Humane Society Silicon Valley (HSSV) is leading the charge to save lives, keep families together and create a better future for pets and their people in the Bay Area and nationwide.
HSSV has placed more than a half million animals into permanent, loving homes since it was established in 1929. In 2009 it opened the country’s first Animal Community Center — a place where people can come together to learn about, engage with and celebrate animals. In 2017, HSSV became the first organization ever to meet the model shelter standard-of-care guidelines put forth by the Association of Shelter Veterinarians.
A champion of animal welfare through effective community-oriented strategies to combat animal homelessness, HSSV is recognized as an innovative leader in animal rescue by premier animal-welfare endowment Maddie’s Fund.
Met $55 million fundraising target
Articles over one six month period
Articles and broadcast segments for the Adopting Bad campaign
Fulfilling a Multi-faceted Mission
To carry out its life-saving mission in the community and beyond, HSSV focuses on three strategic priorities:
Saving Lives
HSSV is committed to saving healthy and treatable animals in shelters by leveraging its expertise and building partnerships with under-resourced shelters in the Bay Area and nationwide. California’s average save rate for shelter animals is 82%, and more than 37,000 animals lose their lives in California shelters every year. Overcrowding, lack of resources, complex medical issues, and disease all contribute to the crisis, which has grown more acute since the pandemic. HSSV rescues animals from overcrowded shelters across the state and provides them with the medical care and behavioral support they need to be adopted into loving homes.
Keeping Families Together
Economic uncertainty and rising costs of living have left more pet owners struggling to feed and care for their pets. More than 1-in-4 families struggle to access veterinary care and an estimated 25 million pets live in poverty in the U.S. Meanwhile, 80% of pet owners cite financial issues as a barrier to preventative care, and 29 million cats and dogs live with families that receive public assistance.
HSSV fills the gap with services such as Wellness Waggin’, a fully equipped mobile surgical unit that provides free spay/neuter and wellness clinics for pets of people who face significant barriers to accessing affordable veterinary care. HSSV’s Pet Pantry makes it possible for more people facing financial insecurity to have and keep their loving animal companions in their lives, providing human service partners with 8,000 meals to distribute each month, and delivering services to homebound seniors and unhoused families. HSSV provided 46,000 pet meals monthly and more than 650,000 meals in annually.
Changing the Game
The animal welfare sector faces a national staffing shortage at all levels, including not enough medical staff to care for animals. Lack of access to veterinary care is among the top risk factors for animals surrendered to shelters. According to a recent MARS Veterinary Health study, up to 59,000 additional veterinarians will be needed to meet the needs of companion animal healthcare by 2030.
Increasing the pipeline of veterinary staff is HSSV’s primary goal to address this shortage that’s impacting shelters all over the country. They focus on educating veterinary interns and externs and investing in programs that encourage more students to enter the veterinary field. Each year, HSSV invites veterinary students to learn from its medical team and encourage them to consider a future in shelter medicine.
HSSV is also working to address a lack of uniform standards of care among more than 4,800 sheltering organizations in the U.S. HSSV achieved all 543 guidelines of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians (ASV) in 2017, to become the world’s first model shelter. Applying processes borrowed from the technology and business sectors, HSSV’s Behavior Team trains all the organization’s staff and volunteers to support the emotional wellbeing of animals, and serve more people adopting pets to improve the lives of animals in homes.
Prepping for a $55 Million Capital Campaign
HSSV engaged UPRAISE to update the organization’s positioning and raise its profile to support an upcoming $55 million capital campaign. The objective was much more strategic than simply earning media coverage of cute puppies and kittens. The goal was to position HSSV as a modern, innovative animal welfare organization initiating and participating in cutting edge programs designed to improve the care of animals.
We began with the positioning. Because of the multiple missions of the organization, we created a layered positioning map that organized HSSV’s key messages in one place and in one voice. Because different leaders within HSSV represent the organization in different capacities, we added a layer of sub-messages to ensure all executives communicated identical talking points.
The second component targeted tier one Bay Area media and focused on HSSV as an organization, including its CEO at the time, Carol Novello, formerly the vice president and general manager of Intuit’s QuickBooks Online business; HSSV’s headquarters, certified LEED Gold, and HSSV’s collaboration with other animal care organizations in the Bay Area. The goal of this campaign was to highlight the stability and strong management of HSSV to encourage larger donations from family trusts, corporate philanthropic organizations and similar entities.
Our team then embarked on a two-faceted media relations program. The first component included securing large volumes of media coverage in the Bay Area with the goal of dramatically increasing adoption rates and donations, typically smaller donations from individuals and families. Our activities focused on:
Announcing new adopt-a-thons and related promotions
Distributing frequent email pitches highlighting topics such as the benefits of adoption – to both humans and pets
Creating stat pages on animals turned in, adoption rates and related figures to focus media on the need for more adoptions
One campaign focused on encouraging people to give a pet to a friend or family member. This was the “Give a …” campaign. We created a series of pitches that promoted different scenarios and pushed out a new pitch each month including “Give a …” in the headline encouraging media to look for a new pitch each month. Among the pitches were:
- Give a Roommate
- Give a Trail Blazer
- Give a Wingman
- Give a Personal Trainer
- Give a Confidante
Working Like Dogs Pays Off
Most importantly, HSSV raised $55 million, the goal of the campaign. UPRAISE raised HSSV’s profile among the wider Bay Area community as well as demonstrated the organization’s success, progressive thinking and growth potential. Among the media coverage earned includes:
- 71 articles in one six-month period
- Coverage in Tier One media including Huffington Post, People Magazine and USA Today
- 57 articles and broadcast segments for the Adopting Bad campaign alone
“The UPRAISE team significantly exceeded our expectations and helped us achieve much more than raising the $55 million for our capital campaign. They introduced us to a wider range of supporters that continue to support us today.”
Former President, Humane Society Silicon Valley
