How to keep an eye on your organization's mission - Ep55

08/31/21 • 37 min

GUEST: Rebecca Guinn is CEO of LifeLine Animal Project, which manages Atlanta’s Fulton and DeKalb County animal shelters and which opened a new shelter, adoption center and clinic in 2019. LifeLine’s community outreach effort provides free vaccines, spay/neuter and other assistance to thousands of pets belonging to underserved Atlantans. LifeLine’s community cat program, the first and largest organized trap-neuter-return assistance program in Atlanta, has sterilized and vaccinated more than 40,000 community cats; and the LifeLine Spay & Neuter Clinics comprise the largest spay/neuter provider in Georgia, having performed more than 140,000 surgeries to date. Rebecca is active in the Animal Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia and is a member of Best Friends Animal Society’s No-Kill 2025 National Steering Committee.

MAIN QUESTION: How can animal welfare leaders and managers keep an eye on the big picture while staying on top of day-to-day fires?

TAKEAWAYS:

The leader’s job is to keep the focus on the mission and to get others involved in it.
Build a team of likeminded people, look for each person’s superpower and tap into it.
Seek out people with skills that complement others on the team.
We owe our best to the animals every time. Set that standard for yourself.
Find the gaps in your community, and figure out what’s needed to close those gaps.
Regularly ask yourself if you're solving the right problems and what you are trying to make better. Perform gap analyses; over time, you’ll get better at solving for the right problems.
Embrace both ends of the leash.

LINKS:

Lifeline Animal Project — website
Leadership recommendation: Nonprofit Tech for Good website and e-newsletter

MAIN QUESTION: How can animal welfare leaders and managers keep an eye on the big picture while staying on top of day-to-day fires?

TAKEAWAYS:

The leader’s job is to keep the focus on the mission and to get others involved in it.
Build a team of likeminded people, look for each person’s superpower and tap into it.
Seek out people with skills that complement others on the team.
We owe our best to the animals every time. Set that standard for yourself.
Find the gaps in your community, and figure out what’s needed to close those gaps.
Regularly ask yourself if you're solving the right problems and what you are trying to make better. Perform gap analyses; over time, you’ll get better at solving for the right problems.
Embrace both ends of the leash.

LINKS:

Lifeline Animal Project — website
Leadership recommendation: Nonprofit Tech for Good website and e-newsletter

Previous Episode

How to set up programs to serve rural communities - Ep 54

GUEST: Dr. Leslie Appel is the founder and executive director of Shelter Outreach Services (SOS). She is also a courtesy lecturer at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Before these roles, Dr. Appel was director of veterinary outreach at the ASPCA. She was also a full-time faculty member at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, where she was an instructor in Small Animal Surgery. And Dr. Appel was the 2013 recipient of the AVMA Animal Welfare Award.

MAIN QUESTION: How can animal organizations provide services to rural communities, which often get overlooked?

TAKEAWAYS:

Dr. Appel’s organization Shelter Outreach Services, or SOS, is specifically designed to meet the needs of rural communities.
Before starting a program, assess what’s going on in your community and surrounding counties to understand what services are needed and who might be able to help.
Also, get advice from a veterinarian early on in your planning about what’s needed to provide veterinary outreach services.
SOS is set up like the hub of a wheel with its partners as the spokes. Each is essential to success. SOS provides the services and seeks grant funding for big ticket items like anesthesia machines, while its partners who host SOS’s MASH-style clinics in their communities do their own fundraising and grant writing to pay for those services.
If you want to provide high quality, high volume spay/neuter services, veterinarians and veterinary technicians need training because it is generally not taught in school. This is best done by having them observe and work alongside an existing team initially.
High quality, high volume spay/neuter services are not about speed; it’s about creating an efficient flow.

LINKS:

Shelter Outreach Services
The Association of Shelter Veterinarians' guidelines for spay-neuter programs
Leadership recommendation: "How to Read Non-Profit Financial Statements"

Next Episode

How to avoid blaming public for animal challenges - Ep56

GUEST: Christie Keith is a communications and media consultant with an exclusive focus on animal welfare and veterinary medicine. Her current and recent clients include The Shelter Pet Project, the first public service campaign promoting an animal welfare cause in the Ad Council's 60-year history; Dr. Marty Becker, author and veterinarian; Maddie's Fund; Million Cat Challenge; Dr. Patty Khuly, veterinarian and author; and Vetstreet.com. As a writer and editor, Christie's work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com, Bark Magazine, and the nationally syndicated newspaper feature "Pet Connection." She has been a speaker at a number of animal sheltering conferences such as the HSUS Animal Care Expo, Best Friends’ No More Homeless Pets, and the National No-Kill Conference. MAIN QUESTION: How can animal organizations avoid blaming the public in their messaging when talking about the challenges they face? TAKEAWAYS:

Your organization relies upon your community to make donations to support your work, to adopt animals, and volunteer. If we inadvertently blame the community for animal surrenders, we poison that well and hurt our own ability to be successful.
In the past, shelters and rescue groups fell into a pattern of blaming irresponsible pet owners, backyard breeders, and an indifferent public for the problems we were facing. These were real feelings and understandable, but this approach turned out to be undermining our own success. It is important to avoid falling into these old patterns.
When creating communications aimed at the public, figure out who the audience is and what you want them to do. This will guide your language.
Avoid using words like “dumping” or “abandoning” pets. People are turning to you for help with an animal they got from you – that’s what we want them to do. Give support instead of judgment.
Invite members of the public to be heroes by becoming a foster caregiver, adopting a pet or donating to help pets in need. Share how rewarding it is to foster or adopt.

LINKS: