Shelter Success Simplified

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 Cruelty to Animals as the Special State Police Officer for Cruelty Investigations.

MAIN QUESTION: How can leaders and managers get staff and public buy-in for return-to-field programs?

TAKEAWAYS:

• Removing cats doesn't work, never has and never will. Removing a cat is not serving the community; it's clearing a call log. It only solves the problem for a few weeks at most, as new cats will invariably move in to fill the void.
• Give your team all the information they need to fully understand why RTF is a better approach, how it works in other communities and why the old way is not effective.
• Some staff may be resistant to change because they don't want to face the fact that they've been doing something that doesn't work or because doing something new that goes against the way they have always done it can be scary.
• When someone calls to have cat picked up, that's when the discussion about RTF should start. Explain that:
• Removing cats isn't effective, as another cat will show up to fill the niche.
• Getting the cat fixed, vaccinated and returned decreases nuisance behavior, including spraying, yowling and fighting as well as preventing the birth of kittens.
• Share humane ways to deter cats from their garden or yard.
• When an officer has an encounter that doesn't work out well, talk it through with them, asking them how it may have been handled differently and offering suggestions.

LINKS:

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 good clear picture of the animal with their eyes wide open and looking at you.
• You may hear hundreds of similar stories about why animals end up in your shelter or at your rescue group. The public has not. So gather basic information even if it's not a unique story to you. Find out what you can about the animal and their backstory, especially where they came from and why they are now at your organization. You need details to tell a story that will interest your followers in adopting or donating.
• Make sure you have a positive spin on a story – don't point blame. Talk about how your organization helped, how your supporters made it possible and a bright future ahead, thanks to the generosity of kind supporters. Ask for specific help if needed, such as donations and foster homes.
• For social media:
  • You want a minimum of one post a day – this makes your posts more likely to appear in your followers' feeds. Busy and larger organizations should aim for two to three posts a day.
  • Interact with your followers. Like their comments. Thank them when they make a donation or say something nice.

LINKS:

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-term. It's better to reach out for help.
• Someone on the outside can often provide needed perspective. By being a sounding board, they can give you a sense of confidence and make you feel less isolated. You can find this help by creating or developing relationships with your peers at similar organizations. In addition to making connections within the field, people working at similar types of agencies within your own community can also be helpful. Consultants and representatives of national organizations with outreach teams can also be valuable.
• One sign you need help is if you're feeling stressed that you can never get on top of what's needed or if you know things need to change but you don't know how to do it with your existing resources.
• Consider an organizational assessment that looks at what's going well and that you should keep doing and what is not the best use of resources now.

LINKS:

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 Cruelty to Animals as the Special State Police Officer for Cruelty Investigations.

MAIN QUESTION: What are the common issues you find when doing organizational assessments of animal organizations around the country?

TAKEAWAYS:

The two most common challenges to successfully implementing a program are internal communication and training. Scott shared tips on both:

1. Communication:

• Often when leadership decides to pursue a new program, by the time it trickles down to the frontline staff implementing it, the why is lost so staff members revert to doing what they know.
• Hold productive meetings that include explaining:
• Why the new program works, including a few examples from other places where it has helped and
• How the program is to be implemented.
• Create a culture of two-way communication, where people are encouraged to ask questions if they don't understand.

2. Training

• Make training a priority. Investing time in training improves performance and increases staff retention.
• Schedule time to do it as a group. Watch a webinar together and discuss it, or schedule time to discuss assigned reading material.
• Engage staff in how a program is implemented – as this increases their buy in.
• For training resources check out the Best Friends Network Partners page – there's a link in the show notes.

Scott also talked how frequently leaders and managers assume that things are going well and are unaware of issues. He suggested three ways to know what's actually happening:

• Schedule time to routinely get out of your office and walk around and observe how things are being done and talk with your team.
• Plan an annual assessment – this could be a self-assessment or one conducted by consultants.
• Secret shopping your shelter: Call your own organization and ask a question to see how well (or not so well) your staff is doing helping people. Send a friend in to adopt a pet and have them tell you about the experience.

LINKS:

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 repositories for animals, it is especially important that we have effective ways to manage communications with the public.
• A good tracking system is needed in order to make sure cases don't fall through the cracks. Follow-up and trustworthiness are essential to building good community relations.
• Doobert.com has a new Companion Case Management module specifically designed for animal organizations to help them keep better track of public interactions and to effectively collaborate with other organizations in the community.
  • For example, you can assign tasks to specific people and even other organizations, set up automated follow-ups with people seeking help, view cases on a map, and view only tasks assigned to yourself.
• You can create a case to see how it works with a free Doobert account or request a demo for your organization through Doobert.com.

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