GUEST: Scott Giacoppo. Scott is the Director of National Shelter Outreach for Best Friends Animal Society and oversees the development of lifesaving efficacy and sustainability for animal welfare partners across the U.S. Prior to Best Friends, Scott was president of NACA – the National Animal Care & Control Association – as well as chief of Animal Field Services for the District of Columbia for 10 years, overseeing all animal control and cruelty investigations team members for Humane Rescue Alliance. He began his animal protection career with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of ..read more

GUEST: Kimberly Wade. Kimberly is an expert consultant for Humane Network focusing on communications and social media. She was campaign manager for Maddie's Pet Project in Nevada, communications director at Nevada Humane Society, news producer at KOLO 8 News Now, and has a degree in broadcast journalism and communications from the University of Central Florida.  MAIN QUESTION: What are some tips for animal organizations to create better social media pages and posts? TAKEAWAYS: If you don’t have a photo, you don’t have a story.  To take good photos, avoid a busy background. Get a goo ..read more

GUEST: Brent Toellner. Brent is the Senior Director of National Programs for Best Friends Animal Society. Prior to joining Best Friends, Brent, his wife, Michelle, and a few others co-founded the Kansas City Pet Project to run the municipal shelter in Kansas City, Missouri.   MAIN QUESTION: There's a lot of pressure in animal welfare and people can feel alone in their work — what tips and ideas might help? TAKEAWAYS: In animal welfare, we’re pushed to do more with limited resources. People often feel they just need to work harder and do more programs, but that doesn’t work in the long-te ..read more

GUEST: Scott Giacoppo. Scott is the Director of National Shelter Outreach for Best Friends Animal Society and oversees the development of lifesaving efficacy and sustainability for animal welfare partners across the U.S. Prior to Best Friends, Scott was president of NACA – the National Animal Care & Control Association – as well as chief of Animal Field Services for the District of Columbia for 10 years, overseeing all animal control and cruelty investigations team members for Humane Rescue Alliance. He began his animal protection career with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of ..read more

GUEST: Chris Roy. Chris is a technology guy by day, and the founder of Doobert at night and on weekends. Doobert helps you help animals and is the only software that organizes transport, and the only foster management platform allowing you to send and receive texts with fosters. And Chris has continued to build out Doobert and recently added a new case management module. MAIN QUESTION: How does Doobert's new Companion Case Management module improve communications with the public? TAKEAWAYS: As animal organizations increasingly focus on becoming resource centers rather than primarily as reposi ..read more

GUEST: Lori Weise. In 1996, Lori founded Downtown Dog Rescue, which rescues dogs and provides services for low income pet owners in underserved communities in Los Angeles County. She is the founder of the South LA Shelter Intervention Program and one of the founding members of the Best Friends Animal Society's initiative No Kill Los Angeles and advised the ASPCA on their Safety Net Program at LA county shelters. And Lori is a national speaker on community programs and the shelter intervention model of keeping pets in homes.  MAIN QUESTION: How can animal organizations better meet people w ..read more

GUEST: Kat Albrecht-Thiessen is a pioneer in lost pet investigations. She was a police officer, bloodhound handler, crime scene investigator, and search-and-rescue manager before beginning to apply her skills in 1997 to finding lost pets. She is founder of Missing Animal Response Network and author of the book “Pet Tracker.” MAIN QUESTION: How can shelters and rescue groups support the public in finding lost pets? TAKEAWAYS: Don’t make assumptions about found pets such as that a pet has been abused or dumped, rather than simply lost and on their own for a long time. Such assumptions can get i ..read more

GUEST: Karen Green is executive director at Cat Adoption Team, the Pacific Northwest’s largest nonprofit, feline-only animal shelter. Before that, she was senior director at the Alliance for Contraception in Cats & Dogs and assistant director of the No More Homeless Pets program at Best Friends Animal Society. MAIN QUESTION: How can animal organizations build a healthy workplace culture, which is so important in a competitive job market? TAKEAWAYS: Open two-way communication is key to having a strong, positive organizational structure. If there’s a program or policy that isn’t working, yo ..read more

GUEST: Bonney Brown was Executive Director for six years at Nevada Humane Society, an open-admission shelter. She has been Chief Operating Officer, National No More Homeless Pets Director and Communications Director for Best Friends and was National Campaign Director for Alley Cat Allies. Bonney is currently president and co-founder of Humane Network, where she is often involved in assessing and creating fundraising campaigns for shelters and other animal organizations.    MAIN QUESTION: What works to engage more members of the community with our animal welfare work so that we can ra ..read more

GUEST: Diane Blankenburg is CEO & Co-Founder of Humane Network. She was Community Programs & Development Director for Nevada Humane Society, Katrina Rescue and Recovery Director for Alley Cat Allies for 2 years, and Network Director for Best Friends Animal Society.    MAIN QUESTION: How can leaders and managers handle internal staff conflict better?   TAKEAWAYS: A leader or manager should get involved with a staff conflict if it starts to get in the way of work getting done, goals of the organization, or team relationships. Consider the consequences of not dealing with ..read more