Homeless Animals Relief Project

Who are the people you serve with your mission?

We serve the poor (people living well below federal poverty levels). We serve the working poor, people with low-paying jobs who don't qualify for federal or state help. We also serve the overwhelmed, such as people with unexpected expenses (such as having to take in grandchildren) who previously could have afforded veterinary care. We also have a number of elderly clients who had a cat show up at their home and who are willing to allow the cat to live there, but need help covering the $200-300 cost of a spay or neuter. We also help feral cat caregivers with getting their colonies of feral cats fixed.

How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?

Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person), we call every client after their cat has surgery to check on the cat and ask how the process went,

How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,

What significant change resulted from feedback?

We have clients in a nearby county who just are often unable or unwilling to drive 30-50 miles to our usual veterinarians. We were able to convince a vet clinic in that county to join our network and offer a low cost spay/neuter to these clients. We also found that a lot of our elderly and poor clients either were physically unable to trap, confine, lift or carry their cat to a veterinary clinic, and the poor often either had no car or the car wouldn't make it 30-50 miles to our vets. We applied for and received a grant to cover the cost of getting a certified humane cat trapper to catch and transport cats for these clients.

With whom is the organization sharing feedback?

Our staff, Our board, Our funders,

How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship?

Asking for feedback hasn't changed our relationship other than to improve it in most circumstances, because the overwhelming positive feedback buoys our resolve and helps us fine tune our program to get the most cats fixed the most efficient way possible.

Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback,

What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time,