Animal Rescue

Design for Social Good

The Humane Society of Greater Kansas City
To start our research first we visited the The Humane Society of Greater Kansas City
we met with the president and CEO, Keith Wiedenkeller.
To save and improve the lives of
dogs and cats throughout the
Greater Kansas City community
by providing education, adoptions,
preventive veterinary care and
spay/neuter services.
Their mission is to save and improve the lives of dogs and cats throughout the Greater Kansas City community by providing education, adoptions, preventive veterinary care and spay/neuter services.
The Humane Society is the oldest animal rescue organization in Kansas city. Theyve been located in their current 10,000 sq foot facility for 14 years. They are able to house 40 to 50 dogs at a time and up to 100 cats. They rely heavily on their foster network of
volunteers to house a majority of their adoptable pets.
They offer low cost veterinary care doing 4,000 spay/neuters a year, and treating 20,000+ animals a year. They are KCKs animal control first contact for found and injured animals. They provide vet care for all the taken in animals that
otherwise would have been euthanized. the rate has gone from 60% to now only 10 to 15% since the partnership with animal control.
it costs over $5,000 a day to keep the shelter operating. They have 4 major events a year to help with funding. They struggle with getting corporate sponsors because they prefer to support groups that help peoplebut we are wanting to broaden the perspective
on what helping people can mean. the companionship of a pet can make anyones life a little brighter. corporations are where bigger donations can fall, but there are challenges in convincing them that animal organizations line up with their demographic.
We also visited The Great Plains SPCA. SPCA stands for Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Here already you can see the difference in what donations can provide for the animals. The SPCA were lucky enough to
receive a very generous donation from one family that allowed them to have a state of the art renovation to provide the best care for these animals in need. The SPCA also provides low cost veterinary care, a food bank, and several
other programs to get the public educated.
To save, protect and improve
the lives of animals, while
strengthening the relationship
between pets and their
human companions.
Their mission is along the same lines: its to save, protect and improve the lives of animals, while strengthening the relationship between pets and their human companions. They serve more than 35,000 needy pets
annually and proudly report a live-release rate of 96% or higher
For each one of those 35,000 animals the shelter cost ranges from $455 to $830 per animal. But adoptions never cost more than $250 and during adoption events as low as $20.
They offer a full-circle approach of prevention, adoption, and retention. That insures that the animals get the care they need and find the right fit for their forever
home.
Problem
the public is unaware of the costs
that go into prepping animals
for becoming an adoptable pet
The problem that these no-kill shelters are having is that people are not fully aware of how high the medical costs actually are for these animals before they can
become adopted, because the shelter keeps their adoption prices so low.
who are we trying to help?
animal rescues + the abundance of helpless animals
We are trying to help animal rescues and ultimately the abundance of helpless animals
who are we trying to reach?
possible donors + adopters
We are trying to reach the people who already know about these shelters, but dont know enough about what the shelters really do to take care of the animals. We are targeting the
audience that is interested and ready to know the facts.
targeting millennials
who are we trying to reach?
possible donors + adopters
aka
us >
We want to target millennials between the ages of 18 and 30, specifically college students and recent grads. There are 80 million plus of us with 81% who have donated money, goods or services at some point. So, we are the target
audience that needs to become more aware and engaged in ways to get involved.
what social behavior do
we want to change?
We want to encourage more donations and adoptions
by educating the public about the services provided
and the expenses needed to run a no-kill animal shelter.
We want to encourage more donations and adoptions by educating the public about the services provided and the expenses needed to run a no-kill animal shelter. We feel that if people are more aware of what it takes
to prepare the animals in need for a forever home, then they would be more likely to donate.
what social behavior do
we want to change?
We want to encourage more donations and adoptions
by educating the public about the services provided
and the expenses needed to run a no-kill animal shelter.
Also, if more people were aware of the low cost vet care options that these places have, they may be more willing to adopt than before. And along with knowing the facts; hearing the touching stories of what some of
these animals have gone through can really pull at heart strings and hopefully initiate change.
how will we measure that change?
At the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City the
amount of donations and adoptions will increase
this fall + winter compared to in 2013.
We will know if our creative problem solving has succeeded by the number of donations and adoptions during our time working with the Humane Society. Increase in donations, adoptions, and volunteering all are ways
that we can measure the progress of getting people in the know.
Help us?
Adopt, donate, volunteer. Be a hero. Thank you.