April 2018

April is poetry month – so how about some dog poetry?

Do you have some good poems about animals? It’s April and that means it’s National Poetry Month! It’s springtime and unless you’re livin’ in Wisconsin like me, the temperatures are rising and the snow is melting away. The grass is re-growing and all of those birds that flew south for the winter are returning to fill the silence with their songs and chirping. Since April is poetry month, we thought we would celebrate by sharing our favorite poems about animals. What’s your favorite animal poem? The truth I do not stretch or shove When I state that the dog is […]

27Apr

April 27 is Hairball Awareness Day

How aware are you of cat hairballs? We know we see them everywhere! Today is your day to celebrate hairballs. April 27 is Hairball Awareness Day! Ok cat lovers. We’ve all been there. Sleepily walking downstairs in our bare feet to make that first cup of coffee only to be rudely awakened by stepping in a slimy, gross, gooey hairball left behind by Gracie from the night before. Next thing you know you’re hopping on one foot trying to find a towel to wipe your foot clean. If this feels like your life then Hairball Awareness Day is for you. […]

26Apr

April 23 is Lost Dog Awareness Day

Is that local animal shelter dog in fact someone’s lost pet? Did you know that 30% of pets will go missing in their lifetime? That’ 1 in 3. According to studies performed by the ASPCA and the Humane Society of the United States the estimates show that 40-60% of dogs in local animal shelters are actually someone’s pet that went missing. Established in 2013 by Lost Dogs of America, Lost Dog Awareness Day seeks to bring your attention to these startling statistics and to remind you to micro-chip your pet. Not later, NOW! Since forming in 2011, Lost Dogs of […]

26Apr

Biggest problems in animal rescue – 4) Competition vs. Collaboration

Competing and Collaborating for animals! Humans are by nature competitive. But how can we channel this competitiveness into a coalition of rescues and volunteers who are all trying to accomplish the same goal of saving innocent animals? We need to think about competing versus collaborating when it comes to local animal shelters and animal rescues. First it’s important to both recognize the problem & the opportunity. Competition by itself is not a problem but the problem comes in when the competitiveness masks the overall intent of animal rescue. Without a doubt, every animal rescue organization in the U.S. and around […]

23Apr

To Petfinder or not to Petfinder

Ask a rescue person and they likely have an opinion of PetFinder.com and other adoption portals. But with an average of 40 million visit per month, PetFinder is a dominant force and a go to site for millions of people looking to adopt an animal. So why wouldn’t you want to use them or the dozens of other portals for animal adoptions out there? The case for using PetFinder. With an average of a million hits per day, PetFinder.com has grown since being launched in 1996 by Betsy Banks Saul as a way to get the message out regarding adoptable […]

19Apr

Biggest problems in Animal Rescue – 3) Attracting & Retaining volunteers

Getting the best local animal rescue volunteers in the door… …and then keeping them! Another challenge that animal rescue organizations face is how to attract and retain local animal rescue volunteers to help out in the local animal shelter. Thankfully, this is a common problem and one that is not limited to animal rescue type operations. There are a plethora of websites with lots of great ideas on how to engage volunteers and make them an ongoing part of your success. One of my favorites however, is this simple top ten list from Joanne Fritz on about.com. http://nonprofit.about.com/od/volunteers/tp/whatvolunteerswant.htm Again turn […]

16Apr

Effective fundraising for animal rescues

Is your animal rescue in the money? Fundraising is a part of animal rescue. Some people thrive on the idea and others abhor it as a mandatory requirement that they must do in order to succeed. Be that as it may, some organizations are more successful than others at raising funds to sustain their operations. Why is that? Many of the fundraisers for animal rescues that I have attended over the years focused on just that, raising money. Their booth had a banner with the organization name, a jar for cash donations, and perhaps an animal or two there to […]

12Apr

Biggest problems in animal rescue: 2) recurring funding

Biggest problems in animal rescue. We need money. We’ve been discussing the challenges that animal rescue volunteers and organizations face, and we would be remiss not to discuss the challenge of recurring revenue which is a constant challenge in rescue. How do you run a business when it’s difficult to predict what your revenues and profits will be versus your cash outlay every month? How can you ensure continuity of your operations when it seems like there’s always an expense you can’t predict? Local animal shelters and animal rescues need recurring revenue to survive and thrive. Rescue organizations are historically […]

09Apr

Share your why to get more people involved in animal rescue

Start with your animal rescue why. According to the Humane Society of the U.S. statistics, in 2012 there were 162 million pets in the United States alone. 62% of american households had at least one pet with many being multiple pet households. In other words, americans in general have an ever growing bond with their pets. Whether they were raised with pets or discovered their unconditional love at another point in their lives, animals have become important to them. When I discuss animal rescue with people I usually start out with a question “Are you familiar with animal rescue or […]

05Apr

Biggest problems in animal rescue – 1) Lack of structure & organization

Animal rescue is hard. There’s no way around that. But what the biggest problems in rescue are and how to solve them, well that’s more of a debate. Let’s explore some of the challenges and best practices starting with the lack of structure and organization in rescue. We think that’s definitely one of the biggest problems, don’t you? It’s hard to run an animal rescue. There’s no getting around that. So what’s the solution? How do these well-intentioned small businesses thrive and what is the secret to success? How come some animal rescues grow year over year while thousands startup […]

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