Animal Shelter Plans and An Informed Community Equals New Animal Shelter

Recently, the animal shelter architect team at Shelterplanners designed an animal shelter for Iredell County, NC. Here is a picture of the design plans:

Animal Shelter PlansBecause it can be difficult for anyone other than an architect to understand such designs, we created an image of what the animal shelter would look like when the building was completed. Here is the 3D image:

The design plans and 3D rendering allow a few things to happen:

1) The shelter's staff and local officals can easily show the public the vision for the shelter. 

2) Your local citizens will have something to rally around - the general public doesn't understand architect mumbojumbo! The combination of plans and a 3D rendering will allow more people to understand the proposal. 

The more people truly understand the project, the more likely they will donate and/or support the new animal shelter. 

When your community is involved, things happen. Ultimately, the community decides whether an animal shelter is built. The Iredell County community decided it wanted to support its animals, here's the final product:

 Animal Shelter Plans + Community Support = New Animal Shelter!

Why Most Animal Shelters Struggle with Raising Money

“Folks aren’t going to pull out their checkbook until we can sit down and say we’re going to be digging a foundation in six weeks, six months. . . . They’re not going to give money to something that they don’t have any clue as to when we’re going to start.” - Montgomery County (VA) Administrator Craig Meadows

And the animal shelter architects team at Shelterplanners would like to add:

Your community is not going to rally around a cause if it’s not aware of the problem(s) at the local animal shelter.  Furthermore, it’s extremely difficult to operate a successful capital campaign if members of the community don’t have a CLEAR picture of the new animal shelter building plans and how much the new animal shelter will cost.

Approaching potential donors with a complete action plan, including building plans, a 3-D rendering of the proposed building (see above picture), and a complete breakdown of costs associated with building the animal shelter, is much more effective than asking, “Please contribute to the animal shelter because it’s in bad shape.”

In our experience, we found that we design and build animal shelters for communities that are united.  The community is the answer to solving the animal shelter problem.  A unified community can (gently) pressure local officials to find a solution to the poor shelter conditions.

It’s much easier to gain community support if you have a crystal clear action plan.  To quickly gain supporters for your cause: Give the community a picture of the proposed building, a cost projection for the new building, and support your plan with strong statistical data.  

No-Kill - Should My Animal Shelter Go for It?

                                             

No Kill – Should Our Shelter Go for It?

When the “No Kill” movement was introduced two decades ago it generated a great deal of controversy. Folks in animal welfare began taking sides for and against the concept and its claims and challenge to the industry as a whole.

The world has changed dramatically in the last several years and the “No Kill Blueprint”, articulated by Nathan Winograd in his seminal book “Redemption”, has been applied in animal shelters across the country with remarkable results.  We have assisted more and more groups dedicated to working toward the goal of saving every healthy companion animal in their care, and consistent application of the programs articulated in the “No Kill Blueprint” is the common denominator for achieving successful results.

We have witnessed success with organizations that have confidently declared themselves “No Kill” as well as organizations that have applied the “blueprint” quietly, without any formal declaration.  Results are usually positive in either case and once the community begins to realize success is at hand, a groundswell of support develops in a variety of forms – donations, volunteers, and governmental support. 

If a new shelter (or improvements to an existing shelter) is part of the community’s no kill strategy, animal shelter architects should incorporate specific building plans to match the community’s no kill vision.

More and more we are witnessing local government responding to the desire for improved conditions and outcomes.  Cooperation between humane and rescue groups working positively with animal control elevates the conversation, bringing about a more cooperative effort on behalf of the community’s stray companion animals.

Whether your organization adopts the “No Kill” moniker or not is less important than bringing to bear the strategies that ultimately produce results. After all, improving your animal shelter is less about the grand announcement that you plan to be a no kill, and more about improving the community and saving animals. 

Grand Opening - Transylvania County Animal Shelter

What an exciting weekend at the grand opening of the new Transylvania County Animal Shelter. We had a great time working with local officials on the animal shelter design for this project. The animal shelter plans incoroporate natural light and allow for future expanison. It's truly amazing what a unified community can accomplish. 

Grand Opening of Transylvania County's Animal ShelterOverall view of the shelterBill Daggett, founder of Shelter Planners, with Lee Hunter, NC State Veterinarian

Finger Lakes SPCA - Bath, NY

Here are a few pictures of the kickoff party for the new animal shelter at Finger Lakes SPCA. Shelter Planners is thriled to be the animal shelter architect and design team for the project.