Additional Education

The world of animal welfare is a fast-moving, ever-changing environment with new lifesaving programs popping up all the time. Some of the most tried and true programs have proven to be critical in today’s daily operations, yet some organizations struggle with implementing them or even knowing where to start. The following are various resources to continue your education of these programs and resources to take your organization to the next level. 

ONLINE COURSES

• Collective Impact- Public Safety and Lifesaving are Compatible: Multi-organizational Coalitions and Collaboration for Increased Lifesaving and Safe Communities. The objectives of this course are to identify the elements of systems thinking, to illustrate the components of collective impact framework, to compare and contrast the five conditions of collective impact, and to examine and elaborate on collective impact framework case studies. 
• Gathering Data for Shelters- This module explores data management in animal services and examines the knowledge and strategies needed to successfully understand the importance of data collection and best practices in data management in helping your organization reach its lifesaving goals. You will also learn to recognize various types of intake and outcome data and how this data is managed and shared by animal services organizations.
• Well-being and Resilience- This course will examine the need for attention to the well-being and resilience of you and your team.
• Well-being and Resilience: A Deeper Dive- This course will examine the need for attention to the well-being and resilience of you and your team. 
  Upon completion of this course you will create a personal action plan for well-being and resilience, as well as identifying opportunities and actions for the well-being of the team.

MANUALS & PLAYBOOKS

• Alternative Outcomes- Shelters and animal organizations around the country are exploring new ways to save more lives every day by collaborating with each other and engaging their communities to create strategic partnerships and programs that are critical to achieving and maintaining no-kill status. These innovative programs create live outcomes for animals that are alternatives to traditional adoption and transfer programs and have become standard proven lifesaving strategies for shelters. This playbook will provide examples of successful alternative outcome programs.
• At-Risk Animals- This playbook can help you create an objective at-risk animal process so that you are constantly evaluating each animal as an individual based on the resources available to you today. Thirty-five years ago, around 17 million animals lost their lives in shelters every year simply because they didn’t have safe places to call home. Today, that number is down to around 733,000 per year because people like you challenged the status quo, engaged your community and implemented proactive programs to say no to ending the lives of healthy and treatable animals.
• Daily Checklist and Time Stamps for Shelters Training- Daily checklists or “time stamps,” on the other hand, provide the exact details of one’s duties with related timelines for deliverables. In shelters, having clearly laid-out expectations is key to effective sanitation and care, which ultimately leads to a healthier and happier animal population. This playbook outlines the steps an organization should take to develop and implement time stamps. 
• Deciding Whether to Launch a 501(c)(3) Support Group- Nonprofit (not-for-profit) organizations significantly lessen the burden of government to provide services and programs. For this reason, the IRS offers special tax benefits to nonprofits that qualify and complete all legal and fiscal requirements annually.
• Emergency Preparedness Toolkit- This comprehensive toolkit has everything you need to ensure you, your organization, and your community are ready for whatever the future holds. Along with a wealth of information about all aspects of achieving emergency readiness, there are 19 templates, plans, and task descriptions, you can easily edit and adapt to your organization.
• Forming a 501(c)(3) Support Group- This playbook provides broad guidance about federal requirements for creating a 501(c)(3) organization and encourages contact with your secretary of state’s office regarding state requirements. We don’t presume to give legal advice or provide a comprehensive task list. This is a starting point for your own research.
• Forming and Working with a 501(c)(3) Board- If you choose to encourage the formation of a 501(c)(3) support group for your shelter, you will play a leading role in the organization’s creation, launch and stewardship. Approach its board and committee members, especially the board chair, as vital partners in moving your agency toward its most transformational goals.
• People, Pets, and Policies: Towards Community Supported Animal Sheltering- Together with IMLA (International Municipal Lawyers Association), we have created the following comprehensive guide to provide municipalities with programs and policies that encourage the humane treatment of animals. The chapters included in the manual address topics such as pet inclusive public housing, empowering animal field officers, integrating animal services and municipal departments, managing feral cat populations, foster care, adoption services, volunteering at animal shelters, public and private partnerships, and breed-neutral policies and laws.
• Staff Development and Training- In this playbook, we cover what staff training and development is, why you should care deeply about it, and how to implement a training and development style that can maximize your employees’ contributions while making each one feel exactly what they are: a unique and valued part of the team.