A strategic partnership between a local animal shelter and the school district.
Position on Rosie’s Southside Animal Shelter strategic partnership
By Allison Bruns
Position
Rosie’s Southside Animal Shelter should strategically partner with local schools as a new fundraising effort.
Fundraising so far
Rosie’s Animal Shelter relies heavily on fundraising efforts to financially support its mission of rescuing and rehoming cats and dogs. As a nonprofit, key partnerships are vital to fundraising efforts necessary to continue good works.
Current partnerships with AmazonSmile and Kroger Community Rewards allow for a convenient way for locals to donate through the profits made from Amazon and Kroger. While this is a good way to raise money, it only provides a variable income structure for the shelter. Capitalizing on events-based fundraising would allow for a new fixed income structure that is currently untapped.
Positives
Obtain needed funds
Now more than ever, there is a demand for having animals in a school setting. School districts are using animals as a means of boosting morale and improving the mental health of students and faculty. Bringing animals from Rosie's Southside Animal Shelter would meet this demand from the school district and provide a win-win situation for both parties. Additionally, it would help develop a positive relationship between the community and the shelter.
Expands awareness
A partnership with local schools would lead to an increase in awareness of Rosie's Southside Animal Shelter. All staff present at the school would wear Rosie's shirts, and the animals would wear collars with the name and logo printed on them.
Increase adoption rate
Animals from Rosie's Southside Animal Shelter being in schools regularly would allow bonding between students, faculty, and the animals. The increased awareness that the animals can be adopted would lead to an increase in the adoption of those animals by both word-of-mouth promotion and experiential marketing.
Negatives
Increased need for training
To allow the best experience for the school district, faculty, and students, Rosie's Southside Animal Shelter needs to develop training for volunteers to interact with the animals in a school setting. Staff must be aware of school district they policies and understand how to manage the animals in that environment. This training program would require time and money to develop. However, this training surge would only exist at the start of the program and would help the program to be more sustainable.
Decreased availability at shelter
When the animals are in the schools, they would obviously not be present in the shelter for visitors to come and meet them. However, this could easily be overcome by strategically planning potential adopter visits as well as school visits to make sure that the animals are in the best places for adoption.
Recommendation
To increase fundraising for Rosie’s Southside Animal Shelter by participating in school district visits, I recommend management reach out to local school districts to pursue developing a contract with them for allowing emotional support animals in the schools.