ASPCA: Free Over Three Adult Cat Promotion Compiled by ASPCA and distributed to the field, February 2009. Visit the ASPCA National Outreach website for animal welfare professionals: www.aspcapro.org.
ASPCA Free Over Three Cat Promotion We are in this to find homes for animals. For nine days in September, 2008, the ASPCA Adoption Center waived fees for all cats over three years of age in a highly publicized Free Over Three promotion. Forty-nine older cats went home. In addition, the Adoption Center saw dramatic increases in both weekday traffic and adoptions across the board. Free Over Three was repeated for two weekends in December and is now being offered by New York City Animal Care & Control as well. Stats 49 cats over three years of age were adopted over nine days (an increase of 226% over September 2007). Weekday traffic during the promotion increased by 60%. Adoptions across the board increased by 30%. How Cool is That? We re impressed with the way the ASPCA Adoption Center s young and progressive shelter staff embraced the free cat concept as soon as they saw data indicating that waiving fees did not compromise the quality of placements. Adopt or Adapt Free cat promotions are very easy to implement and begin saving lives immediately. Another free resource for animal welfare professionals from www.aspcapro.org 2 of 6
Who They Are and What They Do The ASPCA Adoption Center in NYC handles over 3,200 animals a year, including nearly 1,500 adult cats and just under 1,000 kittens. Adoption counselors use ASPCA s Meet Your Match (MYM) Felineality adoption program, which is designed to launch successful life-long relationships. All adopted cats are spayed or neutered, vaccinated and micro-chipped, and go home with a certificate for a free preliminary veterinary examination at the ASPCA s Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital. How the Free Over Three Promotion Works Since kittens and younger cats get adopted much more readily than older cats, Buchwald is always on the lookout for ways to improve the chances for the older cats. When Buchwald learned of Dr. Emily Weiss s research comparing fee and waived-fee adoptions for cats and debunking the mythology that quality of placement is compromised in the absence of a fee, she decided to try a free cats promotion.* From September 20 28, 2008, all cats over three years of age were free. There was no change in the Meet Your Match adoption process. Adopters were also required to provide a photo ID, references, and vaccination records for current pets. Follow-up calls were made to all adopters. Free Over Three was widely promoted on the ASPCA website and through the media. Forty-nine older cats were adopted during the nine-day promotion. In addition, mid-week traffic increased dramatically, as did adoptions of all animals. The promotion was repeated for two weekends in December and is now being offered by New York City Animal Care & Control. * In 2006, ASPCA Senior Director of Shelter Research and Development Emily Weiss, Ph.D., CAAB, conducted a study comparing the attachment levels of adopters of cats fee based adoptions vs. free adoptions. The resulting data, not yet published but accepted for publication in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, indicates that eliminating adoption fees does not devalue the animals in the eyes of the adopters and suggesting that free adult cat programs could dramatically impact the lives of thousands of shelter cats who would otherwise reside in a shelter for months or be euthanized. Ingredients and Prep Work People Buchwald credits a young Adoption Center staff that embraces change for the success of the promotion. Once they saw the data, they were all for it, she says. Timeline It took very little time to launch the promotion. Upfront Costs Buchwald acknowledges that the promotion results in a loss of adoption revenue. On the other hand, she says, the Adoption Center saves some money because the cats spend less time on the adoption floor where they might become ill or develop behavior problems. We don t have data on that, she says, but she adds We are in this to find homes for animals. This works, so we have to find a way to do it. Step by Step Step 1: Decide how long your promotion will be. Buchwald strongly recommends doing pulse promotions, specific promotions at specific times rather than eliminating fees permanently. If you do it all the time, she says, it becomes old news, and you lose the media attention that these promotions can generate. Another free resource for animal welfare professionals from www.aspcapro.org 3 of 6
She also stresses the importance of making sure that you have enough animals ready to go throughout the length of the promotion. According to Buchwald, the ASPCA s inaugural nine-day promotion proved to be too long. The demand was so high that the staff couldn t keep enough highly adoptable older cats on the floor. As a result, some people, eager to adopt a free cat, took home cats that probably weren t right for them. This, in turn, resulted in a higher than normal return rate. The December promotion was reduced to 4 days over two weekends. Step 2: Create visuals to help the adopters identify the animals included in the promotion. Buchwald cautions that an eight-month-old kitten can look like a three-year-old cat, and you don t want any confusion about which animals are included in the promotion. The Adoption Center staff put heart-shaped sticky notes saying I m Free! on the cage cards of all the cats included in the promotion. Cats with issues those needing medical care or a little extra TLC were identified with double hearts. In addition, people entering the center were given a flier explaining Free Over Three. Step 3: Establish a follow-up system. The ASPCA appointed one person to call everyone who adopted a Free Over Three cat. The calls gave the staff a chance to know what the adopters were thinking and feeling and confirmed that these were very good homes. Step 4: Get the word out. According to Buchwald, one of the big advantages of a Free Cats promotion is the opportunity to get a media push. The adoption center was ready with their talking points: the value of older cats ( Adult cats are easier to care for than rambunctious juveniles, and they re typically house trained and accustomed to life in a home ) the center is not just giving free cats to anyone the promotion is an opportunity for adopters who are motivated by the lack of a fee In addition, the media push can (and did for the ASPCA adoption center): Results create excitement about your facility increase traffic result in more adoptions in general. (link to aspca coverage on the website several sites...the blog, adoptions etc.) The Numbers 49 cats over three years of age adopted during the 9 day promotion. (an increase of 226%)* 30% increase in all adoptions over the same period the year before. 60% increase in weekday traffic during the promotion. Buchwald reports that the absence of a fee encourages multiple adoptions as an adopter might have the money to adopt one animal, but not two. *According to Buchwald, it s important to note that there were not as many kittens available this September as there were the year before. That may have had an impact on the number of older cats adopted. Critical Factors The availability of Dr. Weiss s research gave staff the confidence that the quality of the adoptions would not be compromised. Another free resource for animal welfare professionals from www.aspcapro.org 4 of 6
The earlier implementation of the conversation-based Meet Your Match adoption program gives adoption counselors the opportunity to get to know potential adopters and match cats carefully. Their Next Steps According to Buchwald, Free Over Three will be repeated, but always as a pulse promotion in order to capture the media attention. Words of Wisdom What Worked Displaying cats in a cageless environment and bending the rules. According to Buchwald, seeing animals in an open habitat can encourage multiple adoptions. The Free Over Three promotion limits each adopter to two cats; however one adopter went home with three after she fell in love with one cat and then got her eye on another that was curled up with a partner. The two were clearly a pair. Rather than give up either of the cats she d fallen in love with or break up a pair, she decided to take all three. As Buchwald says, Who could say no to that? Be Prepared For An increase in returns. According to Buchwald, returns for the cats adopted through the Free Over three promotion were 10%, double the Adoption Center s historic 5% or lower return rate. A number of the returns resulted from the fact that the promotion was too long and the staff weren t able to move cats through their staging pipeline quickly enough to create good matches all around. Buchwald cautions, however, that even without that issue, which they have now resolved, you have to expect more returns when you start adopting out more older, at-risk animals. Another free resource for animal welfare professionals from www.aspcapro.org 5 of 6
ASPCA: Thumbnail Sketch American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals 424 E. 92nd St New York, NY 10128-6804 www.aspca.org The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was the first humane society to be established in North America and is, today, one of the largest in the world. Our organization was founded by Henry Bergh in 1866 on the belief that animals are entitled to kind and respectful treatment at the hands of humans, and must be protected under the law. Headquartered in New York City, the ASPCA maintains a strong local presence, and with programs that extend our anti-cruelty mission across the country, we are recognized as a national animal welfare organization. We are a privately funded 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, and proud to boast more than 1 million supporters across the country. Staff 495 full- and part-time staff Operating Budget $100 million (2009) Organization Type 501(c)(3) nonprofit Another free resource for animal welfare professionals from www.aspcapro.org 6 of 6