The Right Stuff: Taking Your Lifesaving Efforts

to the Next Level

Scott GiacoppoAndrew Marsden Michelle Logan

Introduction

• Scott Giacoppo – Director, National Shelter Outreach

• Andrew Marsden – Senior Manager, National Shelter Outreach

• Michelle Logan – Director, National Shelter Embed Programming

Outline

GAP ANALYSIS SELF-ASSESSMENT

PRIORITIZING FINDINGS

TIPS AND TOOLS

Gap Analysis

Gap Analysis Tool

Analysis

Dig in with further detail.

• Adult dogs

• Puppies

• Unknown age

• Adult cats

• Kittens

• Unknown age

Shelter Review

The purpose of the shelter operations review is not to identify what is being done poorly or improperly but to identify areas of improvement to assist the organization in increasing lifesaving capacity and to help leadership identify areas of efficiency and improvement and to ultimately create a road map for them to do so.

Community Demographics

• Location(s) service area

• Human population

• Other large animal welfare orgs in community

• Poverty rate

• Annual budget

• Organizational chart

• A full staff schedule for a week of work

• Any and all standard operating procedures (SOPs)

• Per capita spending: Take the budget and divide by the population. Example: A budget of $2 million and a population of 300,000 would be a per capita rate of $6.66.

Software and Data Entry

Are you able to perform intake, animal care activity, medical and outcomes in system?

Are you performing data entry in a timely manner?

Are you not using software system for any shelter activity (paper files, white-boards, etc.)?

Is staff fully trained?

Do all staff members have access and/or trained, or is it limited by position?

How are you reporting stats with data?

Are you doing any type of data mapping?

Leadership and Culture

• Do staff understand the purpose of your organization?

• Do they know their stats?

• Do they know their mission and talk about their work similarly?

• Does leadership regularly communicate with staff?

• Are you pushing for no-kill status?

• Is the organization client-focused?

• Is the staff functioning as a team or siloed by department/program?

Housing and Care

There is no perfect formula for capacity for care. You are observing to determine if your agency is accurately staffed for the number of animals you are caring for, ensuring that each animal’s basic needs (food, water, shelter, clean environment, enrichment, safety) are able to be met on a daily basis, and ensuring that your agency is focused on positive outcomes as quickly as possible.

Sanitation

• Products used and are they given appropriate contact time?

• Spot-cleaning vs. full disinfection?

• Cleaning schedule and process

• Number of staff members dedicated to cleaning?

• How often do they do a deep clean?

• Are drains adequate and cleaned regularly?

Daily Rounds

• Do you do daily rounds?

• What is the goal?

• Who attends?

Medical

You want to observe who provides the medical care for the animals in the facility and if any preventative services are offered to the public.

Also, ascertain who is responsible for the daily medical care of the animals in-house, the process used for when an animal needs medical care, and the handling of drugs.

Euthanasia

• Are there written protocols?

• Is there a process to ensure that all live outcome options are explored?

• How are decisions made?

• Can a decision be overridden?

• Verification of animal?

• When, where and by whom is it performed?

• How are staff trained and is training in line with AVMA or the state veterinarian association?

Behavior and Enrichment

• Enrichment daily

• In and out of kennel

• Variety

• Assessments

• Daily human interaction

• Time with other animals

Adoption and Client Service• Open philosophy?

• Restrictions?

• Survey/application length and tone?

• Adoption fees and ability to waive fees?

• Same-day adoptions?

• Alternative outcomes (barn cat, etc.)?

• Hours open for adoption?

• Returns?

Intake

• Observe your current intake process for all animals. Be sure to identify any differences between strays and owner surrenders.

• Look for ways you can reduce intake.

• Observe the actual process for an animal once he/she is admitted to the shelter.

• Are animals vaccinated upon entering the facility or on the truck?

• Medical exam on intake?

• Behavior evaluations prior to adoption?

• Holding period or immediately available?

Return to Owner

• Are just strays or all animals scanned on intake? Scanned any other time?

• Easy and timely online files and pictures?

• Reasonable hours of reclaim?

• Is the agency able to waive reclaim fees?

• Are fees reasonable?

Transfer and Transport

• Do you engage in active transfers to other agencies?

• In-state and out-of-state?

• Do rescue partners have to go through a vetting process to pull animals from the shelter?

• Do rescue partners have to pay a pull fee?

Community Engagement

• What types of activities are you doing out in the community?

• How are you addressing the root causes of shelter intake in the community and working toward having a positive image in the community?

Fostering

• Do you have a foster program?

• What is the process to onboard new foster volunteers?

• On average, how many animals are out in foster homes?

• On average, how many active foster homes do you have?

• What portion(s) of the population are eligible for fostering?

• Do foster caregivers adopt out their foster pets or return them to the shelter?

Volunteers

You are trying to ascertain how robust your volunteer program is and if you have the potential to expand to increase recruitment and retention, along with fully utilizing volunteers in all aspects of operations.

Community Cats• Is the shelter engaged in SNR, RTF and/or

TNR programs?

• If not, why not?

• Have you considered it? What are your concerns?

• Are there any local groups engaging in TNR?

• What intake mitigation (conversations or resources) is staff offering for over-the-counter stray cats?

• How do you handle stray-feral vs. stray-friendly vs. ear-tipped?

Training

What training do staff receive? How do they gain information and connectivity to what other shelters are doing to improve their shelter?

Unbiased Report of Findings

• Multiple perspectives

• “Secret shopper”

• Objective information

• Keep the purpose in mind:to identify areas of improvement to assist the organization in increasing lifesaving capacity!

PrioritizeNow that you have all your information, how do you prioritize and begin planning for change?

Resources

• Best Friends Humane Animal Control manual: bestfriends.org/humaneanimalcontrol

• Best Friends operational playbooks: network.bestfriends.org/resources/operational-playbooks

• Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters, Association of Shelter Veterinarians: sheltervet.org

NEWEST RESOURCES: PLAYBOOKS

Playbooks include:

• Program overview

• Program composition

• Needs and considerations

• Example SOP, forms, library from shelters around the nation

Initial Release: Best Friends Playbooks

• Managed intake• Sanitation protocols• Foster programs• Lifesaving field services• Open adoptions• Return to owner (RTO)• In-field RTO• Community cat programs• Daily schedules and time stamps• Alternative outcomes• Transfer and transports

• Cat care, behavior and enrichment• Dog care, behavior and enrichment• Population flow• Kitten nurseries• Community coalition• Euthanasia decision-making• Volunteer program• Community engagement and

advocacy

And more coming soon!