Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
To earn continuing education credit for CAWA and NACA, please watch this video on Maddie’s University: university.maddiesfund.org/products/investing-your-energy-in-the-right-foster-program-maddies-community-conversations-on-demand
Co-hosts:
Shafonda Davis Allen, CAWA, Back to Basics Animal Welfare Leadership Consulting
Kelly Duer, Senior Shelter Solutions Specialist, Maddie’s Fund
Guest Speaker:
Dana Eldred, Executive Director, Friends of Detroit Animal Care and Control
Fostering is something that nearly every organization does, but putting your efforts into what is successful (and first, figuring out what is successful) makes all the difference. Whether you have a paid foster coordinator or a dedicated volunteer team helping out, offering a variety of foster programs can contribute to higher adoption rates, good PR for your org, and happier shelter dogs. This presentation will focus on a municipal shelter and focus on medium-large breed dogs, but there will be plenty to take away and think about applying to your own organization.
Key takeaways:
-Potential fosters should not be treated any differently than potential adopters. If your adoption process allows same-day adoptions after a brief conversation (and it should if you follow the Adopters Welcome manual), then it should be that easy for a foster to take home an animal for the first time. Support vs. Screen!
-More fosters than you think will take on the simple burdens like providing food, a crate, or toys for their foster animal. Focus any funding you have on positive reinforcement trainers, behavior help, emergency medical, and routine medical.
-Day trips are a gateway drug :)
To comment or ask more questions about this meeting, please visit https://maddies.fund/communityconversations080526
About Community Conversations, hosted by Maddie’s Fund: When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, animal sheltering transformed overnight. Foster-based sheltering, home-based employees and volunteers, along with collaboration galvanized our communities. The pandemic, along with social injustice, has motivated our industry to look at how we partner with our communities and confront our own biases. Shelter and rescue staff across the country began talking on a weekly basis, offering support and innovative ideas to do things differently. To learn more about these calls, visit forum.maddiesfund.org/communityconversations
Please note: All views expressed on these calls are not necessarily endorsed by Maddie's Fund.
To earn continuing education credit for CAWA and NACA, please watch this video on Maddie’s University: university.maddiesfund.org/products/investing-your-energy-in-the-right-foster-program-maddies-community-conversations-on-demand
Co-hosts:
Shafonda Davis Allen, CAWA, Back to Basics Animal Welfare Leadership Consulting
Kelly Duer, Senior Shelter Solutions Specialist, Maddie’s Fund
Guest Speaker:
Dana Eldred, Executive Director, Friends of Detroit Animal Care and Control
Fostering is something that nearly every organization does, but putting your efforts into what is successful (and first, figuring out what is successful) makes all the difference. Whether you have a paid foster coordinator or a dedicated volunteer team helping out, offering a variety of foster programs can contribute to higher adoption rates, good PR for your org, and happier shelter dogs. This presentation will focus on a municipal shelter and focus on medium-large breed dogs, but there will be plenty to take away and think about applying to your own organization.
Key takeaways:
-Potential fosters should not be treated any differently than potential adopters. If your adoption process allows same-day adoptions after a brief conversation (and it should if you follow the Adopters Welcome manual), then it should be that easy for a foster to take home an animal for the first time. Support vs. Screen!
-More fosters than you think will take on the simple burdens like providing food, a crate, or toys for their foster animal. Focus any funding you have on positive reinforcement trainers, behavior help, emergency medical, and routine medical.
-Day trips are a gateway drug :)
To comment or ask more questions about this meeting, please visit https://maddies.fund/communityconversations080526
About Community Conversations, hosted by Maddie’s Fund: When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, animal sheltering transformed overnight. Foster-based sheltering, home-based employees and volunteers, along with collaboration galvanized our communities. The pandemic, along with social injustice, has motivated our industry to look at how we partner with our communities and confront our own biases. Shelter and rescue staff across the country began talking on a weekly basis, offering support and innovative ideas to do things differently. To learn more about these calls, visit forum.maddiesfund.org/communityconversations
Please note: All views expressed on these calls are not necessarily endorsed by Maddie's Fund.
