A clean and inviting environment helps to establish a postive image.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, between 6 and 8 million animals find their way to shelters every year. Of that staggering number, only about half become adopted into families. There are hundreds of animal shelters across the country, some with more positive reputations than others. As a result, there are several steps animal shelters must follow to make a positive first impression, or to overcome negative impressions. These are critical in order to best serve the larger mission of caring for, and finding good homes for, rescued animals.
Instructions
1. Maintain a clean and welcoming building. Having a dirty or inconvenient facility creates a negative and lasting impression. This hinders potential adoptions by inadvertently sending the message suggesting shelter animals are undesirable. Ideally, the facility should have good lighting and be spacious. All floors preferably should be a non-skid surface for safety and easy cleaning. Visiting rooms should be provided allowing interested families to have individual time with prospective pets. Public access to the kennel area should be limited to only the areas where healthy dogs or cats are housed.
2. Select staff members who are good with people, as well as animals. Little things like a friendly smile, a courteous voice on the phone, patience, compassion and understanding go a long way. Working well with the public is a very important element that is often overlooked, and can even be difficult at times. Shelters can't afford to let an indifferent staff member set a negative tone. Good customer service is necessary to not only serve the public, but indirectly it benefits the animals through good word-of-mouth.
3. Create an informational website about the shelter. It is important to have complete contact information, hours of operation, and guidelines for relinquishing or adopting animals in order to set up realistic expectations. Other types of useful information include how the shelter is funded, what and donate money or items, partnerships in the community, and pictures and information about the animals themselves.
4. Provide useful and honest statistics about the overall plight of unwanted animals, as well as the statistics of your facility. Publish these statistics on written materials and make them available on the website. Shelters need to be truthful about what they have already accomplished, and about the ways they are trying to improve. Manipulating numbers or falsifying information simply creates distrust in the community, which can hinder a shelter's ability to raise necessary funds and negatively affect future adoptions.
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