The Lion's Share

Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut Receives $8 million gift for animal protection in New London County http://t.co/ia1h25iPXy

— The Lion's Share (@lionsshareblog) July 14, 2014

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Lil BUB’s BIG Fund for the ASPCA seeks applications from organizations caring for special-needs cats–apply Jul 14-18 http://t.co/2CnA9QlzDy

— The Lion’s Share (@lionsshareblog) July 14, 2014

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American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Foundation seeking cat-focused research projects — Aug 4 deadline: http://t.co/FwaDSS0HqX

— The Lion's Share (@lionsshareblog) July 14, 2014

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#RFP of the Day: RedRover Grants for Emergency Shelters Helping Victims of Domestic Abuse and Their Pets http://t.co/bvemzjLE1Q Due 10/15/14

— PhilanTopic (@pndblog) June 16, 2014

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A couple of weeks ago, my colleagues and I attended Taking Action for Animals (TAFA) in Washington, DC, an animal-activism “boot camp” presented by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Over the course of just over two days, we were primed for political action, having scheduled appointments with our federal representatives in both the Senate and the House to discuss our concerns regarding specific pieces of legislation with animal welfare implications.

I live-tweeted from a few of the sessions I attended; a summary is below.

“Hearing from Humane Lawmakers“:

• If an animal is being abused in a home, there is an 80% chance that a child is also being abused.
• Getting a legislator’s attention on a specific issue takes only 5 calls; 10 calls make it a real concern.
• 10 e-mails to a state legislator on a specific issue can make it a priority.
• Building a coalition of organizations around a specific issue raises its profile and focuses related work.
• To elevate animal issues among conservative lawmakers, describe how cruelty violates family values.
• Taking good care of oneself physically and psychologically is vital for effective animal advocacy.

“No Money, No Animals Helped,” on effective fundraising strategies for animal welfare organizations:

• Enrolling in rewards programs at Staples and Office Depot entitles you to $2 per ink cartridge you recycle.
• Enrolling an organization in an affinity credit card program creates monthly income as a % of cardholder purchases.
• Handwritten, personalized thank-you notes to donors make your organization stand out from most others.
• Having fun, themed house parties that build awareness about an organization can inspire family & friends to donate.
• Silent auctions of items donated by local businesses for special events can bring in significant donations.
• Graphic images of abused animals can be a turnoff to potential donors — happy-ending stories are better.
• Amazon wishlists for organizations’ desired supplies don’t disclose who buyers are, so thank them on your organization’s Facebook page.
• Include a donation link from each photo in your organization’s Facebook album; you never know which one will go viral.

“No Horsing Around: Let Your Equines Shine” on advancing legislation that protects horses:

• Wild mares who are sterilized can have a 50% longer life expectancy than mares who are constantly foaling.
• Most horses are given fly ointments, dewormers, medicines, & FDA-banned substances, all toxins in horsemeat.

“Are You Wild About Wildlife?” on advancing wildlife-friendly legislation:

• In some states, up to 86% of land is owned by the federal government.
• Specific animals and the agencies responsible for managing them:
  – Wolves – US Fish & Wildlife Service
  – Wild horses – Bureau of Land Management
  – Mountain lions – Wildlife Services
  – Whales/dolphins – National Marine Fisheries Service
• Get to know members of the agencies with jurisdiction over your issue; many of them do care about wildlife.
• The Federal Register lists all federal legislation being considered at various stages; you can sign up to receive e-alerts.
• Identify your state wildlife agencies & commissions; meetings are open to the public and accept comments; e-alerts tell you when they occur.
• Similarly, at the local level, many communities have wildlife advisory boards; volunteer to serve on them.
• Find out how wildlife is managed in your community & work with local agencies to develop non-lethal solutions.

“Creating Corporate Policy Progress for Animals“

• Advance corporate reform by becoming a company insider, buying stock and filing shareholder resolutions.
• Approach managers at your favorite restaurants & grocery stores about more humane food sourcing.
• When those restaurants & grocery stores make positive changes, encourage local media coverage.
• The US is the #1 producer of trapped-animal fur, followed by Canada and Russia.
• The US is currently at a 30-year low in fur consumption.
• Real fur can be distinguished from faux fur by looking at an individual hair shaft; real fur hairs taper to a point; faux-fur hairs don’t.

Overall, TAFA was a very positive experience that I highly recommend to everyone who is passionate about promoting animals’ well-being. Unlike most other conferences, this one provides a unique opportunity to take everything you’ve learned and put it to immediate use via concrete — and potentially high-impact — action.

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Last week, I had the wonderful honor of presenting at and attending the 2014 Animal Care Expo put on by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Not only were the sessions I attended engaging and informative, but the location — Daytona Beach, FL — could not have been more welcome after slogging through a rough winter. Finally summer felt close at hand.

I live-tweeted from a couple of the sessions I attended; a summary of those sessions is below.

“Exploring the Potential Impact of Animal Relocation Programs” was presented by my esteemed ASPCA colleague Dr. Emily Weiss, Vice President-Shelter R&D, offering many interesting insights — among them the following:

• Only 20-30% of dog owners adopt from shelters because they want kinds of dogs that shelters don’t have.
• In a study of people who had or were getting a dog, nearly 80% said dog variety was important.
• Also, people most likely to buy from breeders will drive the farthest & wait the longest to choose their dog.
• 2 years after one community received transpoted shelter dogs, live exits went up & euthanasia rates went down.
• In the transport-receiving community, only 24% of pups coming in were ill vs. 84% of local pups!
• Relocated puppies are in much higher demand than relocated adult dogs.
• Often, there are overlooked local adoption markets who can be reached via mobile adoption vans.
• To guide efforts to increase live exits, do exit interviews with shelter visitors who do AND don’t adopt.

“How to Succeed in Collaboration Without Losing Your Soul” was of particular interest to me given some of the work I’m involved in…I noted a few points:

• Even collaboration efforts with rocky beginnings can still ultimately succeed with time to build trust.
• Collaborations fail if they lack leadership & structure or if members lose motivation.
• It’s critical for collaborators to understand each other’s differences but focus on commonalities.
• Collaborations can lose momentum due to misunderstandings, miscommunications, or stagnation.
• A key ingredient for making government agencies nimble collaborators is persistent advocacy from within.

“Fundraising with Social Media” (this is an abbreviated summary title) was packed with useful tips courtesy of Emily Garman, founder of The Social Animal, a blog I’ve long admired for the wealth of information it brings to animal protection organizations about harnessing the power of social media to address their specific needs. Emily is a fantastic presenter, and it was a delight to finally meet her face to face. Here are some of the helpful nuggets she shared:

• Make sure your messaging is easily understandable & that you make donating easy & flexible with multiple options.
• Good photos of animals’ faces are critical, ideally showing animals making direct eye contact with the viewer.
• Put your org’s name in the photo filename in case the image is separated from surrounding text.
• Be as specific as possible about why funds are needed, show urgency, & give a contribution deadline.
• Set a concrete goal you know you can reach & share it publicly; reaching the goal is newsworthy.
• Keep your e-mail list clean & current, and make it easy for people to sign up for e-newsletters.
• Always thank donors with a note and also by tagging people & companies that contribute.
• Asking donors to take an action as part of a timely thank-you works because they are already primed to help.
• Good videos showing a specific animal, demonstrating credibility (e.g., by featuring remarks from a vet), & focusing on a finite giving timeframe boost fundraising.
• People can also provide in-kind contributions if you ask for specific supplies you need via a “wishlist.”
• Good planning is important; set up automated thank-you notes/receipts you can customize.
• Include options besides PayPal (e.g., Stripe.com & Wufoo) for accepting online donations.
• Animoto is a helpful video creation tool that includes a royalty-free music library.
• YouTube clears permission for copyrighted music in videos, usually requiring inclusion of ads.
• For mobile giving, using your own form is still best.
• More people use email than any social media platform. MailChimp works well for email marketing.
• TechSoup & Google for Nonprofits offer significant tech benefits/features for nonprofits.
• On average, doing 5 Facebook posts per day of quality, shareable content is about the right frequency.
• The industry-wide average “open rate” for e-mail messages is about 20%.
• Facebook ads aren’t expensive & let you target specific demographics to boost your “likes.”

“Ingredients for a Successful Grant Application” was a workshop I had the pleasure of co-presenting with Michael Barrett, Vice President-ASPCA Grants. Since I couldn’t live-tweet our bullet points and talk at the same time, here are our slides, which were posted to the 2014 Expo web site.

Next year’s Expo will be held March 30-April 2, 2015 in New Orleans. If you’ve never attended an Expo before, I highly recommend it! It’s an unparalleled learning experience and networking opportunity for our field.

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