Best Friends
No More Homeless Pets Forum
November 10, 2003

Friends of the Shelter Group

Julie Bank
Julie Bank

Could you start a "Friends of the shelter" group? Julie Bank of Maricopa County Animal Care and Control and Rick DuCharme of First Coast No More Homeless Pets will answer your questions about why and how you could launch a program to support the shelters in your community.

Introduction from Rick DuCharme:

If our goal is to end the killing of adoptable pets in shelters, then it is obvious that we must work with these local shelters in some way, shape or form to find homes for pets that may otherwise not get a home. There are many different levels at which we can work with local shelters, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly, that can immediately affect the number of pets finding homes. It is our duty to find out how to work with shelters and then, like the famous Nike ad says, "Just do it".

Each community and the circumstances of that community are different; however, if we always keep our goals in sight and allow those goals to govern our actions, then the path to follow will be obvious!

I'll be happy to answer your questions this week about how you can get involved in your community.

Introduction from Julie Bank:

Four years ago Maricopa County Animal Care & Control (AC&C) was a traditional animal control agency focusing on public safety. We would do what was mandated to do with a budget that we were stuck with. As we began to change our mission from animal control to a combination of animal control and welfare we realized that we needed to find some community support if we wanted to achieve our goals. We started accepting donations and volunteers and we created a plan to change our image thereby eliciting more support from the community.

Today, AC&C is receiving $10,000 a month in unsolicited donations and is actively soliciting donations with the help of our Friends of Group. The process is not an easy one but definitely an important step for our transformation. I look forward to our dialogue.

Questions


How do you start a "Friends of the Shelter"?
How to make sure a "Friends of the Shelter" group is on the same page as the shelter
What things do Friends of the Shelter programs fund?
Ways to help your local shelter reduce their euthanasia rates
Is building your own shelter as a "Friends of the Shelter" a good idea?
How do you raise the money?
Most successful fundraisers
Who decides how the money is spent?
What if the animal shelter refuses to work with you?
What can you do if you are not ready for an official Friends of the Shelter group?
Working with the shelter to achieve neuter before adoption
Keeping volunteer morale up when dealing with animals that might be euthanized
Can a Friends of the Shelter program do more than fundraising?
Do other humane groups get upset if animal control is fundraising?

How do you start a "Friends of the Shelter"?

Question from Kelly:

How do you go about setting up a "Friends of the Shelter" program? We are a small group of volunteers who help the local animal control by walking dogs and helping at adoption events and think this sounds like a great idea but don't even know how to begin approaching management or where to start.

Response from Julie:

Setting up a Friends of Group is a process that is well worth the time if done correctly. For us, the first step was to assemble a group of dedicated individuals. Our Friends of Group is designed as a fundraising group so we needed people who had experience and connections with fundraising. We set up the Board so that they were not involved in shelter policy or program decisions. If you are an outside group wanting to help an existing agency you will want to have a meeting with them prior to going through the process. Don't be upset if they are not open to your offer. They might not understand your intentions. Or, they might need someone like you to help them understand how a group can assist them. Governmental agencies cannot solicit donations but we can accept donations. That's why a Friends of Group is so important. Some agencies are afraid of Friends of Groups because they get too involved with policy and that can interfere with shelter programs. If you focus your group on raising funds I think you can make a good case to any shelter.

Once we assembled our main core (this included a lawyer, marketing person, financial person, PR type, grant writer and an accountant) we worked on our mission, by-laws, and articles of incorporation. We had to decide who we were, and why we were doing what we do, etc. Once we filed the paperwork to become our own non-profit we were official! For us a Friends of Group needed to be private because we are a governmental agency. For others, you might be able to work under the guidance of the existing agency. You might want to see if there is someone in your community that creates organizations for a living. They might volunteer their time to help with the process stuff.

Once we were official we had to take time to set up our structure (the by-laws provided most of that). Taking the time to set up a solid structure is crucial. How often would we meet, how will we recruit Board members, what was required of a Board member, was there a Board financial commitment, what would the Executive Board look like, what committees would we have, etc. were all questions we had to ask our selves. Our group, FACC, meets once a month and we communicate often by email.

Once you have gone thought this process you are ready to get to work. There are some terrific books that focus on fundraising, non-profit Boards, etc. You might also want to see if there is a non-profit organization within your local university that can help.

Response from Rick:

It sounds to me like you already have a "Friends of the Shelter" program started if you are walking dogs and helping at adoption events! That is exactly how we started in Jacksonville. So the real question is where do you go from here? I would suggest taking a step back and deciding exactly what you want your group to accomplish; in Jacksonville we decided we would concentrate only on those things that would either increase adoptions or decrease pets entering the shelters. Once you decide where you want to go you can figure out what it will take to get there.

How to make sure a "Friends of the Shelter" group is on the same page as the shelter

Question from a member:

Who has final say on how to do things in the "friends of the shelter" group? From my understanding, it is supposed to be a fundraising arm of the shelter, but if it has its own separate Board and structure, how do you ensure that the shelter and the Friends of program are always on the same page with the same goals? If they ever are at odds, who makes that decision on how to proceed?

Response from Julie:

Your question is an important one. The FACC (Friends of Animal Care & Control) in Maricopa County is a private 501(c)(3). It was set up that way on purpose so that we can actively fundraise for our special programs. As a government agency we can accept donations but we are limited when asking for donations. FACC allow us to do some of the more traditional fundraising activities that require a charitable ID number in order to participate.

We had been talking about a Friends of Board for a long time, but the time was never right to move forward. Either we had the wrong people wanting to work with us or we were not ready for the right people. When we were finally in sync we had to make sure that we set up a Board that fully understood their purpose – to raise funds for AC&C special programs. We did not need a group that got involved with program or policy decisions. We needed a group who were well connected and can bring in some money to help us with our mission. When FACC was formed the issue of fundraising and what they would fundraise for was written directly into their mission and by-laws. The people who were involved were not necessarily the animal people in town; they were more fundraisers and professional people who wanted to help.

That three members of the FACC Board would be AC&C staff was also written into the by-laws. The Executive Director, the Director of Public Programs and Development and the Director of Finance. We have voting rights and are active members of the Board. This not only allows us to fundraise, but it also gives us a say in what happens with FACC. At the beginning of each year we provide FACC with a list of programs that need funding. Then FACC votes on what they would like to support in that year. FACC and AC&C are very much on the same page. But, we have to work on it all the time by reminding FACC of all the good programs that AC&C offers and how they can support us through donations.

AC&C and Maricopa County is in the process of creating a Memorandum of Understanding to ensure clarity on support as well. FACC runs like a well-managed organization and as a result follow true to their mission of fundraising.

Response from Rick:

I think first of all we have to decide what we want these groups to accomplish. Do we really want to be friends of the shelter or do we want to be friends of the shelter animals?

If you become a nonprofit corporation you will have to have a Board and they would have the final say, of course your programs will have to be approved by the shelter director. If you feel strongly that you want to be associated with one particular shelter than you may want to ask their director to sit on your Board; however that could be a bad idea for several reasons.

I think it is unrealistic to think that the shelter and the friends program will always be on the same page of issues. The more important question might be how to work out your differences to keep your programs going. Your Board makes the decisions for your group and the government and its appointees makes the decisions for the shelter. Sometimes they will not be in agreement, and in those cases you have to decide if the disagreement is something you can look beyond in order to help the animals. Even when you disagree with the management we need to keep in mind we have to work with them in some way in order to help the homeless pets in their care.

A lot of goals can be reached with little or no fundraising, especially a lot of little things to increase adoptions, ex: volunteer adoption counselors, dog walking and socializing and setting up adoption events. I suggest forming your group to concentrate strictly on tasks that increase adoption or decrease the number of pets entering the shelter. It is the responsibility of the government to do the cleaning, feeding and care for the pets in the shelter, of course if these basic needs are not being met than that may govern some of your decision making.

If you decide if you need to raise funds to meet your goals, I would suggest forming a nonprofit organization. I would also suggest that the name of the group should reflect the goals of the group. Our name, First Coast No More Homeless Pets, Inc., pretty much tales the tale! A group called "friends of the animal shelter" may find itself tied to working with just one shelter, and in order to really make a difference we always have to consider coalition building among all shelters, rescue groups and other interested parties.

What things do Friends of the Shelter programs fund?

Question from Ann:

What are some of the things that a "Friends of the Shelter" program would fund? Are you worried that if the fundraising starts going really well that the County would cut funding for some Animal Control programs because they would expect the "Friends of" program to fund them and how to ensure this doesn't happen?

Response from Julie:

FACC (Friends of Animal Care & Control) in Maricopa County is designed to support non-budgeted items only. This is written into their by-laws. They are currently supporting our public programs such as our Big FIX public spay neuter program, our education programs, and our STAR (Special Treatment and Recovery) program that provides treatment to injured animals that come into our building. They are also working with the County towards a capital campaign for new facilities.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has been very pleased that we were able to generate community support. It is a constant awareness process for the FACC Board to remind the Supervisors of their commitment to AC&C and what they will and will not fund. FACC was set up to fund non-mandated services, so that the issue of cutting funds would not occur. So far, so good!

Response from Rick:

What are some of the things our group could fund? I would say the most important thing may be to ensure that your local shelters are altering pets pre-adoption, and at the least post-adoption but pre-release. If that basic is being met, I would look at the following possible programs, and in my opinion they are listed in order of their importance; however you may have to start with the easiest to accomplish and work your way to the more important:


I always try to pursue government funding for any program that effects pets entering shelters and if that fails I try to get some type of commitment that funding for this program will be considered in the coming year if private funding is located to get the program off the ground. So try to use your funds to start successful programs that the government will eventually take over funding of.

Ways to help your local shelter reduce their euthanasia rates

Question from a member:

I am a volunteer and member of a no-kill sanctuary. We adopt out approximately 50-60 dogs and cats a year. Our county shelter is putting down 12-13k animals a year. What is the best way to assist the shelter in reducing this euthanasia rate? The shelter has not approached our sanctuary for any help.

Response from Rick:

Since you already have your own shelter, your job here should be a little easier. Invite the local county shelter to participate in some of your adoption events. When you are holding off site events, or if you have an adoption event at your shelter invite them to participate along with you. If you are not currently doing some creative adoption programs now is the time to start and getting people involved at the start is always a good idea; however don't let them slow you down either. Also make it very easy for them to participate. At our adoption events our volunteers handle all set-up before and clean up afterwards. If need be we will assign volunteers to walk pets brought to events and even do screen adopters, handle paperwork and collect money. This has been very effective as we have animal controls from three counties participating in our events. For some we go so far as to pay for the pre-adoption spay/neuter so all pets coming to events are altered and ready to go to a new home.

Is there an aggressive spay and neuter program in your area targeted at the pets of low-income citizens? If not perhaps a program like that should be your first goal. Any program that you devise that will dramatically reduce the number of pets that are being surrendered to them each year would be their biggest help, an effective spay and neuter program is your best tool to those dramatic reductions.

Response from Julie:

I am a huge believer in partnerships. I applaud your interest in working with your local shelter in reducing their euthanasia rate. Let me share with you some of the things we have done here in Maricopa County:


I hope these tips help.

Is building your own shelter as a "Friends of the Shelter" a good idea?

Question from Melody:

We are currently a "Friends" 501c3 organization, assisting a city-owned shelter in our local community. This shelter handles about 500 animals a year, so small in scope and is a no-kill facility.

The County is in the early discussion stages of building a facility for the west-end of the county where we reside. Our group has just received a sizeable donation toward the building fund along with a promise of a significant yearly donation toward our spay/neuter fund from a private individual, after this building becomes a reality. The new County shelter will replace the City shelter we currently work with, and expand the number of animals assisted to an estimated 2000 - 2500 per year.

I'm hoping to find resources that offer various arrangements for "Friends" and government groups working together. Our arrangement now is that the City maintains the facility and the daily employees, our group handles all medical care, hosts adoption hours, fosters, socializes, trains, etc. All adoption fees / relinquishment fees/ impounded animal fees go back to the City and we get no financial support from the local government.

Does it make more sense for us to move forward as a private facility, offering animal control services to the county? What do we need to take into consideration to answer that question? With the donation we have received, it certainly makes building our own facility a very real possibility.

At the current facility, we do not euthanize animals (except in extreme health or behavior issues, usually amounting to 3-5 per year). We are concerned about losing this ability when working with a new facility and new entity. We certainly want to avoid taking this step backward.

Our hope is to pull together a "plan" before meetings begin between our group and the various municipalities that are involved. Any resources to point us in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

Response from Rick:

Wow! There is no way I can give you the advice you need right here. You need to really sit down and think this through, as from your questions it is obvious that you have started that process.

Our group has just received a sizeable donation toward the building fund along with a promise of a significant yearly donation toward our spay/neuter fund from a private individual, after this building becomes a reality. The new County shelter will replace the City shelter we currently work with, and expand the number of animals assisted to an estimated 2000 - 2500 per year.

If the donation you received is to build a shelter for your group and you are a no kill group the person giving may not want it to be used to help build a shelter that would have to perform euthanasia. Could you work at the new shelter and be a no-kill organization?

Our group handles all medical care, hosts adoption hours, fosters, socializes, trains, etc. All adoption fees/relinquishment fees/impounded animal fees go back to the City, and we get no financial support from the local government.

I am not sure why you would take on these activities with no support? Who would be doing this if you don't? Who would pay them? There is at least a minimum of effort required of the government to promote adoption before destruction, and I doubt the local citizens would be happy with just the minimum. I am not suggesting a knock down drag out with the elected officials but this is a service that costs money and is really a government responsibility.

Just from your brief description I would suggest really looking toward the San Francisco SPCA model that has been so effective. Two shelters, one no-kill and privately funded, the other open intake and government funded, each working on adoptions and the no-kill taking as many pets from the government shelter as possible when they are not able to be adopted.

Response from Julie:

Sounds like you have a lot of thinking and planning ahead of you. I would probably need some more information about what your current relationship is with the City to answer your question appropriately but in the mean time here are a few things to consider.

How do you raise the money?

Question from Joan:

I am in awe of the funding obtained for your programs. Julie mentions $10,000 per year in unsolicited donations and I saw Rick received $250,000 from the General Fund. How did you get your "friends of the shelter" to get into such a wonderful donating mode and get a contract with the County for such a large sum?

Response from Rick:

There is unfortunately no simple easy answer to how we were able to get the county to provide such extensive funding. The key was to not give up until it happened, and then to stay involved to make sure that things are done effectively when it did happen.

The first step with spay and neuter funding was to convince the people that had the money that we had the answer to the problem. This was done when our Mayor formed a task force to study the Animal Care and Control situation, and of course after studying the problem the task force had to recommend an aggressive targeted spay and neuter program as, at the very least, the cornerstone to the solution to the pet overpopulation program.

So just keep working at it and be very knowledgeable about what you are looking to do, get the people who control the money involved in the process. Help them to reach the same conclusions that you have!

Response from Julie:

Actually, AC&C takes in approx. $10,000 per month!! It was simple, all we did was put a line in our dog license renewal forms that says, "I would like to give a voluntary donation to help homeless animals." That line alone brings in the bulk of our non-restricted donations. This was bounced back and forth by the County Attorney who finally agreed that as long as we added the term Voluntary donation it would be Ok to ask. It is amazing how many people check yes. This proved to us that people were willing to help us even though we are a governmental agency. We also simply started to say yes instead of no when people offered to help. We created a structure and a process for accepting donations and thanking people accordingly.

Our Friends of group, FACC, only handles the programs that need active fund solicitation, special events and a non-profit status to be involved. AC&C accepts donations directly as well and has a system within the county to spend this money as well. The Maricopa County government was pleased to have FACC involved, because they are really big into community partnerships. FACC also proved that they are not an activist group that is going to point out all the problems. They are a group with a true interest in helping to take AC&C to the next level. This took time though because the county was not used to the community assisting them.

Today, AC&C and FACC have a great relationship but we have to be very careful that we run independently. We do not have a contract. FACC is a separate agency whose mission happens to be to raise funds for AC&C. When FACC raises money they then give AC&C a donation that must be accepted in a formal way by the County BOS. This has actually helped FACC stay in the forefront of the BOS radar.

Most successful fundraisers

Question from Alexa:

What has been the best fundraiser for your Friends of the Shelter program? And what has been the easiest to put on?

Response from Julie:

FACC has had two pretty successful fundraisers one easy, one not so easy.

The first was a cocktail party called the Hero Awards. We honored 6 animals that had done heroic things. It took us 6 months to prepare for this event but in the long run it paid off. We had over 300 people attend and raised over $100,000.

The second program was the easier one. We asked the community to submit a picture of their pets with a $15 donation to enter into our calendar contest. We got over 900 submissions and chose 12 to be the winners (and the months). All of the others were guaranteed to be in a collage in the calendar so everyone's pets got in. We got the design and printing donated, and we are selling the calendar in our local PETsMART stores. We believe we will raise over $60,000 from this project. There was very little work for the calendar contest. All we had to do is a little promotion and it took off.

Response from Rick:

Our most successful fundraiser that is the easiest amount of work so far has been handling the beverage concessions at local concerts. We work with the concert promoter to get the proper license and then we supply our volunteers to staff the beverage tents. We not only earn money from the sales but we also earn almost as much in "tips" to help homeless pets.

A cocktail party fundraiser was also very successful. One of our coalition groups basically handled the preparation. Over 100 tickets were sold at $75 each and then a silent auction was help with just five prizes that earned several thousand, and a raffle was held for a pair of donated diamond earrings. It seemed the key to the success of this fundraiser was having a person that knew the "right" people to invite.

Fundraising is vital to the success of the work we want to do. However the age-old scenario of what comes first the fundraising or the programs comes up. I have found that fundraising becomes easier the more you become known in the community and the more work your programs perform. Planning and implementation of fundraising programs needs to start at the same time as your other programs, because without one you can't have the other.

Who decides how the money is spent?

Question from a member:

I am still confused about who has the final say on how money is spent with a "Friends of the Shelter" program. Is it the actual shelter or the Board? If it is the Board, how do you ensure that they want to spend the money on the same things as the shelter? Even if you had staff on the Board, there are members of the public who may want to spend money on toys and beds for the animals while the shelter feels there are more pressing needs or they may not want to spend money on spaying pregnant cats if they are opposed to that philosophically. How do you find that balance?

Response from Julie:

AC&C submits to the FACC Board at the beginning of the year a proposal on what our needs are. FACC chooses the items that they believe they can support. The money is then given to us for those programs. FACC is not at all involved with programs so they rely on us to tell them what our needs are.

I think part of it is the way you set up your group. If your group is allowed to be involved in programs then you might have some difficulties about policy. If your group is like ours, their goal is to be our right arm and to assist by fundraising only. You also have to make sure that all of the Board members understand their mission and your mission. Clarity on roles up front is very important to make sure that your missions are aligned. If your Friends of Group is focused on adoptions only, you can't expect them to spend money on spay/neuter even if that is what your needs are. If your Friends of group has a different goal than your shelter you might consider forming another group that focuses more on your specific needs. You can still accept the donations that the first group offers but the second group is more aligned with your strategic goals. Just a thought.

Response from Rick:

The reason this seems a little unclear is because there are no clear-cut answers that fit all situations for some of the questions you ask. The members of the public usually just get to vote with their dollars what their wishes are (in other words if they like what you are raising money for then they will give). The answers to these questions are usually found in the organization papers and mission statement that are drawn up when the organization is formed. So to answer these questions, you have to decide what you want your group to accomplish. Then set up the organization so those can be reached. For example:

If you want your organization to be simply a fundraising tool to supplement the shelter's budget then you may set up the by-laws to require that a majority of the Board members are management level staff at the shelter. However, your Board will also probably have to consist of some influential citizens to facilitate the fundraising. Decisions would be made by a vote of the Board of Directors. Often on Boards, as on any issue, decisions are not unanimous but the majority rules.
If your organization is going to concentrate solely on increasing adoptions, then you set the mission statement to read just that, an example might be:
"ABC Pet Rescue will strive to dramatically decrease the number of pets being destroyed at City Shelter. We will do this by instituting programs that will greatly increase the pets being adopted from City Shelter."
Or you may want to change it to state "all area shelters" rather than specifying a particular shelter.

Basically the process to follow is:


Good Luck!

What if the animal shelter refuses to work with you?

Question from a member:

What if your animal control refuses to work with any rescues or humane organizations? Our animal control doesn't allow in volunteers or participate in off-site adoptions for "liability" issues. We would like to offer to help them take pictures of animals for their website, walk dogs, and help with adoptions, even transporting to off-site but they will not allow us in. How do you begin to make inroads to even discuss working together – if the Director says no, do you go to the Commissioners?

Response from Julie:

If you have actively approached your shelter and they say no, I would absolutely go to the next level up. But remember, when you approach them you should have a written plan that removes emotion and includes information on how you can strategically help them. They would be really interested in how you can help them change their image and increase funding.

If you have not had a good relationship with the AC you might want to find another ally to be your spokesperson. This way you can make your point without past baggage getting in the way.

Regarding liability, AC&C accepts volunteers and we are government. Let them know that there is a way to put liability back on the volunteers and away from them. Ask a lawyer to draw up a liability waiver and include that with a structured volunteer program that you will present to the commissioners with your plan.

Response from Rick:

This was of course the obvious question that was going to come up because there are some many shelters that feel threatened by volunteer help. Sometimes they have something to hide, but more often than not they would only gain by opening up to the public more. I would keep coming back to the director of the shelter with ideas on how you can help, put your ideas in writing and prepare a nice presentation (make several copies, you will need them). I would suggest trying to present your ideas over lunch, and perhaps if there is a senior staff member that is open to your ideas you might invite them along. If your ideas are rejected, don't get upset, but do find out exactly what the concern is that caused the idea to be rejected. If liability is the concern ask how they know that is the problem and who makes these decisions.

Hopefully they will say John Doe, the city's attorney said it wouldn't work or just about anybody. Then you contact that person, with the same presentation (perhaps a little improved and customized) and find out what the objections are. The goal is being able to identify the objection and then to satisfy that objection. Now you may find that you have satisfied that objection only for additional concerns to pop up, but don't be discouraged this is your plan! Ask them now, "so if I solve this concern we would be able to work out the details of an off site adoption program?" They will either have to answer that question with a "YES" or they will have to admit that no matter what you do, they are not going to work with you. Remember when somebody tells you "no, because (any reason they give)", what they are really saying is "yes, if you can fix this concern".

Now if the director just plain says no, with no reason given there is not much hope for getting them to change their mind. It is seldom a good idea to go over someone's head unless you think that person is not going to have their job for long. You may be better off finding a different shelter to work with in the area, or come up with a program that you don't have to work with the local animal shelter to help them. Any program you have that decreases the number of pets entering the shelter is a help to any shelter.

If you feel you need to go over the head of the ACC director, be sure and have your ducks in a row when you go in. Have a nice presentation ready that not only tells how your suggested program would work but also include examples of other shelters that have similar programs and describe the positive and negatives of their programs and how you would customize the program to work at your shelter.

What can you do if you are not ready for an official Friends of the Shelter group?

Question from a member:

I do private rescue work on a small scale in my town (foster and adopt from my home). I take dogs mainly from our city shelter. They are in an old building, understaffed, have very limited public hours, and don't do much in the way of adoptions. There are some other rescues in my area that I work with sometimes (we show animals at PETsMART together). I'm not sure we're really up for starting an official friends of the shelter group, but these other people and I would like help the shelter more. Do you have any ideas on what we could do that would help on a less formal basis than a friends of the shelter group?

Response from Rick:

How our group got its start was by taking dogs from the local shelter each Saturday to PETsMART stores and offering them for adoption. At the end of the day, pets not adopted go back to the shelter to try another day. We had to do a lot of different things in order to get the animals to the adoption sites, including taking the city's safe driver course to be able to drive the transport truck, staffing other city positions so that employees could be used to transport the pets, etc. We use ex-pens that can be purchased at PETsMART to keep the pets in while showing for adoptions. Currently we host monthly adoption fairs where over a dozen groups (including three government shelters) bring around 75 dogs and 35 cats to showcase, each of these events averages around 60 pets finding homes.

Another member had a great suggestion of taking digital pictures of the pets that are available at the shelters and posting them on the web at places like Pets911 and Petfinder. You could also set up your own web site and show the pets there.

Maybe offer to take shelter pets to the television station for weekly appearances on news shows or other local broadcasts. Take pictures and solicit sponsorships to place ads in the paper showing the homeless puppies needing homes.

If the pets at the shelter aren't altered before being sent home, this should be one of the first things that you try to work out. Pets should always be altered before being sent home; if not we are contributing to the problem rather than helping to solve it.

Programs that are necessary to end the pet overpopulation problem, but are not as fun as adoption, are programs targeted at altering pets of low-income citizens. This is probably the most effective use of resources in decreasing the number of pets entering shelters.

Response from Julie:

Sounds like you are doing a terrific job already. I think that wanting to do more is admirable but I would make sure that you have the ability, and it does not impact what you are already doing before you go forward with something new. If after researching it you find that what you are doing is the most you can do, celebrate what you are already doing. If you find that you are ready to do more than go for it with a plan of action.

I think the best thing for you to do would be to have a meeting with the shelter and ask them how you can help. What are their needs? Maybe taking more animals would make a difference? Maybe volunteering directly in the shelter would help? Maybe you can form a less formal group that helps them advocate for their needs within the community? Maybe you can spend your time doing a grassroots campaign to get more people to adopt from the shelter? There are many ideas but I think it all starts from your conversation with the shelter themselves.

Working with the shelter to achieve neuter before adoption

Question from Karey:

I am with an organization that is not a Friends of group but does work closely with our local shelter. We are trying to help them get all their pets fixed before they are adopted. We're having trouble figuring out the logistics. The shelter doesn't have a vet on site. The shelter suggested if we helped pay for vouchers they could send adopters home with vouchers to get the pet fixed, but I've heard that most people don't follow through, even with a discount voucher. We can help with funds for the program, but can't afford to fix every animal in the shelter, really just the ones that are going to homes (that's still only about a third of them). Also local vets don't do spay/neuter on kittens or puppies. Does either of your programs do something like this? Do you have any ideas for how we could work something out that won't be a logistical nightmare, will insure the pets get fixed, and won't cost an arm and a leg?

Response from Rick:

One thing that helped our group was animal control set up an adoption area and the most adoptable pets are selected and placed in the adoption area where they are kept until they find a home. This also makes it easier to institute pre-adoption spay and neuter. You may want to take a trip to a couple of shelters that are more aggressive at adoptions and examine how their system works. This would help you with suggesting changes at your local shelter. Then once a pet is selected to be placed in the adoption area it can be screened for health and behavior problems, altered, and placed in the adoption area.

As to funding you didn't mention what the adoption fees are, but whatever they are, I would suggest increasing them enough to pay for the medical costs. If that is possible then the only funds needed to be located would be enough to alter the first round of pets going into the adoption area. We are working with a local shelter who currently only charges $10 to adopt and then you must pick up the pet at a local clinic after it is altered and pay for the surgery. This ensures all pets get altered but discourages adoptions by not allowing the pet to go home immediately, and sometimes a delay of several days. We are working to get them to increase the adoption fee to $85 with the extra money collected going back into the spay and neuter fund to pay for future adoptable pets. Seed money to get the fund going could possibly come from a grant or gift, or perhaps money located in the budget.

Concerns will include working out reasonable pricing with local clinics to perform the surgeries and also the logistics of the program, particularly transportation.

Response from Julie:

I would have to know a bit more about your community but it seems to me that your shelter might be able to work out some arrangement with the local veterinary community. Is there a way that once an animal is adopted it gets transported to the outside veterinarian and the adopter picks up the animal from them? We do this with a shelter in Pima County. A few times a week they bring us their adopted pets for sterilization. Once ready, the same day, they pick them and send them home. If the shelter can get pets sterilized via vouchers there is no reason why they shouldn't be able to pre-set these appointments and send the animals directly to the clinics prior to pick up. I would focus on only those animals that have been adopted so that you don't waist resources and put an animal through the stress for no reason. If transport is an issue maybe you and your volunteers can help by doing the transport for the shelter.

Sounds like you might be ready to start a campaign to either educate the vets in the community or to raise funds to create a clinic for the shelter. That would be a great community project to focus everyone's attention on this issue and to raise funds for it. I know it sounds like a big project and probably would take years but it is well worth the effort. Think about it. You might be just the right person to make it happen. The only way to be 100% sure that animals will be sterilized is to do it yourself. A clinic does not need to be fancy-it just needs to be able to do the job.

Keeping volunteer morale up when dealing with animals that might be euthanized

Question from Becky:

How do you keep the volunteer morale up when they are working with animals that may be euthanized at a county shelter? We would like to do more off-site adoptions for our shelter, but our volunteers have a really hard time returning the animals that are not adopted back to the shelter at the end of the day, knowing that these animals may be killed when the shelter becomes overcrowded. We have the same problem with the taking pictures for the website, knowing that they may not be there in a few days.

Response from Rick:

This was a problem for us also, and you can imagine how the shelter workers feel. One thing that helped our group was animal control set up an adoption area and the most adoptable pets are selected and placed in the adoption area where they are kept until they find a home. This also makes it easier to institute pre-adoption spay and neuter. You may want to take a trip to a couple of shelters that are more aggressive at adoptions and examine how their system works, this would help you with suggesting changes at your local shelter. If you find that you just can't keep the volunteers to keep the program running, perhaps look at some other programs that helps the overpopulation problem without bringing you into contact with the shelter pets, such as pet sterilization programs targeted at the pets of low income citizens or programs that help to keep pets in their homes rather than being surrendered to shelters.

The fact of the matter is that we are all going to have to get used to working with at risk pets if we are really going to get to the heart of this problem. It is almost impossible to adopt pets from shelters without coming into contact with some that aren't going to make it. If homeless pets feel hope, imagine the hope they experience if they realize what we are doing! Imagine the hope we are giving to some very dedicated, but very overworked shelter workers! Sometimes we have to do things that we don't like or that keep us awake at night in order to get our job done.

Response from Julie:

Volunteers are integral to any program but they must be cultivated and trained like any staff member. It sounds like your volunteers need to be integrated into all aspects of planning and process and motivated to go above and beyond the basics. Discussion groups and strategic planning for the volunteers might help with this. Your problem is circular. If they don't volunteer more animals are sure to be euthanized, but if they do volunteer they might be not be able to handle it emotionally. I would recommend that you do a recruitment drive for some new volunteers who might be more comfortable with the role within the shelter. There are people out there would be motivated to help just because there is a possibility of euthanasia. Many of our volunteers choose to work with us just because our animals really need them.

As far as the existing volunteers, if they cannot emotionally handle the possibilities of hands on work than try to focus their energies on other areas; fundraising, PR, whatever their strengths are. Also, you can consider bringing in some professional resources to help the volunteers cope emotionally. Sometimes just talking about it helps them start a new day fresh.

Can a Friends of the Shelter program do more than fundraising?

Question from Stacey:

Do you think a Friends of the Shelter group should and could do more than fundraising? It seems that in Maricopa County, animal control is very progressive and has a lot of great programs. Our animal control does not. Can a Friends of the Shelter program do other activities like coordinate a volunteer program, do adoptions, create a foster home program? We are a group of volunteers who currently do these types of things, but we are always afraid that if we do something that the shelter doesn't like, that they will cut off ties with us. Then all those programs would not continue. How can we put something into place to ensure these programs will be able to continue and not just be cut off at the whim of a director who may not agree with something we do?

Response from Julie:

A Friends of Group can be whatever is needed. There are many models that focus on what you were saying in your questions. Here are some tips to make you shelter relationship be the most successful:


Do you think you can stay out of shelter politics or programs? If not, this might not be the right thing for you to take on at this point. Focusing on the agreed upon programs only will ensure a positive relationship. Good luck with your efforts.

Response from Rick:

Absolutely I think a group should and could do more than fundraising. In fact, fundraising is a means to an end. First you decide what your programs are going to be and then you figure a budget for those programs and raise the funds to get the job done! I think a group should do all of those things that you mentioned.

The best thing that can protect you from the wrath of a fickle director is to make your programs very successful. It is hard for anyone to argue with success. The other course is to make sure your programs don't depend on any one particular shelter. Set-up regular adoption fairs, and invite all local groups and shelters to show pets. Put together spay and neuter programs that will benefit the entire area.

Do other humane groups get upset if animal control is fundraising?

Question from a member:

Have you experienced other individual humane groups get upset that animal control is now doing fundraising through a Friends of program or in Rick's case that a coalition is doing it? We have tried to suggest doing some fundraisers that would benefit all the groups in our community and were received with a very negative response from groups who felt that because Animal control receives public funding and they don't, that they should not start fundraising in the public because it competes with their efforts.

Response from Julie:

Animal Control in any community is usually the place that people love to complain about. They expect them to do a lot more to help the animals in their shelter and their community. Unfortunately animal control agencies are often limited by the very budget that the animal groups are saying they receive. At our agency our budget does not allow us to do anything other than our basic legislative mandates. So, if we are going to promote adoptions, spay/neuter and our other public programs, we must fundraise. Rather than getting upset, all groups should join forces with animal control so that they can stop the problem were the problem occurs. At AC&C we believe that it is our responsibility to make a difference in our community but can only do it by getting community support. If this is going to upset small community groups then I am sorry, but we are as committed to making a difference as they are and believe extra funding is going to help us go the distance.

Response from Rick:

There will always be people who will find a way to be unhappy with whatever you do, so don't let these people slow you down. I think these people might come on board once they see how the funds you raise really do benefit the animals. I think it is important for you to continue to try and involve other groups in your fundraising efforts. I have written checks to groups who participate in joint fundraising even when their volunteers didn't show up in the numbers required. Joint fundraising and adoption programs are great coalition building experiences that help all involved start to learn how to work together. Sounds to me like you are off to a great start.
Kindness to animals builds a better world for all of us.
www.bestfriends.org