Automated Emails!

We're trying to automate as much of the stuff that doesn't require personal attention as possible, so that Monica has more time to spend working with all of you on the things that really do need a person. Monica had mostly taken over Foster before COVID hit, but I took back a lot of the stuff that could be done from home when all of our hours were slashed. Now that we're back to normal hours (though not back to normal operations), I'm handing it back. I'm going to be doing the data & technology for the shelter, so Monica will be doing all of the foster stuff. As any of you who have been fostering very long know, though, it's too much job for one person to do everything, so if we can get some of it to happen automatically, it will mean that Monica might actually get to sleep at night. 😉 As of right now, these are the emails we have that go out automatically, though we will hopefully be able to add more -

Foster Care Welcome email - for people who fill out the foster application. It directs them to the Foster Care Resources website & asks them to sign up for an Online Orientation.

Foster Animals Needing Medical - I think this one is going to be really helpful. 9 days after your animal is vaccinated, you'll get a reminder to make an appointment for the next vaccines. The due date given in the email is 14 days from the last set, but vaccines are given every 14-21 days, so you actually have a week from that due date to get them in.

Request For Foster Updates - this will come every 3 weeks, as long as you have fosters. You will get one for each foster you have. If your kittens are tiny or have adopters, you don't need to worry about it. But, if they're getting close to adoption age or are ready, please do update it. It takes about forever to try to get pictures taken & bios written on the day when they're coming back into the shelter, which means that if you haven't submitted them to us beforehand, your fosters may sit here unavailable for a while & miss out on potential adoptions. We can't make them available on the website until we have updated pictures & bios, so they won't show up in the Adoption Gallery until we can get them done. If you've given them to us beforehand, though, they can go right out & get snatched up by a new family.

Foster notification of Adoption - everybody likes to know when their foster animals have been adopted, right? Before, we would always try to look & see when animals were adopted, and text you when they were. But, we're busy, and might not notice for days or weeks. But, the program checks every night! So, if your foster was adopted, you'll get an email that night. :)

Please let us know if you have any questions, and thank you for sticking with us through all of the changes!