Shelter’s Edge

What’s new in the sheltering world? How about an innovative program that reaches an untapped market of adopters, stretches shelter capacity, has been researched by the ASPCA and has a lower return rate? We’re talking the ASPCA Adoption Ambassadors program, which empowers fosters and volunteers to facilitate adoptions directly from foster homes.

A key component of the program is providing fosters — your Adoption Ambassadors — with cool tools and resources like these:

Have your people call my people
Marketing of the dogs is key to the success of the Adoption Ambassadors program, in which volunteers act as “talent agents” for the dogs. What more fun way than to hand out business cards to potential adopters? You can provide your fosters with printed cards like the one here, or blank cards that the Adoption Ambassador can customize with the dog’s info.

Power suit

Equip your Adoption Ambassadors with Adopt Me vests. These can be inexpensive and purchased in various sizes online, or volunteers can help make them. Talk about a conversation starter when out and about!

Hit the hot spots
Provide your fosters with a list of places they can start looking for potential adopters. This living document will grow organically as volunteers add locations and helpful hints. Be sure dog-friendly places are on your list, as well as parks and public places that get a lot of foot traffic.

More like this? For full details on the program, including results of the research conducted at the Louisiana SPCA and a step-by-step plan for implementing it at your agency, visit the Adoption Ambassadors section on ASPCApro.org. Got Qs? Leave ‘em in the comment box.

Related links:
Webinar recording: Increasing Adoptions: Adoptions Ambassadors
Adoption Ambassadors on ASPCApro.org
ASPCA Research: Fosters As Adoption Agents

Tags: adoption ambassadors, Foster Care, Research, Research & Data, Return to Owner, Saving Lives

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