Helping Communities Help Animals

We share several tools to help our partner communities increase the live release rate

When your community works with the ASPCA to increase the live release rate for your community's animals, we'll share and help you use several tools that enable you to make strong progress.

Your Data

The detailed animal data that each partner agency in your community submits during the application process is the foundation of the work to come. Knowing where you are today enables you to set achievable goals and create realistic plans to reach them.

Your Data in Our Dashboard

The ASPCA Dashboard team will load your initial data into our Dashboard, which shows community numbers and calculates key indicator statistics from those numbers. Our Dashboard team will also train you to:

• Use the Dashboard to identify trends that affect the community's live release rate
• Upload animal data into the Dashboard each month
• Drill into your data to research the causes of changes in your data

Your community's Dashboard is also the basis of the work you will do at your planning session (see below) with ASPCA experts. The data enables you to identify animal populations at risk, research the causes, and develop strategies and programs to address the risks.

Baseline Assessment

An ASPCA team of shelter operations and shelter medicine experts will visit each sheltering agency and spay/neuter clinic included in your community partnership. This team conducts a baseline assessment that focuses on the following areas:

• Managing the volume of animals in your shelter
• Shelter wellness
• Spay/neuter programs
• Shelter programs affecting live release rate

A detailed follow-up report from the Baseline Assessment team provides:

• Specific recommendations in each area
• Actions the agency can take to implement the recommendations
• Results the agency can expect from successful implementation of the recommendations

Planning Session

Agency leaders from your community will meet with ASPCA staff for an intensive learning and planning retreat. You'll work with your community partners and ASPCA staff to:

• Analyze your community's baseline data and the Baseline Assessment reports,
• Determine your target areas, and
• Plan to make policy and program changes to increase your community live release rate.

You'll also learn about the latest shelter medicine and animal care advancements, open adoption philosophy, and the nuts and bolts of successful programs ranging from foster care to TNR to transport.

Community Work Plan

The key outcome of the planning session is a highly specific, written work plan for your community. You develop the plan using a logic model approach that works backward from the impact you want to have on your community's live release rate. You identify specific outcomes and the activities and the resources you will need to achieve each outcome.

ASPCA Time, Resources, and Expertise

Throughout your community's partnership with the ASPCA, you can draw on ASPCA staff who are experts in everything from shelter wellness to high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter, to fundraising, and much more.

ASPCA staff work with you to:

• Design your community work plan
• Provide guidance and expertise as you implement your plan, and
• Help you evaluate the results and determine next steps.

The ASPCA underwrites the cost of our training and consulting in your community. In addition, as you identify programs and projects that affect the live release rate for your community's animals, you can apply for ASPCA grants to fund these efforts.