Why is this kitten’s face on this card?
P.S. Is your answer in the cards? Leave it here in the comment box. And we bet you pictured yourself reading the update to last week’s Wordless Wednesday.
Update, January 10: Thanks for your answers! You guys had a lot to say about young Maurice the cat. Check the comment box below to find out why Maurice was mugging.
Related Links:
Creative Cat Marketing
Fundraising on Shelters’ Edge
This week on Take Five Friday, I’ve got 5 questions for Amy Shrodes, Manager of Development at the Central Oklahoma Humane Society and the driving force behind this awesomeness…
The place? Midnight Woofness IV, last weekend’s mega-adoption event in Oklahoma City, at which 586 animals found new homes. The making of this masterpiece? Here’s the scoop…
Shelters’ Edge: I heard it was a spur-of-the-moment decision to put together the flash mob…exactly just how spur-of-the-moment?! Have you been involved in one before?
Amy Shrodes: I came up with the idea ten days before Midnight Woofness! I was in my car brainstorming while driving, trying to think up what we could do to get people involved with the event who may not be ready to adopt at this time. I wanted to do something fun to show how many people in OKC support pet adoption. Our theme was “A True Homecoming,” and we already had cheerleaders scheduled to attend the kickoff. A flash mob seemed like a no-brainer!
Yes, we had been involved in one once before. A local social media campaign trying to get Ellen DeGeneres to attend a Thunder game in our city during the NBA playoffs put one together and invited OK Humane to attend.
Shelters’ Edge: Tell me a little about your planning process—there must have been a gazillion little details to take care of!
AS: The first thing I did was get on the phone with one of my superstar volunteers who attended the Ellen flash mob with me, Whitney Zeka-McFadden. I told her about my idea, and she was all for it! She called a friend of hers who is a dancer and I started emailing some of my local contacts. Her friend agreed to choreograph the dance (this was on a Wednesday, just ten days before the event), and I met them on Sunday to look at the draft dance video. They made the instructional video after that, and the Tuesday before the event we blasted the video all over Facebook and Twitter. The dance happened on Friday night of that same week!
Shelters’ Edge: Who choreographed the steps, and how much rehearsal did you have?
AS: Ashley Armstrong volunteered to choreograph, and I organized one rehearsal night for the OK Humane staff members. They were each allowed to invite two friends. We also briefly rehearsed it with the cheerleaders about 30 minutes before the dance inside the training area at PetSmart.
Shelters’ Edge: Did you have any surprises or anything unexpected happen along the way?
AS: We were a little nervous that no one would show up and it would just be the cheerleaders and OK Humane staff members participating, but we found that a lot of the people “waiting in line” had actually learned the dance from the video and joined in!
OK Humane shared this one on their Facebook page along with the caption, “Everyone is in a good mood at Midnight Woofness—this little guy missed the flash mob by a few hours, but he gave it his all just the same!”
Shelters’ Edge: Any advice for shelters who’d like to try something like this?
AS: Don’t be afraid to use your contacts and ask for help! Make a Facebook event for it and it will go viral. And finally….don’t take it too seriously. We told all of our staff members not to stress about getting the dance perfect, just have fun with it!!
Shelters, have any of you done—or thought about doing—something similar? Share your experiences (and a link to the vid—you know we wanna see!) in the comment box.
This week on Take Five Friday we’ve got 5 questions for Christy Counts, President and Executive Director of the Central Oklahoma Humane Society, one of the agencies in the ASPCA Partnership. Counts reveals the recipe for the secret sauce in OK Humane’s highly successful, first-ever fundraising luncheon, which raised more than $100K for Oklahoma City’s Homeward Bound program.
Shelters’ Edge: Please set the stage for us—what’s the Homeward Bound program?
Christy Counts: OK Humane decided in late 2010 to embark on a new program called Homeward Bound. The Oklahoma City partnership had been very interested in participating in long-distance transport to aid in increasing the OKC city shelter’s live release rate. However, we were not able to guarantee healthy dogs for transfer without some type of quarantine building. It was decided that OK Humane would build a simple quarantine facility on OKC shelter property. This way the transfers from the OKC shelter to the quarantine facility would be smooth and efficient.
Shelters’ Edge: What was your fundraising goal?
CC: OK Humane needed to raise funds in the amount of $685,000 quickly to begin the construction and start the program.
Shelters’ Edge: How did special events fit into that goal?
CC: We decided to host our first-ever fundraising luncheon. We quickly arranged a holiday brunch-style event at the OKC Golf and Country Club, and targeted all of our friends who had expressed interest in OK Humane in the past. We had the goal of inviting 250 people to the lunch and expecting 100 to attend.
Our other goal was to have an average gift of $1,000. This meant we needed a very carefully selected guest list and expectations were made clear of participants from the beginning. Invitations were sent out and personal calls were made to the entire guest list encouraging them to attend.
Shelters’ Edge: How did the event roll out?
CC: Guests were greeted by teen board members holding adorable puppies with holiday ribbons. At the event we had pledge cards on each table that guests were encouraged to fill out by the emcee, OK Humane board member Alex Cameron. Alex is also an anchor on a popular local news channel. He gave a very sentimental and personal opening about why this project was important to him. He introduced my brief yet pointed presentation and slideshow. Once the presentation was completed, the brunch host, another board member and prominent social figure also gave personal testimony about the project. She announced she was challenging the guests (most of whom she knew) to match her gift of $25,000 to the project.
OK Humane Teen Board
The brunch raised approximately $11,000 the day of the event, but in the next six weeks ultimately raised $115,000.
Shelters’ Edge: Wowsa! What do you think is the secret to your success?
CC: We feel that the brunch was successful due to the intimate nature of the event. Most of the guests were familiar with one another, and all of them were familiar with OK Humane. The personal testimony from highly respected individuals was also key to the success, as well as the financial challenge. Overall the event was very simple, and the cost of the event was less than $5,000–but the results were overwhelming!
What kind of special events have you hosted at your shelter? How’d they go? Please share in the comment box.
Related links:
Planning Fundraising Events
Empty Bowls Soup Supper
“Getting to Know Heidi Miller”
Hugh’s Story: an ebook on a successful capital campaign
Central Oklahoma Humane Society
Looking to raise more funds so your agency can keep up the good work? (We know, we know – who isn’t?) We know someone who can help – the ASPCA’s Heidi Miller, Senior Director, Fundraising Strategies.
Shelters’ Edge: Tell us about your role at the ASPCA.
Heidi Miller: For the last four years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with our ASPCA Partnership agencies on their fundraising and communications programs. I spent seven great years in the ASPCA’s Development department and then jumped on board with Community Initiatives, where I’ve had the exciting opportunity to share what I know about fundraising with our partners. The work is very rewarding and this is truly my dream job.
Shelters’ Edge: Do shelters need a lot of money to begin a fundraising program?
HM: Not necessarily, especially in the online age. Set up a Facebook page and use Facebook Causes to collect donations. Create an online newsletter – and make it easy to sign up for this on your website. Be sure to clearly mark the donate area of your website. Put “Donate” on your menu and include all of the different ways people can give in a drop-down. Send out email fundraising appeals and ask people to help you recruit new supporters by forwarding the email on. And there may be email lists that you haven’t considered using, such as staff, clients, adopters and volunteers.
Shelters’ Edge: What are the top three fundraising resources you share with shelters?
HM: The Foundation Center has a ton of free educational resources, such as online training, training videos and webinars. You’ll find information on these trainings in the “Get Started” section. You can also sign up here for a free 24-hour trial of Foundation Directory Online.
Fundraising Success is a free magazine with great articles covering a wide variety of fundraising areas. It is available in print and online. You can sign up as many people in your organization as you wish here. Oh, and be sure to sign up for their free daily e-newsletter, “Today in Fundraising.”
I would also recommend signing up for a free Linkedin account. There are a great many fundraising discussion groups that you can join. Invite people from other nonprofits to join your network. You can even start your own discussion group.
Shelters’ Edge: What’s one important thing that a shelter interested in ramping up their fundraising efforts can do?
HM: I recommend taking a look at the donate area of the ASPCA’s website. We offer a variety of ways for people to give, so you might get some ideas for new programs. Take into consideration what will be required in terms of human resources, and only take on what you can handle. One simple thing to do is start a vehicle donation program. We work with V-DAC (Vehicle Donations to Any Charity). Visit their website to find out more.
Shelters’ Edge: Thanks so much, Heidi. Is there anything you want to ask our readers?
HM: Do any of you know of any great free or low-cost fundraising or communications products or resources? If so, please share them with us in the comment box, and let us know why you like them. Let’s all work together to make this world a better place for the animals we work so hard to help every single day!
What are YOUR questions for Heidi? Please type them in the comment box.
Related links:
ASPCAPro.org: Fundraising Section
ASPCA Partnership
“Are Your e-Blasts Click-Worthy?”
“Get Back to Basics”
Wanna get local media to cover your agency’s next event or shout out about your latest success?
We’ve got some sage advice to share on making the perfect pitch from the ASPCA’s Elizabeth Estroff, Senior Vice President, Communications, and Jess Todtfeld, President of Success In Media.
Do a Background Check
Learn as much as you can about a reporter before making your pitch. What does this reporter write about? What’s his or her tone? Does he or she cover animal-related stories? Do a Google search and see what comes up. And take note, says Estroff, “If you’ve made multiple pitches to the same reporter and never get a response, you may be pitching to the wrong reporter!”
Pitching a Story Over the Phone? Make Sure You Do This
1) Identify yourself. 2) Ask if it’s a good time to talk. Newspaper reporters often have a deadline around 4 pm, so you may want to avoid that time — or be prepared to call back later.
Pitching a Story Via email? Then Do This
Keep your email short, and make your first sentence the most relevant one. Remember, you don’t have to include a lot of detail in your pitch!
Adds Todtfeld, “Cut to the chase. Skip ‘For Immediate Release’ and put your contact information at the bottom. Lead with a very brief paragraph that gets to the heart of the matter. Include greater detail farther down or link to a full press release.”
The Subject Line = Your Best Friend
Take time to refine your subject line. You don’t want to be too cutesy, but being too matter-of-fact may not entice the reporter to open the email. Advises Todtfeld, “Make sure the subject line lets the recipient know why your story might work for their purposes. Be clear about what’s in it for them.”
Practice Non-Attachment
Don’t send your press release as an attachment. Busy reporters won’t take the time to open it—and if they’re using a Blackberry, they probably can’t open it.
Shelters, what tips would you add to the list?
Austin Humane Society's got perfect pitch! Every December, volunteers and staff don their jammies, set up a dog park in the auditorium and let the kitties explore outside of their condos during the Texas agency’s annual Shelter Sleepover. “It’s a fun event and we typically get a lot of media coverage,” says AHS' Lisa Starr tells us, “but the message to the public is serious—that more than ever, these animals need a warm and cozy place to call home.”
Related links:
Getting Good Newspaper Coverage
Getting Good TV and Radio Coverage
Writing a Winning Press Release
