to hone the talents of our staff and volunteers...but we need help.  Underfunded, overcrowded and no end in sight.