Ep 690: Pay It Forward: The Simple Move That Turns Hesitant Vets Into TNR Partners, with Denise Bynum, Director or Homeless Animals Relief Project (HARP)
From The Community Cats Podcast · 32:50
Show by The Community Cats Podcast
"We pay ahead. That gives them some confidence that they're not gonna lose out with a group they don't really know." This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and The Little Guest House. Many TNR groups can't get a vet to say yes. Denise Bynum has nine vets working with her. Her approach is to pay ahead. When HARP starts with a new clinic, she puts $500 on account and tops it up as it runs low, so the vet never has to worry about an unfamiliar rescue group skipping out on the bill. With those partners, plus large spay days and a vet school clinic where the only cost was lunch, HARP fixed 1,443 cats last year with no clinic and no paid staff. Denise spent 28 years training nurses before she ever trapped a cat, and her first try was a disaster. She started out driving cats to spay days for HARP, and by the time she retired from nursing, she was ready to run the whole program. She also shares what the Community Cat Program Management course confirmed for her and what it changed. It confirmed putting owned cats first and writing handwritten notes to donors. It also led her to free donor software, a $10,000 Google Ad Grant, trail cams, and a smarter way to book new clients. Her advice to anyone on the fence about the course is "don't be afraid." Press Play Now For: How a retired nursing program director went from volunteer transporter to running HARP Running an all-volunteer program that fixes 1,500 cats a year without its own clinic Why paying vets up front builds trust with new clinic partners Using a vet school's student spay/neuter clinic for the cost of lunch Flat-rate pricing, sliding-scale gifts, and donors who pay extra to cover someone else Prioritizing owned cats, and why we can't adopt our way out of overpopulation Adding FVRCP and a parasite package for every cat with grant support Explaining the vacuum effect to a casino that wanted its TNR'd cats removed Filling no-show slots by testing new clients with two or three cats first Getting 100% of a colony fixed, even when you can't trap alone anymore Free donor tools, Google Ad Grants, and why older donors still love snail mail What a typical week in the eight-week course looks like Resources & Links Homeless Animals Relief Project (HARP) Community Cat Program Management Certification Course Zeffy Google Ad Grants Feline Fix by Five United Spay Alliance Alley Cat Allies
More episodes of The Community Cats Podcast
More episodes
- Ep 689: Breaking Down the Silos Between Vets and Cat Advocates, with Jamie Falzone, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association and MVMA Charities
- Ep 688: The Alien in Your Living Room: What Cats Really Need, with Dr. Katie Hankins, Veterinarian and Founder of Savvy Enrichment
- Ep 687: Trapping Colonies, Not Cats, with Julie Morriss Community and Outreach Associate for Animal Birth Control Clinic
- Ep 686: The Free Helpline Keeping Cats in Their Homes, with Matt Wildman, Founder and Director of National Cat Behavior Helpline
- Ep 685: Feeding Plans, Not Feeding Bans, with Danielle Bays, Senior Program Manager for Cat Protection and Policy at Humane World for Animals
- Ep 684: Building TNR That Lasts: A Data-Driven Model From Penang, with Daniel Leung, Co-Founder and CEO of Catsoterra
- Ep 683: They're Not Spicy, They're Scared - Handling Fearful and Aggressive Shelter Cats, with Berlin Waters, Founder of The Spicy Cat Project
- Ep 682: Too Small Is Not a Diagnosis, with Jordyn Purpura Feline Director, Yolo County SPCA; Strategic Advisor, Orphan Kitten Club; Clinical Researcher, Vernau Laboratory at UC Davis
- Welcome to The Show
- Six Years of Progress
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