Shelter’s Edge

How do you like them digits? After just 60 days of competition, a total of 36,017 dogs and cats have been adopted or reunited with their owners by the 50 competing agencies—a combined increase of 8,390 over August and September 2011.

Q. Why is this clinic assistant at Animal Outreach of the Mother Lode so happy? A. Because she just finished deleting all the animals who'd been adopted that day from their Petfinder page! She's got plenty of reasons to smile, as the California agency is currently ranked #2 overall—and #1 in the West division.

Who’s in the lead as the contestants head into their 3^rd and final month of the ASPCA Rachael Ray $100K Challenge?

Click here for the complete leaderboard, including results for all 50 contestants.

It takes the support of the entire community to rock the Challenge. The employees and customers of NorthStar Bank recently donated 3 carloads of supplies to Denton Animal Shelter Foundation, currently ranked #5 on the leaderboard after Month 2.

And yes, we mean the support of the entire community... even the four-legged members. Doggy mom Delilah gives a snuggle to one of 4 orphaned puppies she is helping foster for SICSA, currently #10 on the leaderboard. Awwww...

Young Zeke, who organized a donation drive for City of San Antonio Animal Care Services, gives his favorite shelter a thumbs up—and so do we! The Texas agency snagged the #1 spot on the leaderboard with a 2-month increase of 783 lives saved over last year.

Recently Humane Society of Charlotte, currently leading the Southeast division and ranking #6 overall, had a great reason to celebrate—they reached their Challenge adoption goal! And of course, there's still another month to go...

A special shout-out to our division leaders after Month 2—City of San Antonio Animal Care Services (South Central); Animal Outreach of the Mother Lode (West); Humane Society of Charlotte (Southeast); Toledo Area Humane Society (North Central), and Animal Rescue League Shelter & Wildlife Center (Northeast)—and big kudos to all the competitors… you’re kicking major butt. Best of luck to all in the final weeks of the $100K Challenge.

To learn more about the 50 competing agencies, visit the $100K Challenge Blog.

Related links:

“$100K Update: Month 1 Leaderboard Unveiled!”
“Adopted: More Than 3,300 Dogs & Cats In First 5 Days of ASPCA Rachael Ray $100K Challenge”
2013 Challenge: This Could Be Your Shelter Next Year!

Hands in the air for these 50 rockin’ agencies that were voted into the ASPCA Rachael Ray $100K Challenge by their communities. Congratulations to them on making it through the Qualifying Heat; we can’t wait to see what they have in store for this competition, in which agencies around the country push and stretch and innovate in order to save more lives than they did during the same three-month period the year before. Meet you at the starting gate on August 1!

* A separate announcement will be made as soon as we confirm the 5 agencies to be wait-listed

Related Links:
ASPCA Rachael Ray $100K Challenge
Contestant List

Greater Androscoggin Humane Society (GAHS)…now, there’s one imPRESSive agency! We talked to Donna Kincer, GAHS Development Director, to learn how the Lewiston, ME, humane society engaged the media to help get them to their big Northeast Division win in last year’s $100K Challenge.

1. That’s One Spicy Media Kit!
“Make them say, ‘What the heck is that? Chinese food?’” says Donna. In addition to using this creative container in the press kit seen here, GAHS wrapped up the agency’s information in paw-print ribbon and added a “$100K Contestant” pin for a little pop. They sent—or personally delivered—the press kits to all the major newspapers and television stations in the state, as well as to their local community radio station. “We also included coupons for free pet ID tags for them to hand out to their staff, since getting more pets returned to their owners was such an important piece of the Challenge,” Donna adds.

2. Start Small, End Big
Donna lends us a dose of honesty here: “Getting on the news can be challenge… if a better story comes along, you are toast.” GAHS started by approaching the stations about getting a few adoptable pets on early morning community-based talk shows. “I am convinced news stations and newspapers stalk one another… one good news story or compelling community initiative and they will seek ­you out,” Donna says. That said, be sure to send stations an email and follow up with a phone call both prior to filming your segment and after.

3. Posters, Bag Stuffers & Lawn Signs…Oh, My!All these go hand-in-hand with creating and promoting your campaign. Donna explains: “We carried the same theme, SavingPetsInMaine.org, through the Challenge. One of my most memorable experiences was having our UPS driver come in and say, ‘You have a big event coming up this weekend.’ Of course, I had to ask where he heard about it; his response: ‘Everywhere!’  Mission accomplished!”

4. Double Duty
In addition to sending out your press release, call the reporters to pitch your story. Remember to treat any event like a campaign.

P.S. GAHS shared these tips in their webinar,”Life-Saving Tips for Small Shelters”— catch the recording here. To hear more successes from past Challenge contestants, join us for “Planning for Success: Life Saving Tips from the 2011 $100K Challenge Winner,” presented by Austin Pets Alive! this Wed, March 7, at 3pm ET. Register here.

Related Links:
“The Miracle of Maine!”
Telling Your Story
“Media 101: Five Interview Tips“

ASPCA Partnership agencies have made a big difference for animals all across the country, working together with other animal welfare agencies in their communities to increase their live release rates, saving the animals most at risk through sustainable data-driven plans and programs. Or in other words (er, numbers…), from the start of the ASPCA Partnership program in 2007 through August 2011, 13 communities combined have completed 401,193 targeted spay/neuter surgeries, while 346,779 animals have been released alive.

Just the stats, ma’am
ASPCA Partnership communities use their combined data to set shared goals and track their progress. As one agency describes it, “Detailed data collection is an awesome way to show when we are on the right track and when we need to do something different to save animals.”

And the importance of combined data? “Having accurate and detailed community data is a huge factor in getting community buy-in and donor support. No one can argue with cold hard statistics.”

The ASPCA Partnership in Oklahoma City provided for the construction of a new Homeward Bound quarantine facility, which will enable an extra 1,800 dogs to be transferred from the shelter annually—resulting in an estimated 16% increase in the live release rate for dogs.

ASPCA Partnership in agencies in Charleston County, SC, regularly collaborate on community adoption events. At this past November’s Fall in Love event hosted by Humane Net, homes were found for 181 animals from the 6 participating groups, including Pet Helpers and Charleston Animal Society. As seen here, adopters got to ring the bell each time an animal found a new home.

We’re gonna go through it together
Collaboration between multiples agencies in a community is the name of the game in the ASPCA Partnership. Says one agency, “We all see the difference that can be made when we work together and present a unified front. We may not always buy into the same ideas, but we have respect to agree to disagree.”

Adds another partner, “Our local partnership is setting the standard for benchmarking our community efforts.”

**CLICK TO WATCH VIDEO** ASPCA Partnership agencies collaborate not just with each other— they’re working with shelters all across the country. Check out this feel-good flick documenting the arrival of a transport of 45 pups from the APSCA Partnership community of Shelby County, AL, to the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society in Lewiston, ME.

To boldly go where no one has gone before…
ASPCA Partnership communities push out innovative programs proven to save animals’ lives—such as reduced- and fee-waived adoptions. Check out this newsclip featuring Asheville Humane Society’s participation in the ASPCA’s and Fresh Step’s fee-waived cat adoptions program this past June:

Think your community would be a good fit for the ASPCA Partnership? Find out how to apply here. Applications for 2012 are open now through Friday, February 17.

Questions? Post them in the comment box or email joinAP@aspca.org.

Related links:
ASPCA Partnership
How to Apply
“It’s Not Me, It’s Us”

In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday, we’ve been talking online and on Facebook about what we’ve been most appreciative of over the past year in the animal sheltering world. Please tell us what you’re thankful for, too.

- “I am thankful to the many shelters, spay/neuter clinics and rescue groups that used their data this year to help them save even more lives,” says Dr. Emily Weiss, Shelters’ Edge blogger and ASPCA Vice President of Shelter Research & Development. “We have learned that every number represents a wet nose… and nothing makes me more grateful than seeing the innovation and data focus to save more lives happening around the country!”

- Says the ASPCA’s Bert Troughton, MSW, Vice President, ProLearning and Shelters’ Edge blogger, “I am thankful for the opportunity to make a difference, the people I work with, the goofy, loveable look on Logan’s (my dog’s) face whenever our eyes meet…”

- From our ASPCAPro Facebook fan Harriett W.: “As a volunteer, I am thankful for the caring staff and the other volunteers who make the lives of the animals so much better while they prepare and wait for a forever home.”

- “I am amazed by the innovative work you guys are doing on social media, and a ginormous thank you to all of you who have let me share your successes and ideas with others in the field,” says Shelters’ Edge editor Pune Dracker. “That especially means you, Wisconsin Humane Society, SPCA of Wake County, Spokane Humane Society, Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society, Central Oklahoma Humane Society and UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program.”

- The ASPCA thanks the following animal welfare groups in our Response Partner Program for going above and beyond to save animal victims of cruelty or natural disasters this year: Columbia-Greene Humane Society; Dumb Friends League; St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center; Humane Society of Broward County; Washington Animal Rescue League; Spay and Neuter Kansas City; Wayside Waifs, and Charleston Animal Society. These agencies will be recognized with $10K grants for their work during the ASPCA’s response operations in Joplin, Memphis and New York City.

- We are thankful for the Association of Shelter Veterinarians’ Guidelines for Standards of Care in Shelters…

…and the National Federation of Humane Societies’ Basic Data Matrix for Community Animal Shelter data.

- From Facebook fan Gail T.: “True Innocents Equine Rescue is thankful for our tireless volunteers who spend hours cleaning pens, grooming horses and raising funds to help horses in need!”

- “I am thankful for our volunteers! Our volunteers are the best and we could NOT function without them!!” says Facebook fan Shannon.

- And from Emily S. via Facebook: “I am thankful for the homeless animals and all that they teach us. I am thankful that when their humans give up they do not. I am thankful to be a part of their journey.”

Please tell us who or what you’re thankful for in the comment box. And as Elvis would say, “Thank you. Thankyouverymuch.”