Participate in forums and online communities with staff members from animal shelters and learn what types of rescue and fundraising activities work for them. Ask for advice. Share your successes so animals elsewhere will benefit. Here are a few examples:

Shelter Talk from animalshelter.org

Animalshelter.org provides a searchable database of adoptable animals, a list of shelters by state, etc. as well as Shelter Talk, a forum for those working at shelters to discuss issues specific to them.

Best Friends Network

Best Friends Network helps you connect with other animal people. Post your questions and get feedback from others. Locate members of the Best Friends network in your area. This message board is not exclusively for shelters but in several forums, you may find ideas you can use and places to ask for help.

Online pet forum or pet photo page in your local newspaper

In addition to posting photos of adoptable pets, success stories at your shelter, etc. check for ways to network with other animal people in your area. Our local paper has a “place for everything about animals and their friends” called the Santa Fe Scoop.

Resources from Humane Organizations

Shelter Professionals from the American Humane Society is a list of resources specifically for animal welfare professionals. So much information here! For example, see Foreclosure Pets Resources on ways you can advise foreclosed homeowners on finding shelter for their pets.

Also, read The Deployment Dilemma: Pets of Military Personnel for ideas on finding temporary housing for our service members’ pets plus links to organizations that help with this problem. With the danger they face daily, they shouldn’t have to worry about their pets too!