A shelter or rescue’s primary role is to provide care and find suitable homes for animals with nowhere to go. While this effort often takes all hands on deck, dedicating resources to preventing animals from entering your care could save more lives in the end. Let’s go over some places to start. 1. The top reason people surrender their animals is financial hardship Most of these hardships are temporary – losing a job unexpectedly, medical bills, etc. Shelters and rescues can keep these animals in their homes is by providing a way to help families weather the storm. Create a community food pant ..read more

Our goal is never just adoptions, it’s lasting adoptions. Not all animals are a fit for all homes. In this article, we will talk about what makes a good match and how you can help adopters find their right match with any level of resources available to your organization. What makes a good match? Before you help an adopter find their next animal, let’s walk through the steps of determining what that really means for your organization. Determine what is considered successful for any given animal in your rescue or shelter. If you don’t already have a definitive guide for this, sit down with your ..read more

You may have read our Limiting Factors Series that outlines the shelter and rescue strategy of identifying the single most influential factor in why you were not able to save the last animal. We are piloting a national program to grow this operation style. Who can join? Any animal rescue or shelter that has an intake of at least 5 animals per month. What does it look like? 30 minute phone consultation to get to know a little more about your organization Initial data analysis (if you don’t keep data on intake, euthanasia, or adoptions -that’s okay! We can work with whatever you are starting wi ..read more

Off-site adoption events can be a great way to generate interest in any animal at the event but they also get your team out in the community and are a great opportunity for marketing, fundraising, and networking. Whether you frequently have adoption events or if you’re brand new, this article will cover the top things to keep in mind for a successful event. Event Location The location of your adoption event is extremely important. Here are the things you will want to look for: Safe for animals and people – Avoid locations near busy roads or fast moving water. Make sure there is shade for the ..read more

Many rescues and shelters have more animals than they can find homes for in their community. The solution is often to find a partner rescue in a part of the country that has a higher demand. In this article we will go over how to create relationships with partner rescues and how to maintain those relationships to save more animals in your community. Creating a good rescue partnership There are a few key parts to finding a good partner and being a good partner. Let’s walk through them: Clear expectations – Before you send your first animal, be clear about what you want and need from the other ..read more

It’s a scary time for animal care workers. Shelters and rescues all over the country are overflowing with animals. Even shelters that had or have rescue partners in other areas, those partners can’t get animals adopted either so it can feel like there is nowhere to go. Euthanasia rates are on the rise for the first time in 5 years according to the Best Friends Animal Society annual report. It’s overwhelming. In this article, we are going to cover some small steps you can begin to overcome the high rate of animals in your care. You may have adopted some of these strategies already so feel free ..read more

Despite all your efforts, sometimes there are dogs that seem stuck in your program. In this article we will go over how to identify reasons for long stay dogs, ways to help get those dogs adopted, and how to prevent long stays in the future. Long stay trends The first step to identifying trends in your long stay dogs is to define what a ‘long stay’ is. We define long stay as any dog who has been in your care 50% longer than average. That means that if your average stay is 2 weeks, a long stay dog is defined at 3 weeks or more. Once you’ve determined a dog is long stay, it’s time to start figur ..read more

A common issue your rescue or shelter may face is volunteers engagement. It takes a lot of time to recruit and train volunteers so it can be really disappointing when you feel like you don’t have the team you need to succeed. In this article we will cover common reasons volunteers can fade off and how to prevent losing volunteers by keeping them engaged. 5 Reasons volunteers fade There are many reasons why volunteers may not have time to dedicate to your organization. This article does not apply to people who cut down their volunteer hours for commitments in their personal life, this addresses ..read more

Unfortunately, returns are an inevitable part of any rescue or shelter. However, there are steps we can take to prevent returns without introducing adoption barriers. In this article, we will cover the most common reasons people state for returns, how to prevent these things from causing returns, and how to identify the top reasons in your own organization. Most common reasons for returns There are 100’s of reasons why an animal is surrendered or returned. We are only going to be covering the most common across the industry but if you have a specific problem, don’t hesitate to contact us and w ..read more

Many rescues and shelters have more animals than they can find homes for in their community. The solution is often to find a partner rescue in a part of the country that has a higher demand. In this article we will go over how to create relationships with partner rescues and how to maintain those relationships to save more animals in your community. Creating a good rescue partnership There are a few key parts to finding a good partner and being a good partner. Let’s walk through them: Clear expectations – Before you send your first animal, be clear about what you want and need from the other ..read more