Innovation in the desert

2021, like 2020, was a year unlike any other, making innovation so much more important, not just to do better but to address the fast-changing landscape in which we find ourselves. I am proud that Pethealth has partnered with The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement to create the Diane & Bob Hoover Annual Innovation Award. Last month, at The Association leadership conference, we celebrated the 3rd year of this award with two organizations that demonstrated innovation to produce significant, measurable results. In one case, it meant more revenue; in the other, it showed increased efficiency and transparency.

The second-place winner was Maricopa County Animal Care and Control (MCACC). Like so many other animal welfare organizations, MCACC was forced to severely limit the number of people allowed in the adoption facility throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Since MCACC moved to scheduled adoption appointments, they knew they needed to make sure potential adopters had greater access to information about each pet before their appointment. MCACC quickly rolled out a new adoptable pet website in April 2020. That site provided adopters with much more information than they would normally find on other shelters websites. MCACC was committed to providing folks with a complete view of the animal so they could make an informed decision before coming to the shelter. The new site included behavior notes, medical information, information gathered from the finder or previous owner, and any recommendations from our Behavior Team. In addition, the site included the ability for the adopter to download the pet information as a PDF or to email the information to themselves or another person.

The improved adoptable pet site has led to more potential adopters coming to the shelter already knowing which pets they would like to meet, reducing their wait time and browsing time while in the shelter. Which, in turn, has allowed the staff to serve more potential pet owners. With the integration of the new website, along with their Lost & Found mapping system, MCACC was able to enhance their adoption self-serve kiosks and improve the pet owner experience onsite as well. To me, what is extra innovative about this is the willingness to share information that many shelters choose to keep private. By sharing this information, they are saving shelter staff time, not having to go into as much detail about each animal with potential adopters. Yes, there is risk, but ultimately, MCACC trusts the public to make informed decisions with all the necessary information at their fingertips.

The first-place winner was Arizona Humane Society (AHS). I truly love this one because they looked at something that so many not-for-profits do, and in the exact same manner, they realized the potential of shifting away from the status quo. Organizations that receive vehicle donations liquidate these assets through third-party companies that typically sell these vehicles at auction and share in the revenue. Not only do the shelters have to share the proceeds with third parties, but the vehicles are most often sold far below their retail value. What AHS did was register themselves as a used car dealership. This way, they could make a small investment in repairs to the vehicles and then sell them online for full retail value. Even after taking out the investment, marketing and staffing costs, the program more than doubled its revenue. Since the inception of this program, AHS has sold more than 336 vehicles and earned $686,841 in gross revenue.

Great things are happening in the desert, and I am sure more amazing innovations are happening throughout the animal welfare movement. I hope these two organizations will challenge you and your organization to look at ways to innovate, and I hope you apply for the Diane & Bob Hoover Award next year. One more thing - the winners of this award did so not just for implementing innovative programs but also for measuring their respective successes. Well done! For more information about the award and previous winners, check out the Diane and Bob Hoover Innovation Award.