1. What are you waiting for? The ASPCA’s National Shelter Outreach offers Ten Crucial Tips for Getting Started.
By: Mary Kirby and Lisa Saavedra, Director, ASPCA National Shelter Outreach
Every week, The ASPCA’s National Shelter Outreach (NSO) department receives dozens of requests for help from people looking for ways to improve the lives of animals in their communities. And every year the NSO staff visits more than 150 shelters throughout the country, talking with directors, volunteers and employees, discussing their problems and assisting them with suggestions and resources.
The overwhelming conclusion? It takes a lot more than good intentions to run a shelter; it takes management experience, accounting skills, good contacts and the ability to get things done in the community. Excellent marketing skills are a big plus, too.
These 10 essential tips—gleaned from the pages of our newly released, three-ring binder book, Keys to a Great Shelter: The ASPCA National Shelter Outreach Guide to Starting and Improving a Humane Organization—just might help change your dream into a reality.