Volunteers and those who lead them are critical to the lifesaving work of animal shelters nationwide. The last few months have drastically changed how most organizations engage volunteers. As the Covid-19 pandemic spread across the country, animal shelters quickly shifted operations, moving animals into foster and—in most cases—asking the majority of volunteers to stay home. Many areas are now seeing increasing coronavirus infection rates as states struggle to move responsibly through various stages of re-opening.
What does all this mean for the future of volunteers in sheltering? What role do volunteers play in ensuring our shelters are resilient and sustainable during these challenging times? How can volunteers help to ensure we re-emerge stronger than ever post Covid-19? Despite the difficulties ahead, there is significant opportunity to harness volunteer energy to strengthen shelters in meeting their lifesaving missions and better serve the animals and people in our communities.
We invite leaders of volunteers, shelter managers, executive directors and others to join us for a series of robust discussions and breakout groups, to explore questions such as:
- How is volunteer engagement evolving and changing in this new COVID world?
- What challenges are we facing and how might we overcome them?
- What opportunities might we seize upon to engage volunteers in new strategic ways to reach our goals?
- How do we ensure our shelters’ volunteer efforts are resilient and sustainable to meet the needs of the animals in our care and the communities we serve long into the future?
Monday, July 20, 2020
2:00pm – 4:00pm ET, 11:00am – 12:00pm PT
Register for the Zoom session:
Facilitators:
Betsy McFarland
Betsy is a collaborator and bridge-builder with a proven track record of navigating diverse viewpoints, often in emotionally charged situations. She is skilled at gathering input and synthesizing it to identify common ground and implement innovative solutions. She is a trained facilitator, with an Executive Certificate in Facilitation through Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership. Passionate about engaging the community, Betsy also has extensive experience growing volunteers within organizations large and small. She specializes in providing training and assessments in effective volunteer engagement and guides organizations through strategy development to ensure program effectiveness at all levels. Betsy is a Certified Animal Welfare Administrator (CAWA) through the Association of Animal Welfare Advancement (AAWA) and holds a degree in psychology from George Mason University.
Lydia Krupinski
Lydia is the Vice President of Mission Impact where she oversees The Anti-Cruelty Society’s humane education, community outreach, volunteer, and adoption placement efforts. As the Society’s Chief Program Officer, Lydia is leading the charge in expanding the organization’s community of caring by supporting and inspiring animal lovers within and beyond the walls of the organization. Whether it’s facilitating adoption matches, equipping fosters and volunteers, responding to community pet needs, or mentoring the next generation of animal advocates, Lydia and her team are meaningfully engaging the public in exciting and innovative ways.
Betsy and Lydia will be joined by Adisa team members Laura Maloney, Heather Cammisa and Jyothi Robertson.
Laura Maloney
Laura specializes in executive and leadership development, team and organizational effectiveness, and aligning organizations to deliver its strategy. She has a special interest in expanding the capacity of leaders to build thriving enterprises and high-performance teams and has served as the CEO of a multi-million-dollar organization to COO roles at highly regarded national and global mission-focused organizations operating in 50 countries. Laura holds certifications in Executive Coaching, Change Leadership, Applied Neuroscience and is a certified administrator of The Leadership Circle 360 Assessment with advanced training in vertical development and compassion fatigue. She is a member of Forbes Coaches Council and the International Coaching Federation, serves on the board of Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education (GRACE) Center in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and is a strategic advisor to the International Rhino Foundation.
Heather Cammisa
Heather has two decades of experience serving in leadership roles at not for profit organizations, including more than a dozen years as chief executive officer leading excellence in strategy, program development, fundraising, fiscal management, communications, relationship building, legislative affairs, board relations and broad cause advocacy. She has worked with national, regional and local entities. She is a popular speaker at regional and national conferences in addition to being a trusted colleague to companion animal, wildlife and farmed animal advocate organizations. She is a Certified Animal Welfare Administrator (CAWA), trained disaster responder, Animal Control Officer (ACO) and Animal Cruelty investigator (ACI). Heather holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from Rutgers University and worked in both financial and social economics before devoting her career to not for profit management and cause advancement.
Jyothi Robertson is a veterinarian who specializes in organizations that manage animals in human care. Her expertise as a veterinarian and shelter medicine specialist over the past thirteen years has led to her focus on the creation of efficient processes, improving organizational structure, and enriched facility design to minimize animal stress and improve overall animal health and well-being. Dr. Robertson has extensive board and management experience, which she brings to her work in improving productivity for organizations. She serves on multiple boards such as Executive Board of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians (ASV) Management, Subcommittee for the national Animal Welfare Committee (AWC) for the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), Delegate in the House of Delegates for the California Veterinary Medical Association.
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