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Nonprofit boards can come in different shapes and sizes, each often taking its own approach in the ways they support the organization. But let's be honest, sometimes support isn't the most accurate word to use for certain boards. There are many reasons why boards become ineffective, but the responsibility of a board is a vital one, and board members' contributions can make a lasting impact. This week we're talking more about boards and revisiting this conversation we had with Trish Tolbert in May.  Check out Liz Finch's latest program spotlight, "building a better board of directors," to hear the perspectives of more industry leaders: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/program-spotlights/building-better-board-directors The website for The Best Friends Podcast includes more resources and information on how you organization can become a Best Friends network partner: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-140

The period to submit proposals to speak at the 2023 Best Friends National Conference is now open! Check out this link for more information on the requirements, timeline, and how to submit: https://bfas.io/NiEM To get us started for 2023, we take a moment to think about the year ahead. What has happened over the last few weeks and months that can help us plan for what’s coming next? Do we expect intake to continue rising at the pace it did through 2022? Will adoptions pick up and at least keep pace with intake? What about the impact of other factors within animal welfare and beyond, such as the economy? The senior director of lifesaving programs for Best Friends, Brent Toellner, looked at the data and trends and shared what he thinks the year ahead may look like in this week’s episode. For more resources related to this episode, check out the website for The Best Friends Podcast: bestfriends.org/podcast

This is the final episode of the year! And what a year it has been. Across the country, shelters struggled to manage increases in intake, and while adoptions also increased, the boost in positive outcomes couldn’t keep pace. That resulted in many folks in our industry being more overwhelmed than usual (which is saying something). We want to thank you for everything you do to help pets and those who love them. It’s important always to show gratitude and celebrate wins. However, it’s even more important when times are tough. So as we say farewell to 2022, we’re celebrating the success our Best Friends Network Partners achieved during the four Best Friends National Adoption Weekend events we held in 2022, during which more than 35,000 pets found homes. We asked our partners to share their experiences with us, and we’re sharing them with you.  See you in 2023! Want to be a guest on The Best Friends Podcast? Send us an email: podcast@bestfriends.org Check out the website for more information about the guests you heard this week: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-138

It’s that time, once again, when we take a moment to reflect on the year (and podcast), that was. 2022 was challenging in many ways, and the 42 episodes from this year reflect that.  Topics ranged from staffing and pay inequity to marketing during a crisis. We talked about working with elected officials - with who better than actual elected officials! We welcomed 62 guests who represented various organizations and companies, in and out of animal welfare. And to top it all off, we passed the 100,000 download milestone in the fall!   But as we’ve said before and will no doubt say again, this podcast is nothing without you. So on behalf of all of us at the Best Friends Network, thank you for everything you do each day to save the lives of pets, and we can’t wait to see what you do in 2023. The Best Friends Podcast Ep. 100 - Reducing pay inequality w/ Julie Castle: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-100 The Best Friends Podcast Ep. 104 - Lifesaving success favors the bold: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-104 The Best Friends Podcast Ep. 108 - Saving lives in rural America w/ Cole Wakefield: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-108 The Best Friends Podcast Ep. 112 - Marketing during a crisis w/ KC Pet Project's Tori Fugate: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-112 The Best Friends Podcast Ep. 124 - Scott Stratten: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-124 The Best Friends Podcast Ep. 133 - A radical transformation at the York County SPCA: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-133

Housing issues are the second most common reason people surrender pets to shelters. If not priced out by exorbitant pet deposits or monthly pet-ownership fees, arbitrary restrictions around species, breed, and size can often force a pet owner to make the worst choice imaginable. And while it may be easy to think, "I could never do that. I would just find another apartment," consider that there may not be another apartment. Experts say we are millions of housing units short of what we need to meet demand. The critically short supply creates greater demand, often making a landlord's policies more restrictive and monthly rents more expensive. Federal, state, and local governments are considering solutions such as tax credits and rent control, but these measures often lack pet-inclusive language. Since two-thirds of Americans own pets, any reforms that don't consider equal access for pet owners will potentially put millions of people and pets in peril. This week we catch up with the national manager of housing initiatives for Best Friends, Elizabeth Oreck, as she shares good news out of California about a new bill aiming to keep low-income renters - and their pets - safe and housed. For the housing and advocacy related resources mentioned this week, check out the website for this episode : https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-135

It’s been a challenging year for animal shelters and rescue organizations across the country. Lifesaving gains made during the COVID pandemic seemed to disappear for many as a new set of external factors played havoc with the animal welfare industry. Those lifesaving gains certainly seemed to disappear, but did they? Anecdotal stories from scores of individual organizations say some version of the same thing; that intake is up, and positive outcomes are down. Many say that adopters are simply not coming into their facilities as they have in the past, and there are more requests for help with pet relinquishment than ever. But what does the data show? This week we hear from the Senior Director of Lifesaving Programs at Best Friends, Brent Toellner. He analyzed the numbers from hundreds of organizations to put our current reality in perspective. For more resources related to this topic and others discussed this week, check out the website: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-135 Check out Brent's editorial that has the numbers and more details talked about in today's episode: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/editorials/reality-todays-shelter-struggles The next Best Friends National Adoption weekend is happening December 9th through the 11th, and the registration period is closing soon. Get your organization registered right now: https://network.bestfriends.org/join-us/events/best-friends-national-adoption-event Share your experience with us! Is your intake up or down? What about your adoptions, are folks still coming in to find their next pet? Send us an email: podcast@bestfriends.org

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day, so we're taking a moment to thank all members of the military, active duty and veteran, for their service. We're also using this as an opportunity to learn more about Dogs on Deployment, one of our Best Friends Network partners whose work directly impacts those who are and have served the nation. Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say, and that was the case with the nonprofit organization Dogs on Deployment. President and co-founder Alisa Johnson joined the Marine Corps in 2011, serving ten years as a KC-130J pilot. Her husband Shawn, also a pilot (in the US Navy), found themselves struggling to find options for the care of their dog JD during months-long deployments. After ruling out expensive options like boarding and professional dog sitters, they found a family member who agreed to care for JD for the six months Alisa was training at Quantico. An ideal situation, but no doubt a lucky one. They wondered how many other service members find themselves in that same predicament. What about those who don't have family able to help? What happens to those pets? DoD's nationwide network of patriotic foster homes ensures the human-animal bond stays intact when a military pet owner answers the call of duty. Over the years, the organization's work has grown to support veterans and first responders, not only with temporary fostering. If your work involves keeping pets and pet owners together, this is one resource you will want to have in your arsenal. Check out more on The Best Friends Podcast website: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-134

When the York County SPCA (YCSPCA) hired a new executive director at the end of 2019, it set in motion plans to transform how the organization operated. To reach and sustain a 90% save rate of animals coming into the shelter, Steven Martinez knew success in his new role would require executing an audacious strategic plan focused on five pillars of change. By overhauling the IT infrastructure, implementing a community cat program, revamping the adoption processes, and improving internal and external communications, the YCSPCA proved that going big isn’t just a bold strategy - it can be a winning one. This week we hear from Steven about the last three years as he shares what he feels were the keys to their success and his advice about how your organization can go about its radical transformation. Send us an email: podcast@bestfriends.org LINKS: Read more about the transformation in this week's program spotlight on the Best Friends Network website: https://bit.ly/3eKwu1x Watch the video of Steven's presentation at the 2022 Best Friends National Conference on youtube: https://bit.ly/3VIXNKr Download a PDF version of the presentation slide deck: https://bit.ly/3MN5xa6 The Best Friends National Conference is happening Aug 10-12 in Houston, Texas: https://bit.ly/3LhDUVT For more resources, check out this episode on The Best Friends Podcast website: https://bit.ly/3VH6KUy

You know those super viral animal-related articles you see all your friends sharing on your social media feeds? You know the ones. Headlines like this one on TODAY.com, “couple creates humongous bed so they can sleep comfortably with eight rescue dogs.” What about this story on The Dodo, “pit bull obsessed with cats gets his litter of kittens.” This week’s guest wrote those and hundreds of other articles during her time as the animal welfare editor at The Huffington Post and as a freelance journalist. Arin Greenwood's work has told the stories of hundreds of people and their pets and the inspiring work of animal shelters and rescue organizations worldwide. However, her work isn’t all stories about dogs riding one-eyed ponies in the middle of the night (yes, that is real). One of her pieces in The Washington Post helped elevate the conversation around arbitrarily stringent adoption policies. She’s moved on from her role at The Huffington Post, but she continues to write about animal welfare, and her most recent novel, Your Robot Dog Will Die, has received acclaim from critics (and, if all goes well, it may be coming soon to the small screen!). This week we learn more about Arin and her career as a journalist and writer, both on and offline. She also shares many tips on writing compelling stories of your own and creating and maintaining relationships with journalists. IMPORTANT LINKS: Read the wrap-up of the incredibly successful national adoption weekend event in September: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/program-spotlights/most-successful-adoption-weekend-yet Register your network partner organization to take part in the next adoption weekend event taking place in December: https://network.bestfriends.org/join-us/events/best-friends-national-adoption-event  For more resources related to this topic, check out our website: bestfriends.org/podcast

The field of animal welfare can be physically and mentally grueling. At times, it may feel like there is no end in sight with so many requests for help. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, not every story has a happy ending. The data backs up our feelings about how hard this work is on our mental health. For example, a 2015 study showed the suicide rates for animal welfare workers to be the highest among all professions - including law enforcement. Thankfully, there are effective strategies to help you manage the challenging emotions that inevitably come with doing this work. Elizabeth Fagan is a psychotherapist who works with companies and nonprofits, including animal welfare agencies, to help their staff manage trauma experienced while on the job. She joins us this week to help us understand more about how the rigors of animal welfare work impact us and what we can do about it. Check out The Best Friends Podcast website for resources mentioned in today's episode and more: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-131

When looking for practical tips and inspiration to help you save lives, chances are you’ve never sought out reality television for answers. But according to this week’s guest, animal welfare professionals can learn much from "The Real Housewives." Makena Yarbrough is not only the Senior Director of Lifesaving Programs at Best Friends, but she’s also a self-professed superfan of the reality TV franchise. Using the show as inspiration, she created a presentation for the 2022 Best Friends National Conference that points out that a lot of the struggles in the show are things we face every day. If you are in an area affected by Hurricane Ian and need help, or if you are outside of the area and able to help, please email: seregion@bestfriends.org For resources on today's topic, guest bios, and more, check out the website for The Best Friends Podcast: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-130

Transport has been a critical lifesaving program for many years. Animals from under-resourced communities overwhelmed with homeless pets are transported to another where they have the opportunity for a positive outcome. This supply and demand model has saved millions of lives. The goal isn’t solely to save the lives of the animals that can fit on that transport vehicle. Reducing the sending shelter’s population helps to relieve the pressure and allows the sending organization to focus on implementing programs and strategies to reduce their reliance on transport over time. But the financial costs and the process of finding partner organizations can make implementing a transport program challenging. And the potential spread of infectious diseases requires using best-practice protocols to ensure the health and safety of the pets in the receiving community. This week, we hear from two experts - one from the programs side and the other a veterinarian - to talk through what you need to do to ensure you’re transporting responsibly. For resources related to lifesaving transport programs, check out the website: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-129

Are you a risk taker? The decisions we make in animal welfare are often fraught with risk. If for no other reason than our work involves the lives of people and pets. It's natural for even the most seasoned risk-taker to experience doubts. During the 2022 Best Friends National Conference, 20 speakers had seven minutes each to share a story about how they stepped out of their comfort zone and took a risk. Some shared stories of risky programmatic decisions, while others were more personal, but they were all inspiring. The audience voted on their favorites, and five speakers earned a $1,000 grant from Petco Love. The other 15 speakers received $500 each from Best Friends to put towards their work. This week, we're sharing a selection of the presentations with you. We know their stories will move you - maybe to take risks of your own - when you hear your courageous peers' stories about the risks they took. Time is running out to participate in the Best Friends National Big Dog Campaign. The deadline to register is September 16th: https://network.bestfriends.org/join-us/events/national-big-dog-campaign Is your organization a Best Friends network partner? Check out this link to learn more about the partner program, to see the requirements, and register: https://network.bestfriends.org/join-us/become-network-partner

It’s not unusual for an organization to drift away from its mission statement, purpose, and goals. Over time, the landscape in a community can change to the point that the animals your organization was founded to help don’t need that help as they once did. In Carrolton, Texas, the leadership of Operation Kindness knew their organization was already doing lots of great work. Still, they wondered if they were doing the right work to save the most lives. They knew they wanted to be more direct in supporting Dallas Animal Services and other regional municipal shelters, so they made several tough decisions, including launching a neonatal kitten nursery. Managing change of any scale can be overwhelming and scary. Especially when those changes depart from what an organization has done successfully for some time. This week, we hear from Kelly Furnas, the COO of Operation Kindness, about their lifesaving transformation. Check out the website for more information about this episode: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-127 Read the two-part program spotlight on this topic on the Best Friends Network website: Part one: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/program-spotlights/reconsidering-your-mission-part-i Part two: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/program-spotlights/reconsidering-your-mission-part-2

Today is September 1st, which means you can now submit your proposals for a Rachael Ray Save Them All grant. To mark the occasion, we are looking back at an episode that featured a program that received funding during a previous cycle. Gateway Pet Guardians in East St. Louis developed the Unicorn Foster Squad program to address a common problem - a lack of foster homes for behaviorally challenging dogs. This week, we hear from Brittany Fleming more about how this program came to be and how successful it has been in saving lives. Learn more about the Rachael Ray Save Them All grants and submit your proposal: https://network.bestfriends.org/join-us/partner-perks/best-friends-partner-exclusives/rachael-ray-grants-menu

Making landfall five years ago today, Hurricane Harvey was one of the most destructive storms in American history, but its strength was not an aberration. It was a sign of things to come as the changing climate is creating more weather-related disasters and making storms, wildfires, and floods more dangerous. That’s why it’s important to have plans for what to do during an emergency or disaster, both for yourself and your organization. To learn more about creating effective plans, we spoke with the senior manager of emergency services for Best Friends, Sharon Hawa. Registration for this year's Strut Your Mutt is now open. If you are with a Network Partner, click here. If you are an individual looking to take part, click here. Check out the website for this episode: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-125

This week we’re sharing the interview we did with one of the keynote speakers at this year’s Best Friends National Conference, Scott Stratten. Scott is a prolific author and speaker. As the founder of UnMarketing, he’s helped millions understand how to create community and connection through their marketing efforts in the digital age. We talk about UnMarketing, building relationships with the public, and how a leader’s connection to their staff can impact the bottom line. The next National Adoption Weekend event is happening from September 16th through the 18th, and registration is now open. Learn more: https://network.bestfriends.org/join-us/events/best-friends-national-adoption-event

Love or hate it; politics is a part of our work in animal welfare. Laws, ordinances, and regulations - or the lack of them - can impact our ability to save lives positively and negatively. For example, some communities have laws that consider feral cats to be abandoned. That means a TNVR program (trap-neuter-vaccinate-return) may mean you run afoul of that law anytime you take the last step of that process by returning the newly fixed, vaccinated cat to where they were found. But these are tumultuous times, and elected officials are faced with massive issues such as policing, budgets, housing, and everything else we’re dealing with in this post-pandemic world. Ensuring you are working with your lawmakers in the best way possible may determine whether your issue passes or fails. This week we chatted with current Nashville, Tennessee district councilmember Kathleen Murphy, and former Tennessee State Representative Eric Swafford, both of whom are Best Friends legislative and advocacy team members. Resources: Read about the results of the smashing success of July's National Adoption Weekend event: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/program-spotlights/second-national-adoption-weekend-results-nearly-10000-animals Become a Best Friends network partner: https://network.bestfriends.org/join-us/become-network-partner For more resources on this topic, and photos and bios for this week's guests, check out the website for this episode: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-123

Since 2017, the partnership between The Rachael Ray Foundation and Best Friends has supported Best Friends Network Partners through millions of dollars in grants to help reduce shelter deaths in communities across the country. The funded projects over the years have varied. Some focused on increasing lifesaving within one shelter. Others used the grant to fund programs to help other communities beyond their own. But they have all shared the same goal of impactful, innovative, and inclusive programming that is helping us get to No-Kill 2025. The grant cycle opens on September 1st, 2022, so this week, we're taking a closer look at the Rachael Ray grants program. What grants are available, who is eligible to receive funding, and what types of programs have received funding in the past? We spoke with Bethany Heins, the director of strategy and network operations for Best Friends, to learn more about the basics, and we also chatted with Ashley Flores from the Great Plains SPCA in Merriam, Kansas. Ashley tells us about their virtual behavior mentorship program - an idea that took flight after they received a Rachael Ray grant in 2022. Interested in taking the Great Plains SPCA's three-week virtual course on building a sustainable behavior program? Follow this link for more information: https://www.greatplainsspca.org/programs/behavior-training/building-a-sustainable-behavior-program For more resources related to this episode, check out the website for The Best Friends Podcast: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-122

This week registration opened for the Return to Home Challenge. During October, participating organizations that handle lost/stray dogs and cats will take their efforts to get lost pets back home to the next level. Using simple practices such as microchipping, making information on lost pets easily accessible by the public, and educating the community's pet owners on what to do to ensure their pet has the best chance of getting home should they go missing. It's also about educating the community on how they can be part of the solution for any lost pets they find.   The strategies can save time, money, and of course, lives, and there's $300,000 in grant money available to participating organizations. Seventeen national organizations are sponsoring this challenge, including Best Friends. Registration closes on August 1st, so time is of the essence for you to sign up: https://www.maddiesfund.org/return-to-home-challenge-best-friends.htm To talk more about the challenge and the strategies that can help you get more pets back home more quickly, we spoke with Gina Knepp, the national shelter engagement director for the Michelson Found Animals Foundation.  Check out the website for The Best Friends Podcast: https://bestfriends.org/podcast