GUEST: Gina Knepp, former Animal Care Services Manager for Sacramento’s Front Street Animal Shelter. She is now the National Shelter Engagement Director at Michelson Found Animals Foundation.

MAIN QUESTIONS: How do we survive the haters and who can we turn to for help?

LINKS: 

• Michelson Found Animals
• Front Street Shelter in Sacramento, California (Facebook)
• Leadership recommendation: "The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism" by Olivia Fox Cabane (book) (audio version)

Guest: Kelley Bollen, a Certified Animal Behavior Consultant with a master’s degree in Animal Behavior. Main question: What are the best ways to add enrichment to the lives of animals in a shelter?

Takeaways:

• Design an enrichment program that includes the different types of enrichment – social, sensory, physical and mental stimulation – for the dogs, cats, and other animals in your shelter.
• Schedule and track enrichment on a white board so you can be sure it’s happening every day.
• Engage volunteers in helping to make sure that enrichment is happening for the animals. Staff can get busy, and so volunteers can be a great asset in making sure enrichment is happening.

Links:

* Kelley Bollen Consulting

* Alive & Thriving animal behavior program for shelters

* Bonney's recommendation: The Goodman Center

* Comment on the podcast's Facebook page

Recorded pre-COVID.

Guest: Diane Blankenburg, CEO and Co-Founder of Humane Network. She was also Community Programs & Development Director for Nevada Humane Society, Katrina Rescue and Recovery Director for Alley Cat Allies, and Network Director for Best Friends Animal Society. Main question: “Our organization struggles to get everyone on the same page. We do not function as a team. Many people are doing their own thing in their own way. Can you help us?”

Takeaways:

* Communicate clear expectations – make sure you have a clear mission with clear goals that are communicated well, often and through multiple channels to staff. Each department and each individual needs to understand their responsibilities and have clear expectations for performance that are linked to the high-level organizational goals.   * Monitor progress – measure results at the individual, department and organization level, give feedback, and make adjustments as you go. Don’t wait for an annual performance review to give feedback.   * Reward good performance. Be on the lookout for people doing things right. Also keep in mind that not addressing and following up on inappropriate behavior can seem like a reward.

Links:

* Checklist: Shelter walk-through

* Checklist: How to make your shelter a welcoming place

* Mark's recommendation: FollowUpThen email productivity tool

* Comment on the podcast's Facebook page

Recorded pre-COVID.

Guest: Denise Stevens, CEO of the nonprofit, low-cost Options Veterinary Care clinic in Reno. She is also the former chief operations officer at SPCA of Northern Nevada as well as Nevada Humane Society. And she is also co-founder of the original community cats organization called Community Cats.

Main question: When a shelter gets full, what are the best ways to get the population down fairly quickly and what are the best ways to keep it from happening again?

Links:

* Options Veterinary Care

* Bonney's recommendation: "We Should Aim for Perfection - And Stop Fearing Failure" TED Talk by Jon Bowers

Recorded pre-COVID.

Guest: Gina Knepp, former Animal Care Services Manager for Sacramento’s Front Street Animal Shelter. She is now the National Shelter Engagement Director at Michelson Found Animals Foundation Main question: “I’ve struggled to get shelter staff to not be judgmental with people when they’re surrendering a pet or returning an adopted animal. How can I convince them this is essential? How do you get an organization out of this culture?”

Links:

* Michelson Found Animals

* Front Street Animal Shelter - City of Sacramento

* Mark's recommendation: "Atomic Habits" by James Clear 

* James Clear website, where you can download a free chapter of "Atomic Habits"

* Comment on the podcast's Facebook page

Recorded pre-COVID.

Guest: Michael Mountain, one of the founders and a former president of Best Friends Animal Society and its sanctuary in Southern Utah for abused and abandoned animals. Michael is also co-founder of the Whale Sanctuary Project. Main question: “I hate fundraising. Asking people for donations, even in writing, does not come naturally to me at all. Any advice for how I can get over this? And any specific tips for how to communicate with people so they will become interested in supporting what we are doing?”

Links:

* The Whale Sanctuary Project

* Best Friends Animal Society

* Best Friends newsletter from 2004 mentioned by Michael Mountain

* Bonney's recommendation: "The Leadership Secrets of Santa Claus" by Eric Harvey

* Comment and ask questions on the podcast's Facebook page

Recorded pre-COVID.

Guest: Kelley Bollen, a Certified Animal Behavior Consultant with a master’s degree in Animal Behavior

Main Question: What are the best ways to reduce stress in shelter animals?

Takeaways:

1. Have an immediate hiding place for cats when they come into the shelter. Cats get sick very quickly; having a hiding place, decreases their stress.

2. Try to give dogs lots of aerobic exercise – it wears them out, it decreases their stress, and makes them less likely to bark.

3. Volunteers can help with a lot of this. They can bring in boxes for cats to hide in, they can walk dogs, they can play with the animals to destress them. So be sure you're tapping into your volunteer program to decrease stress for the animals in your shelter.

Guest bio: Kelley has worked in the field of companion animal behavior for 20 years. Kelley consults with animal shelters across the country on the design and implementation of comprehensive behavior programs to improve the welfare of the animals.

Show links

* Kelley Bollen Consulting

* More on the Ivy Lee Method

* Comment and ask questions on the podcast's Facebook page

Recorded pre-COVID.

Guest: Kim Klein, author of “Fundraising for Social Change” and an internationally known trainer and speaker. She is also author of “Reliable Fundraising in Unreliable Times,” which won the McAdam Book Award.

Main question: “What are the best ways to turn small donors into bigger donors?”

Takeaways:

1. Fundraising is about building relationships – you don’t just want a donation; you want a donor.

As part of building relationships, remember – don’t always tell about your organization’s work, ask about them and their interests – learn about what matters most to them. Communication is a two-way street.

Create a team of skilled volunteers to help build relationships with donors. They can make thank-you calls, send thank you notes, document donor information, and help develop a relationship between donors and your organization.

2. Keep in mind that someone’s first donation is generally about one-tenth of the maximum they could give you.

3. Ask – 65% of adults make charitable gifts, but only when they are asked. So, let go of that fear of asking because some organization is going to get that person’s money, and it could be your organization!

Links:

* Klein and Roth Consulting

* Mark's recommendation: Harvard Business Review's Management Tip of the Day signup

* Comment and ask questions on the podcast's Facebook page

Recorded pre-COVID.

This trailer for the Shelter Success Simplified podcast gives a short preview of what to expect in this podcast, which is specifically designed for sheltering, rescue and animal welfare professionals, as well as those eager to learn more about the field. We will provide tips and information that will help simplify your complex work and help you be more successful with less stress.

You can "like" the Shelter Success Simplified podcast's Facebook page to be notified of new episodes and connect with others who work in animal welfare.