While the ASPCA’s grant processes are relatively streamlined, some funders take 6-12 months to process a grant request, so if you apply now, you may still be in time to get a few favorable responses before year end. Grantseekers, here are some tips from our recent webinar, “Ingredients for a Successful Grant Application,” that’ll give you an edge in applying for grants from the ASPCA and other funders:

Save time when applying for grants by having an FAQ file at your fingertips, preferably in the form of an electronic folder. That folder is the perfect place for all the standard information many funders will ask you for, such as:

• Tax ID number and IRS determination letter
• Budget for the current year
• 990s and audited financial statements for the past two completed years
• List of your board and senior staff members
• Most recent annual report, and
• Basic stats about your organization’s work such as how many animals you take in, adopt, spay/neuter, transfer to other facilities, return to their owners, etc. each year

Also make sure that your FAQ file includes key talking points that you can emphasize in your applications to make them compelling. “Elevator pitches” that you want to keep at the ready include:

• Placing your organization’s work in the context of your community’s needs
• Describing why your organization stands out as the right one to address those needs
• Providing a sense of the impact grant funds would have under the capable stewardship of your organization
• Convincing the funder that you have the capacity to sustain your project during the life of the grant and beyond.

With all this information in place and ready to go, you’ll have the body of your application largely fleshed out before you start, and can simply adapt the existing information to each funder’s individual requirements and/or provide supplemental information as needed.

These individual customizations are not to be minimized. While you’ll want to re-use as much information as is reasonable, it’s important to clearly understand, respect and respond appropriately to each funder’s specific application requirements.

Another helpful ingredient that cannot be overlooked is professionalism, not only in your application (paying attention to proper spelling, grammar and capitalization) but also in any other interactions with the funder—whether written or spoken, and whether your request is funded or not. A grant declination is not necessarily the end of a relationship; it may be the beginning of one, and you don’t want to jeopardize future grant opportunities by taking a declination personally.

In addition to the freely accessible recording and slides from the above-mentioned webinar, you may want to check out an earlier blog post on “The Artful Grant Proposal” and the Foundation Center’s GrantSpace learning portal for grantseekers.

Guest blogger Claire Sterling is Senior Grants Manager at the ASPCA and the proud “mom” of two adopted black cat siblings, Tartufo and Tiramisu. Having previously done foundation fundraising for 6 years, her personal blog, The Lion’s Share, provides philanthropy-related resources for organizations that better the lives of animals.

Related Links:
Ingredients for a Successful Grant Application
The Artful Grant Proposal

What do their teeth look like? Deciduous (baby) teeth start to come in around 3 weeks of age in kittens, and their permanent adult teeth start to come in between 3 and 4 months of age. The middle incisors are the first to come in around 14 weeks of age, with the second and third incisors following shortly after at approximately 15 weeks and 16 weeks respectively. This is a particularly helpful guideline, as you can use body weight –which you will learn about in Part II—and the presence of these adult teeth to know that a kitten is old enough to receive his or her rabies vaccination!

Photo: Stephanie Janeczko, DVM, MS, Dipl. ABVP (Canine/Feline)

Kitten teeth are tiny, and it can be tricky to tell if the incisors are baby teeth or the permanent adult teeth. It’s easiest when you have some of both to serve as a comparison, like in this picture. Remember that the baby teeth are a little smaller with pointed tips (think of how sharp puppy teeth can be!), while the permanent teeth are a little wider with flat edges. Because the first two incisors in this kitten are permanent teeth and the third incisors are still baby teeth, we would estimate his age at approximately 15 weeks – and expect him to weigh just under 4 pounds!

Meet you back here next week for Part II—it’ll be worth the, er, weight!
Related links:
“Tip of the Week: Kitten Season Prep Starts Now”
“Tip of the Week: Testing for FeLV/FIV? Don’t Take Your Pick of the Litter”

Check out our new video to see what the game is all about:

Visit the new Play the Length of Stay Game section on our website for a bonanza of tools and resources to help you decrease LOS—from complete instructions for playing the game to a Daily Population workbook.

He was a chatty guy and he proceeded to tell me about his experience – it was quite eye-opening, and I suspect there may be some nuggets for you if your organization handles strays.

He first noted that he went to the animal services website, which has an extensive lost and found section, and he clicked on the “Lost Pets” section to search the pictures of dogs. He said it took him awhile in his panicked state to realize these were not pets that the shelter had in their care, but instead other folks like him who had lost their pet and were posting pictures in hopes finders would make a match.  It was so interesting to hear his perspective of what that “lost” label would mean.

He then found the page that showed the photos of the animals who were strays at animal services.  He saw a dog on the site late in the afternoon yesterday that looked a little bit like his dog, but, he said, the picture was tiny and blurry so it was very hard to see.  So he read the description, which listed the dog as an unspayed female shepherd mix and his heart fell–his dog was a spayed hound mix.  He continued his search.

When he came to the house to do the work for us, he had just received the call from the shelter telling him they had his dog – as she had a chip and they could track her back to him.  That “unspayed shepherd mix” he saw on the site yesterday was in fact his spayed hound mix!

I thought there were a few opportunities to share from this story –

1. Try some usability testing on your lost and found pages – is it intuitive? Can folks navigate it easily? Do they understand the labels?
2. Check those photos – is each photo clear enough so that someone can see if that dog or cat is their dog or cat?
3. Avoid definitive identification for breed mixes – while he may look like a shepherd mix, that owner may not see him as such and dismiss that dog as potentially his. Instead, think about focusing on identifying features – e.g., a black spot on the top of his head or scar on his cheek – as opposed to using breed mix ID
4. If it is not clear if the dog or cat is spayed, it is better to use a label of unknown than to guess.
5. Make sure microchip scans are conducted at intake and that the wand is passed low and slow and more than once to best assure quick reunites
6. Think about doing some follow up interviews with those who found their pets through you – what could have been improved?

Have you made improvements to your lost and found section? Has it made a difference on your RTO?

Related links:
“Old and New Ways to Find Lost Animals”
Webinar recording: “How to Boost Return-to-Owner Rates”

P.S. Got a guess? Please share in the comment box! And did you catch last week’s Wordless Wednesday? We think you’ll find it particularly, uh, meme-ingful.