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A Light in their Darkness

The Hopeful Initiative. A Light in their Darkness. GOAL. Find Homes for More Homeless and Shelter animals in South Africa. Why ?. Between 300 000 and 500 000 domestic animals are euthanized every year in rescue shelters in South Africa. How…. 3 Core Elements…. VIRTUAL SHELTER.

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A Light in their Darkness

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  1. The Hopeful Initiative A Light in their Darkness

  2. GOAL Find Homes for More Homeless and Shelter animals in South Africa

  3. Why? Between 300 000 and 500 000 domestic animals are euthanized every year in rescue shelters in South Africa.

  4. How… 3 Core Elements… VIRTUAL SHELTER ANIMAILS BLOG

  5. Phase 1: Set up the Core • Enlist previous members of the Animails, an informal distribution network that forwards emails containing pictures and information regarding homeless animals. • Involve other domestic animal rescue and homing organisations as well as individuals who care about animals, in the prelaunch of the Initiative. • Get these people to register as Homers, Networkers or Helpers

  6. Homers • Homers are the leaders, drivers and administrators of the Hopeful Initiative. • They Submit animals for distribution via Animails and for inclusion in the Virtual Shelter. • Ensure that the animals’ interests are protected at all times by observing policies and procedures that will result in the best possible result in every case. Make suggestions and negotiate developments in respect of those policies and procedures. Please do NOT register as a Homer unless you are willing to abide by these principles and practices. We do NOT subscribe to the notion that “Any home is better than none”. • Be involved in moderation of the Virtual Shelter, and interaction with prospective adopters. • Grow the Hopeful Network of Homers.

  7. Networkers • Forward the Animails to their respective networks. If you have many friends with email addresses, you could be crucial to the Hopeful Initiative. Become a Networker here: Networker Registration • Grow the Hopeful Network via email and the Facebook group. Other Social Networks like Twitter and MySpace could also be employed.

  8. Helpers • We need help with home checks in each suburb, volunteers who can check properties and prospective adopters in their local communities. You will work with rescue organisations and individuals. • If you have some time and you are relatively computer literate (NOT an expert, it’s very easy) you can help us upload animals to the Virtual Shelter and assist with administration of it. • We need people who ARE very computer literate to help with Search Engine strategy ( some could be seen as black hat ) to get traffic to the Shelter. • The rescue organisations need people to help in many ways – there are always too many things to do and too few people on the ground. Do not complain that it’s overwhelming and you can only do a little. Do SOMETHING. • If you want to help with any of the above, FIRST register as a Helper at Helper Registration • THEN send me a personal email at derek@hopeful.ws telling me how you would like to help or, if you don’t know, what skills you have and what area you live in.

  9. Phase 2: Establish the Shelter • Develop and implement an Online Virtual Animal Shelter where Dogs, Cats and Horses may be placed and viewed by the general public. • Provide a service whereby the animals will be uploaded for FREE to the Shelter on behalf of responsible parties, ideally rescue workers operating under the auspices of registered NPO’s and committed to Hopeful principles. • Ensure that policies and procedures are in place so that the animals’ interests are protected and no negligent, indiscriminate, abusive or moneymaking practices can be indulged.

  10. Phase 3: Launch the Blog • Articles written by people active in animal rescue and welfare in SA will be published. • The intention of the Blog is to raise awareness, educate the public, and engage with the public on issues ranging from animal protection legislation to treatment of animals in the home. • Publish the first articles on the Blog, focusing on the domestic animal crisis and the Shelter situation. Inform the Media through Press releases. • Invite other domestic animal rescue and welfare organisations to create reciprocal links - the Hopeful Blog outwards, inwards to the Virtual Shelter. This will build Search Engine ranking for the Shelter.

  11. Phase 4: Grow the Network • Send the Hopeful Blog address to friends who are not necessarily involved in animal rescue or do not know what the current situation is: http://hopeful.ws • Join the Facebook group and tell everyone you know about it Facebook Group • Send people the Virtual Shelter address and tell them to bookmark it for when friends are looking for animal companions http://hopeful.ws/homeless • Send people to the ‘intro’ page where they can register and become involved in the Hopeful Initiative. There is much to do, and many roles needed http://hopeful.ws/intro • Or just send this entire presentation to them!

  12. Phase 5: Traffic • It is not only the volume of the traffic, but the nature of the traffic to the Blog and the Shelter that will change the current scenario. • The people viewing the previous animails were, for the most part, the converted, people already knowledgeable concerning the status quo. The general public, people looking for animals and typing keywords like ‘dogs for sale’ or ‘puppy for sale’ into a Search Engine, are the ones we need to attract to the Shelter. In other words, people outside of the ‘rescue/welfare’ circle. • Currently, the number of people reached by the Animails is wholly dependent upon the size of the Network. The numbers reached are possibly in the thousands, but unlikely to be more. • The possible future traffic will be a function of the organic traffic, i.e. traffic from Animails and word of mouth, links back to the Shelter from other sites, and on-page factors like keywords, titles, and descriptions. • The traffic gained from such efforts is likely to be in the tens of thousands, and must be the point of focus for this initiative. The Animails is the kick-off point, not a sustainable method, given the degree to which the effectiveness of email messaging is being reduced.

  13. End Result: More Hopefuls Homed! • More Traffic means more eyes on the Hopeful sites, particularly the Shelter. • More eyes means more awareness and in addition, more knowledge and hopefully more understanding, leading to better decision-making. • With every new visitor, there is the potential of another Shelter animal homed, and furthermore a change in attitude and a widespread knowledge of the Hopeful Initiative and it’s goals. • Shelters (SPCA, AACL, etc) may be approached to place their animals on the Hopeful Network and fulfil the Homing process for those organisations. • Spread the word: http://hopeful.ws

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