Adopters Welcome DIY action plan

This step-by-step plan can help your organization transition to Adopters Welcome

two people talk to a woman holding a puppy
Photo by Mark Stehle/AP Images for Humane World for Animals

The Adopters Welcome manual and webinar series were designed to help you maximize adoptions by embracing members of your community, encouraging them to adopt and helping them succeed as pet owners. This step-by-step action plan will help you easily transition to the Adopters Welcome philosophy!

  1. Getting started
    Adopters Welcome is more than just converting to open, or conversation-based, adoptions—it’s a fundamental shift in how your organization thinks about adoptions and how it connects people with animals. That’s why it’s so important to be sure that your organization understands the philosophy and approach behind Adopters Welcome and is committed to implementing it fully.
  2. Review your policy
    Examine your current adoption policies to see whether you’re saying “no” when you could—and should—be saying “yes.”
  3. Review your procedures
    Take a look at your marketing techniques, community outreach, adoption procedures and more to help ensure that your adoption process is as free of barriers as possible.
  4. Set the stage for success
    Adopters Welcome is premised on the notion that everyone on your adoption team will do their best to enable adopters to successfully adopt the pet they want, instead of judging, looking for “red flags” and saying “no.” Organizations that are committed to training their staff and volunteers to recognize bias—and to work through fears in a safe and supportive way—are much more likely to create a team confident in using conversation to create relationships with adopters. Adopters Welcome celebrates adoption rather than being in fear of it.
  5. Get your team on board
    Time to bring your full team on board. This includes everyone who has a role in adoptions at any part of the adoption process: adoption counselors, team members who may field adoption-related questions, foster families, volunteers at pet supply stores or other off-site adoption locations, etc. Everyone who has contact with potential adopters needs to understand why you’re asking them to think differently about how they approach adoptions and embrace the Adopters Welcome program.
  6. Train and support your team
    Get your team ready to engage and support more adopters. Everyone needs to be comfortable using the Adopters Welcome style that attracts adopters and offers them support if they need it.
  7. Celebrate your new program
    Now that your new policies are approved and in place, your procedures work to maximize adoptions, and your team is trained and raring to go, it’s time to make sure your community knows that you have an Adopters Welcome program.
  8. Conduct a self-assessment
    As your team grows with your Adopters Welcome philosophy and program, you can have confidence that you’re still maximizing adoptions by regularly examining the policies and procedures you’ve put in place. Barriers have a way of sneaking back in, and regular reviews of your process can help prevent this and open a dialogue with staff and volunteers who may want to add a new barrier.

Step One: Getting started

  • Resources to help you get started:
  • Ensure that all of your decision-makers (e.g., board of directors, leadership team, municipal authority, etc.) are on board, so there is top-down support of Adopters Welcome implementation. Use the “Convince leadership to adopt Adopters Welcome” document to help.
  • Determine who is the best person or team to handle each task in this DIY plan. If you won’t be handling the tasks of this plan yourself, empower an individual or team to lead the implementation process.
  • Gather your data. The best way to prove the success of an Adopters Welcome program is to have “before and after” data. Some statistics to consider collecting include: number of animals adopted, average length of stay, number of animals returned, zip codes of adopters, current number of volunteers, etc. (NOTE: Don’t let a lack of data stop you from making the switch to Adopters Welcome! If you don’t have an easy way to get these numbers, it isn’t worth holding up the process. Your new results will speak for themselves.)

Back to Top

Step Two: Review your policy

Back to Top

Step Three: Review your procedure

Back to Top

Step Four: Set the stage for success

Back to Top

Step Five: Get your team on board

  • Have your entire team read the Adopters Welcome manual and make notes about any sections that raise questions.
  • Share your new policy and procedure documents with your team and consider any suggestions they offer.
  • Schedule plenty of time with your team to allow for questions and concerns. Review the “Adopters Welcome FAQs”.

Back to Top

Step Six: Train and support your team

Back to Top

Step Seven: Celebrate your new program

  • Explore every opportunity to celebrate this milestone in your organization’s history. Here are some ideas:
    • Put website updates in place
    • Host an adoption open house
    • Take out ads in local papers
    • Ask your municipal officials to pass a proclamation

Back to top

Step Eight: Conduct a self-assessment

  • Take time to monitor progress and make adjustments where needed by returning to these resources and celebrating ongoing successes.
  • When new team members join, have them start with Step Five and continue through the training process.
  • Continue to collect data to share the proof of your success. After a period of time, you’ll want to compare your “before and after” numbers. Share them with your team and your community members.

Back to top

Document

adopters welcome
Adopters Welcome Manual

Advertisements

animal arts - animal shelter planning and design
start a discussion, reply or upload a resource to be entered to win $3000 from Maddie's Fund
join the association for animal welfare advancement today