Many Nonprofits are competing for your heart…
When I was running the Pennsylvania SPCA, I got to know the non-profit world very well. I know what it means to have to constantly be competing with, frankly, all the other non-profits seeking donations for other worthy causes. Because non-profits are businesses, too, all competing for your heart and your donations. It’s a competitive business and when you factor in all the shelters and rescues, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of well-meaning animal-saving organizations that are struggling to get their share.
Embracing today’s sharing economy…
So I tried to take a new look at what we were doing, thinking outside the crate, so to speak, about what could be done differently in a 21st century context. I specifically noted the success of businesses that embrace a “sharing economy” principle, companies like Airbnb and uber. Even the lightening-fast growth on the internet for social interactions that you see in dating websites like Match.com. Consumers were able to review, research, meet, and “make their match” using a detailed profile posted on a website.
Using a similar model for home-to-home pet adoption…
I realized we could use these new trends, this new technology to help solve the problem of millions of pets being euthanized. But use the model to help save pets by matching them with adopters. To deliver a service that benefited everyone: the pets, the guardians who have to give up pets and the adopters, all at a price that would cost people less and save more animals. And, as a bonus, we could create a business that benefits the shelters with a portion of our proceeds, because the work shelters do for abused and stray animals deserves support from all of us.
We don’t compete with other shelters…
So, we built getyourpet.com as a for-profit business. As a result, we don’t compete with other causes, asking for the same dollars in the old non-profit world. Instead, we choose to compete in the modern world, using modern technology to keep animals out of the shelters. We are delivering a much-needed, valuable service at an economic price (only $99 for an adoption!) that allows more people to save more animals.
A new, economic approach that works…
That’s how the problem gets solved. And that’s why the head of the largest animal shelter in Pennsylvania immediately called Get Your Pet “the future of pet adoption.”