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Beyond Dog Walking: How to Help Animal Shelters in Ways They Actually Need · The Animal Advocate

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  Raise your hand if you've ever thought, I want to help my local shelter,
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  but. And then filled in the blank with something like,
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  I don't have time for all that training. I can't commit to
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  every Tuesday at 3 o' clock for the rest of my natural life
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  or, and this is a big one, I know myself well enough
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  to know I couldn't handle it emotionally. And if you've
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  ever assumed that that means there's no meaningful way for you to help,
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  hang around, because that assumption is wrong.
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  Shelters absolutely value volunteers who can come on
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  a regular schedule and walk the dogs and give attention to the
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  cats. And if you can do that, thank you, thank you, thank
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  you. If you foster, you're an absolute hero.
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  But they also need many other kinds of help. And. And I think a lot
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  of people don't realize how much they have to offer.
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  Welcome to the Animal Advocate, where we arm animal
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  lovers with the information and inspiration you need to become
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  effective advocates. I'm your host, Penny Ellison, and
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  I've taught animal law and advocacy at the University of Pennsylvania
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  since 2006. If you've ever thought
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  someone should do something about that, I'm here to guide you
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  on your journey to being that someone. You can
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  find us on the web@animaladvocacyacademy.com
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  and that's where you'll find show notes and resources, and you can
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  send us your comments on episodes and ideas for topics you'd like to
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  hear on future shows. So on to today's
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  topic.
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  A past episode on volunteering turned out to be one of our most
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  popular. And afterward, I heard from so many of you saying
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  the same thing in different ways. I want to help,
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  but I can't do it the way shelters usually ask.
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  I get it. Life is busy. Shelter work can be
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  emotionally heavy, and not everyone is in a position to commit
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  to weekly shifts or or hours of orientation training.
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  So today I want to walk you through the kinds of volunteer support
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  shelters consistently say they need beyond animal
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  handling and help you think more expansively
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  about how you could contribute in ways that fit your
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  skills, your schedule, and your capacity.
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  I figured the best way to get good answers on this was to ask.
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  So I posted an informal survey to shelter staff around the country, asking
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  one simple what kind of help do you
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  regularly need other than animal handling that you wish you
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  had more volunteers for? Lots of really
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  thoughtful responses came in. And guess what? Shelters need so
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  much more help beyond the stuff they put in their volunteer recruitment
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  flyers. So let's break this down into categories
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  so, so you can find your thing. The first one
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  is administrative and computer work. This was one of the
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  most commonly mentioned needs and a lot of it can be done from home.
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  One volunteer coordinator told me that administrative and computer work
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  is always needed, but shelters often don't know how to structure
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  it for volunteers.
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  Multiple shelter staff mentioned this as a constant need.
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  One respondent put it simply, we always need help cleaning at the
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  kennel. No animal handling needed, just an affinity for hosing
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  things down and doing laundry. This includes
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  laundry, dishes, scooping poop, sweeping,
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  raking around the grounds, sorting donations,
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  organizing supply rooms, and taping up open bags of
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  food. And let me tell you something about shelter laundry. It
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  never ends. Never. It's like that
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  Greek myth where the guy pushes the boulder up the hill for eternity,
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  except it's blankets and they smell like dog.
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  If you can give even a couple of hours running loads of laundry, you're
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  freeing up staff time for direct animal care.
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  Next up is food programs and supply management.
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  Several shelters mentioned their pet food pantry programs where they
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  provide food to community members struggling to feed their pets.
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  One coordinator described volunteers dividing 50 pound bags of
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  food into smaller portions and logging inventory.
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  Another said their foster department always needs help bagging food into
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  smaller quantities. No training is required.
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  This work directly connects to keeping animals out of
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  shelters. When families can access pet food,
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  they're less likely to surrender animals they love because they can't afford
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  to feed them. And making fostering easier is
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  always a top priority. You can also help
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  organize donation drives. But listen, talk
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  to the shelter first. Find out what they actually
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  need and what they have space to store.
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  Well intentioned donations can create more work if they don't
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  align with current needs. Shelters usually need
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  towels and blankets for bedding, which is great. But
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  sometimes people treat donation bins like whatever they want to get rid of, just
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  throw it in there. Shelter staff have told me they found
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  old bras and underwear mixed in with the donations, so
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  maybe, you know, sort through a little bit first.
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  Next up is creative work and social media.
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  This category came up again and again. Shelters
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  need help taking good quality photos and videos of animals outside
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  their cages and kennels, writing adoption bios
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  and sharing those stories online. Good
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  photos and thoughtful write ups can make a real difference in how quickly
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  an animal finds a home. Other needs include
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  printing and laminating materials, updating kennel cards
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  and creating simple flyers. So if
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  you're a writer, photographer, graphic designer,
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  or comfortable with social media, or all of these, your skills
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  are incredibly valuable. Shelters are competing for attention
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  against cute puppy videos and your cousin's terrible
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  political opinions and whatever celebrity drama happened this week.
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  A single strong post with a really good photo and
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  a bio that doesn't read like a police report can reach
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  exactly the right person at exactly the right time and
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  save a life. Next up,
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  enrichment projects you can do at home for the crafty
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  folks, this one's for you. Shelters mentioned
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  volunteers making catnip toys, fleece blankets,
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  busy boxes, snuffle mats and other
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  enrichment items at home. These projects are perfect
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  for people who want to help but can't commit to on site hours.
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  You can do this at your kitchen table, with your kids, with your
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  friends, while binge watching reality tv. Nobody's
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  judging Enrichment is so important
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  and the shelters rarely have enough time to do as much of it as they
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  would like. Think about a dog that gets out
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  every day for a half an hour, which in some places
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  that would make him a lucky dog. That still leaves 23 and
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  a half hours in a kennel. An enrichment reduces
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  stress and improves quality of life for all of the animals
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  waiting for home. If crafting isn't your thing,
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  some shelters also need help stuffing and freezing kongs with peanut
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  butter and treats. It's simple work. You can come in and do
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  it and visit the animals at the same time and it has
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  a big payoff. Next
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  are events and community outreach. When shelters have
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  things like off site adoption events, they need help getting the
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  word out. This can include hanging flyers
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  or soliciting sponsorships if it's a fundraising event, or
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  helping staff tables at community events to raise awareness.
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  If you're comfortable talking to people, asking local businesses for
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  support, or using your already existing network for
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  good, these skills are really valuable.
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  Fundraisers don't organize themselves. Someone has to make
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  those connections and do the legwork.
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  Finally, I want to do a quick reality check about volunteering.
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  When I first started volunteering with Hand to Paw, I had
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  this very naive assumption that shelters should love and
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  appreciate any help. Like more volunteers
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  automatically means less work for the staff and a better life for the animals, right?
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  And then I started seeing people actually get fired as volunteers.
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  Fired from volunteering. I remember thinking,
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  wait, how does that even work? They're doing this for free.
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  What I learned was this. Some help. Even
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  well intentioned help can actually create more work for shelters
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  if it doesn't align with what they need.
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  Supervising volunteers takes time. Fixing
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  mistakes takes time. Managing someone's
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  passion project that doesn't fit the current priorities,
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  that takes time too. And when staff already are running
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  on fumes, even good intentions can add pressure
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  instead of relieving it. I don't share this with you to scare
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  anyone off. I share it because the most effective volunteers
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  are the ones who ask what do you actually need?
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  Instead of showing up with what they think you need.
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  It's like bringing in some thoughtful gift that you thought would be great
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  versus giving someone the thing they actually asked for. Both
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  are nice, but one is way more useful.
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  So every task I've mentioned frees up staff time for
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  direct animal care. When volunteers handle
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  laundry, staff can spend more time with scared new intakes.
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  When someone manages data entry, adoption
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  coordinators can focus on matching families with pets.
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  When social media is handled and buttressed with volunteers,
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  directors can work on grant applications that keep programs running.
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  Shelters operate with small staffs and tight budgets.
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  Behind the scenes support like this isn't less important than animal
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  handling. It's what makes animal handling possible.
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  So here's our question for this week and I hear this one a lot.
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  What if I don't have much time but I do want to work directly with
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  animals? The honest answer is it depends on the
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  shelter and it's worth asking. Some
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  shelters require extensive training, many visits to the shelter
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  before you can independently walk a dog or anything like that.
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  Others are a lot more flexible. Cat
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  socializing came up in my survey too. Lots of shelters need people
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  to simply sit with cats, talk to them and help them feel
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  comfortable around humans. You might also help with photo
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  shoots or off site adoption events where they have
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  different requirements than volunteering in the shelter.
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  The key is an honest conversation with a volunteer
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  coordinator. Tell them that you're interested and tell them what you can offer
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  and ask what might work. They may have options you didn't know
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  existed or be willing to create something new.
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  And here's your be the change action for this week.
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  Contact one shelter near you and ask what they need.
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  Don't assume, don't guess. Don't show up with
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  donations before checking first. Say I want to help.
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  I have these skills and this much time. What do you need
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  right now? That one question does two powerful
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  things. It respects the reality that shelters are operating
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  in and it makes you a volunteer who truly
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  helps. Every shelter is held together by people
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  doing unglamorous work. Folding laundry,
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  updating spreadsheets, hanging flyers, stuffing
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  kongs. None of it makes for cute social media
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  posts, but all of it saves lives.
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  And honestly, you can choose to stay home and
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  make angry posts about how shelters should do better, or
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  you can show up and help them do better. It's your
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  choice remember the hand you raised at the beginning.
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  You can put it down now because you've got options. Find
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  your thing, give what's needed,
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  and most of all, don't underestimate your impact.
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  That's it for today. The Animal Advocate Podcast is brought
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  to you by the Animal Advocacy Academy. You can find
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  episodes and show
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  notes@animaladvocacyacademy.com
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  along with a link to our Facebook and LinkedIn pages where we discuss
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  our podcasts, and we'd love to discuss your thoughts and experiences
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  there. If you're interested in learning more about protecting
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  animals, subscribe to the show so you get every episode when
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  it comes out. If you have any questions on this or any
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  other topic related to animal law, email them to
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  podcastnimaladvocacyacademy.com
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  and we'll make sure to get them answered. We'll either email you back
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  or feature them in a future episode, or both.
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  And remember, compassion is great, but
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  compassionate action is infinitely better. Until
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  next week, Live with compassion.
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  Find your thing, give what's needed, and don't
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  underestimate your impact.