Accessible Navigation
Austin, TX
|
Austin Humane Society, Animal Trustees of Austin, Emancipet and Austin Animal Center were already meeting regularly when they became an ASPCA Partnership Community in 2007. As cooperative relationships grew stronger among these agencies, together they developed new strategies that would reshape how Austin takes care of its homeless pets—and serve as a model for other shelters across the country. "Being chosen as partners meant the ASPCA trusted us to create a humane community. From there, we learned to trust each other and trust them to guide us. Our clients had to trust that we would compassionately care for their pets, and our donors had to trust that we would be good stewards of their gifts. Trust was everything." – Missy McCullough, Executive Director, Animal Trustees of Austin WhoAustin, TX: Human Population, 1,024,266*
*2010 Census What They've Accomplished Together- Emancipet, Animal Trustees of Austin (ATA) and Austin Humane Society (AHS) provide nearly 30,000 spay/neuters annually, an increase of 162.6% over 2006 numbers. Challenges They FacedEvaluating resources and finding common goals aren't always easy for agencies that operate independently. Building trust requires transparency, which can be intimidating for groups that feel proprietary about their work or who don't trust wholeheartedly in the other agencies. Additionally, the Austin partners had never shared or analyzed their data together in order to drill down on the source of the community's pet population problem. Getting Set for SuccessASPCA data specialists took the raw data from each partner, unscrambled it and put it into a database. The initial report showed what was really happening in the community—for example, a disappointing 52.9% LRR—which turned out to be much different than the partners had predicted. "The data was a huge eye opener for all of us," says Lisa Starr, then Public Relations Director for AHS. "We thought we were covering all of our bases, but it showed glaring gaps in our community services that we didn't know we had." The Austin partners felt a sense of urgency to tackle these deficits, and agreed to collect data in a similar way going forward. Using the 2006 baseline data, the Austin partners began asking new questions.
The data revealed answers that would shape their programs over the next five years.
What WorkedThe Austin partners implemented many strategies that tapped each of the partners' strengths while increasing cooperative efforts.
Why It WorkedThe Austin partners successfully achieved their common vision by: Case in point: in the partnership's beginnings, the agencies made an important strategic compromise based on what the data was telling them—that feral cats were the largest cause of pet overpopulation. Rather than divide TNR and spay/neuter services among several groups, the partners felt the community would benefit from more focused strategies. In addition to handling the sterilizations of the 4,000 shelter pets received annually, AHS was in a unique position to expand capacity at their shelter clinic, potentially handling the 5,000 TNR surgeries projected for the program. With support from the ASPCA, the two spay/neuter clinics agreed to try an unconventional strategy: Emancipet and ATA would sterilize owned pets only and redirect the entire feral cat program to AHS. "As a spay/neuter clinic, it wasn't easy giving up something that was logical for us to do," says Mills. "We didn't lose anything from this new strategy. In fact, each of our agencies got stronger and more efficient as a result." "The real value the ASPCA Partnership brought to Austin was not so much the specific projects they funded over the years, although that did make a huge difference, but in their investment in each partner agency's capacity to save lives. Each individual agency got bigger and stronger because of the ASPCA's investment. We're better prepared as a community to meet the challenges ahead." – Amy Mills, CEO, Emancipet What's NextThe Austin partners graduated from the ASPCA Partnership program in 2011. They will continue to collect and submit their data for five years following graduation, to ensure their vision and to analyze the impact of their work over a decade. Agency leaders meet monthly to network and nurture each other, coming together to build and sustain the programs that helped them reach their shared goals. They also mentor other ASPCA Partnership communities and share insights on how to develop and manage collective impact initiatives. |
Do It Today!
