Additional Resources
Check out the following additional resources that provide information on a wide variety of topics to help improve daily operations and organizational policies.
VIDEOS, WEBINARS, ONLINE COURSES, & PODCAST
- Online Courses
- Best Friends Town Halls
- Saving America's Pets Vlog
- A Partnership for Growing Leaders in Animal Rescue
- A Texas Shelter's Transformation
- BTS: How Los Angeles Became a No-Kill City
- Can mentorships offer specialized help for shelters?
- Does insurance protect pets?
- Empty Kennels in Animal Shelters Around the Country
- Evolve or Be Left Behind
- Exploring the new tool helping to improve the lives of animal shelter employees
- Finding the Positive After a Disaster
- Getting Out of Our Own Way to Save More Lives
- How animals benefit from the Shelter Collaborative Project
- How a Shelter Embed Program Helped Save Animals in Abilene, Texas
- How Data Analysis Helps Us Reach No-Kill Across America
- How Large City Rescues are Adapting during the Pandemic
- How to Help Animal Shelters Prepare for Kitten Season
- How two unlikely shelters came together on a life-saving project
- Interview with Jacksonville Humane: How to maintain lifesaving efforts during the pandemic
- Lifesaving Bright Spots
- New Data and How Delaware Became the First No-Kill State
- Overcoming the US vs. THEM Mentality and Embracing Cooperation
- Pitties Help Save Kitties
- Staff, the Heart of Your Organization
- The data is in: What the numbers from 2021 say about our progress towards no-kill
- What's Next for No-Kill and the City of Los Angeles
- The Best Friends Podcast
- 2020 by the Numbers
- A New Day for Animal Sheltering in the United States
- A radical transformation at the York County SPCA
- Alexis Pugh at the Best Friends National Conference
- Animal Welfare Feeling the Effects of the Nationwide Staffing Crisis
- Applying 12-Step principles to succeed, stay sane, and save lives
- Arin Greenwood
- Best Friends Pet Lifesaving Dashboard
- Building better boards
- Changing minds with David McRaney
- Compassionate Badassery
- Conference advice from the pros
- Cultivating Resilience
- Dr. Louiza Chan
- Ed Jamison - Part One
- Ed Jamison - Part Two
- Embedded in Big Country, Abilene Texas
- Emotional Intelligence - Our Super Power
- Fraily Rodriguez
- Francis Battista
- Gaining the hiring edge during the “great reshuffle”
- Hope, Jane Goodall, and the power of belief w/ Julie Castle
- Idaho Shelter Coalition Leading Push Toward No-Kill Statewide
- Innovation and Collaboration - Lifesaving in El Paso, Texas
- It's Not Back to Business as Usual for Animal Welfare
- Julie Castle
- Julie Castle Returns!
- Keeping Ourselves Whole
- Lifesaving success favors the bold
- Los Angeles Now a No-Kill City Thanks to NKLA Coalition
- Managing our mental health
- Mary Ippoliti-Smith (Maddie's Fund)
- Mission Possible - Lifesaving in the Florida Panhandle
- Norfolk - Your Time has Come
- Permission to Feel with Dr. Marc Brackett
- Rebecca Guinn - Atlanta's Lifeline
- Shelter Collaborative Program
- Shelter collaborative program (part two)
- Shifting your mission
- Strategy: Paving the Way to Achieving Your Mission
- Taking Risks to Save Lives
- The 2021 Lifesaving Dataset
- The 2022 Best Friends National Conference kicks off today!
- The healing power of pets: connecting shelter dogs and veterans
- The Moonshot - No-Kill 2025
- What "The Real Housewives" can teach us about shelter management
- When Leading Requires a Push
- Webinars
- Bridging relationships between northeastern and southeastern lifesavers webinars
- Leading Through Change
- Lifetime Care for Pets: Helping Pet Owners Plan for the Possibility That Their Pets Might Outlive Them
- Municipal Shelter Leadership Culture & Community Engagement
- Shelter Leadership Culture & Community Engagement Webinar
- Using Data to Tell Your Story, webinar
DOWNLOADABLE PDFs, PLAYBOOKS, & SOPs
- Animal Care Staff Training Manual: Onboarding and Training New Animal Care Staff
- At-Risk Animal Playbook
- Daily Checklist and Time Stamps for Shelters Training Playbook
- Deciding Whether to Launch a 501(c)(3) Support Group Playbook
- Forming a 501(c)(3) Support Group Playbook
- Forming and Working with a 501(c)(3) Board Playbook
- Insurance for Animal Welfare Organizations
- Municipal Guide for Lifesaving Policies
- People, Pets, and Policies: Towards Community Supported Animal Sheltering
- Staff Development and Training Playbook
- Training New Animal Care Staff Playbook
TEMPLATES
- Budget Model Template
- Key Performance Goals Month-over-Month Animal Tracking Template
- Strategic Planning Template
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES & INFORMATION
- Humane Education Resources
- Insurance for Animal Welfare Organizations
- Lifesaving Animal Services Contract Guidelines
- New Data, New Normal: How to use data to prove the community-supported sheltering model
- Shelter and Rescue Liability
- Editorials
- 2021 was a challenging year – but it’s not all bad news
- 2022 national dataset shows mix of ups and downs
- Best Friends’ program endorsements: Arming shelters in their efforts to progress policies and procedures,
- Getting Out of the Staffing Shortage Rut
- Keeping up the Pace of Lifesaving
- One Size Does Not Fit All When It Comes to Animal Welfare Agreements
- Overwhelmed? Under-resourced?
- Setting the Record Straight on Shelter Returns
- Shelters Prove They Can Reach 90% Goal - and Stay There
- Stepping up pay ranges for animal welfare staff
- The 2020 Data Set is Here
- We do what? Policies, procedures, and the importance of writing them down
- Program Spotlights
- 10 tales from 2022
- 2019 Shelter Dataset Shows Steady Progress to No-Kill 2025
- 2020-2022 data trends Q&A
- Aiming to Bring the Animal Welfare Profession Out of the Shadows
- COVID-19 Resource Page Gives a Glimpse in the Future of Sheltering
- Data about Shelter Trends Provide a Blueprint for Animal Services Moving Forward
- First-Ever Virtual National BF Conference Promises Something for Everyone
- Five types of tech to streamline your lifesaving work
- From surviving to thriving: an interview with José Ocaño
- Happy Tales for Thanksgiving
- Helping the Public Plan for their Pets' Care During Crisis
- How to Build a Strong Partnership
- Latest Data Reveals Most Common Reasons for Owner Surrender
- Legislation is poised to end BSL in Florida
- Looking Back on a Tumultuous Year
- Making the Cast for Keeping Adjusted Shelter Practices Post-Pandemic
- More tips on getting your shelter’s SOPs in shape
- No-Kill Doesn't Mean No Challenges
- Onset of Kitten Season Combined with Shelter Limitations Leads to Creative Solutions
- Reaching for radical transformation with Steven Martinez of York County SPCA
- “Ready or Not, here it Comes"
- Reconsidering your mission (Part I)
- Reconsidering your mission (Part II)
- Reconsidering your mission (Part III)
- Shelters Use Technology to Overcome COVID Challenges
- Take a Gander at These Partner Perks
- Ten Ways to Get the Public Re-Engaged with Your Shelter Post-COVID
- The Best Friends National Conference is Back!
- Unique Partnerships Add New Dimension to Helping Animals
- We’re all in this together: Working with, not against, unions
- We’re back, baby!! Join us in July for the Best Friends National Conference
- When rescuers need rescuing: managing our mental health