Last night, around 8:30 or so, on the way home from the corner store, my girlfriend Audra and I saw the cutest little mutt. Sniffing along...wagging her tail...running in front of cars. "Wait!" (You say) "Running in front of cars?!? A puppy dog? Oh no! Act on it Katie; do something! Don't you Grassroots.org people 'make change!'?"
And so I did: I called the doggie over, saw she had a collar, and figured I'd take her to my apartment, call the number on her tag, and return the puppy to its family—feeling like a good citizen all the while.
But alas, the only number on the dog’s collar was 311 (the NYC information hotline)...and they told me I'd have to wait until the next morning to speak with Animal Care and Control.
I live in an apartment, upstairs from a very sweet landlord who emphatically does not allow pets in her house. So. Dog overnight? Not an option. But what to do?
I run through ideas in my head...just let her run free? No, can't do that. She'll get hit by a car. It's dark out. And the traffic!
Okay, tie her to a pole and wait for the owner to find her? Tempting, but probably not really moral (or legal).
I'm out of ideas, and so is Audra. We sneak the dog upstairs.
We get the landlord's okay to keep her overnight and figure we'll call animal control to pick her up in the morning, and they'll call her owners (since the dog has a license, they should have this information), and all will be right with the world.
But it's now 3pm and "the call center is currently closed.”
It's been closed since 8 am. Although they helpfully suggest that we "please try your call again later or visit our website www.nycacc.org." Does their website have FAQs? No. A place to post a lost or found dog announcement? No. Calling center hours? A list of other shelters in the area? No, and no. It was fortunate that I own a car, as it allowed me to drive the dog directly to the shelter in the hopes that they might be open (although their nonfunctional phone number indicated otherwise).
If you look at the Animal Control website from the perspective of someone seeking to adopt a dog, it’s actually quite helpful; you can see the dogs currently available at the shelter, and you are given the information you need if you want to drop by and visit an appealing dog. However, it’s clear that their website failed to address an equally important point of view: that of someone who has just found a stray dog.
In a city in which the vast majority of the population lives in dog-free apartments, the Animal Control website also must provide the basic information and services that will keep found dogs from simply being re-released. Indeed, if I had not had a car, I would have been pressed for other options.
Sometimes it takes an outsider's perspective to see obvious questions and the simple solutions. When you're deeply ingrained in the day-to-day tasks of running an organization, it can really be impossible to step back and look at the larger picture. And that's where consultants come in.
Businesses already know this. That's why companies like McKinsey and Monitor can afford to pay their employees in diamond sacks.
Nonprofits probably understand it, too, but they know that they can't afford it.
Enter the Social Ventures Consulting Program! Free, and if I do say so myself, awesome.
For the Animal Care and Control Center website, our Social Venture Consultants could do a bang-up job. Make it more user-friendly, perhaps even hook it up with a lost-and-found database! (Last year, consultants Brian Gottlieb and Aditya Betala did an awesome custom database job for Deborah Young at Generations CDC in Chicago.)
Or, they could help them develop a strategic marketing plan to recruit and train calling center volunteers! (Consultants Brian Mok and Eric Deinoff created a wonderful plan for Jean Henry at DigitAll Systems in Baltimore, marketing their services to potential clients as well as donors.)
Or, since we all know the real key to making nonprofits run is the same as everywhere else, our Social Ventures Consultants could help them develop a strategic fundraising plan... or even a special event. A fundraiser for the lost dogs hiding out in "no pets" apartments all over the city.
There have got to be hundreds of people each month who run into this same problem. In a city of eight million people and how many dogs?
The system needs to be fixed!
So...the need is there, and (to toot the horn of our fabulous Social Venture Consultants) so are the resources. All that's needed is to bring the two together. And that's why I'm sending New York Animal Care and Control our application. We'll see if they apply!
More good news! The Sun Microsystems Foundation has selected Grassroots.org as a featured volunteer partner! What does this mean for us? Publicity and, hopefully, a boatload of highly qualified Sun Microsystems employees who are ready to volunteer their time to build sweet websites for our 1000+ members.
