Purpose:

In keeping with the Vision Statement of the Texas Federation of Humane Society, the Shelter Evaluation Program is established to assist animal shelters, both municipal and private, with a report to evaluate the overall performance of that shelter. The report is designed to make suggestions that will assist the shelter in improving the day-to-day operation of that shelter, as well as assisting with setting both long term and short-term goals. The program will be administered by members of the Federation’s Board of Directors and overseen by the Federation’s Executive Director. The program is a voluntary program and evaluations will only be performed at the request of the individual shelters. No shelter will be evaluated without the express written request of the senior manager of the shelter or The Board of Directors of the shelter. There is a nominal charge for the program to help cover the cost of expenses.

Program:

A. The senior manager of the shelter or a member of the Board of Directors will contact the Executive Director of the Federation and request a shelter evaluation. The Executive Director will determine the size of the team needed, and discuss the reimbursement of expenses with the shelter manager. The reimbursement of expenses may be mileage, meals and accommodations.

B. The Executive Director will then form a team of at least three (3) members. The team should utilize members of the Board of Directors that are in the closest proximity to the requesting shelter. The team may use consultants, but there will be no reimbursement to the consultants other than travel and lodging/meal expenses." Service on the Evaluation Team is voluntary and should be considered an honor by the members.

C. The Executive Director will mail a copy of the evaluation form to the requesting shelter. The shelter manager should be requested to complete the form and have it available for the team to review upon its arrival. The self-evaluation, by the manager, will allow the team to see what the manager perceives as problem areas within their shelter.

D. The team members will elect a “Team Leader”. The team leader will be responsible for coordinating the shelter inspection, preparing the evaluation form and writing the report for the shelter.

E. The team should visit the shelter and each member should complete an evaluation form. On larger shelters the team may be split into smaller groups that will inspect separate areas of the shelter. It should be noted that larger shelters might take more than a single day to complete the evaluation.

F. The team should then sit down as a group and compare their individual evaluations and the team leader should compile a revised report that will incorporate all the individual reports. This can be accomplished in a quiet place at the shelter or another area away from the shelter.

G. The team should then meet with the shelter manager and give him/her a brief overview of the findings of the team. This should be a positive meeting and should reflect ideas and suggestions, not a negative “gripe” session.

H. Within a short period of time (one week or less), the team leader should issue a report to the Federation’s Executive Director. The report should contain all the individual evaluation forms, the self-evaluation form of the shelter manager and the consolidated evaluation form, as well as a written report detailing the finding of the team. The report should contain ideas and suggestions for improvement of short term and long-term goals. Again, this report should reflect positive suggestions rather than focusing on the negative. Our idea is to offer suggestions for positive improvement. This report should be sent in written form with a computer disk backup.

I. The Executive Director will review the report, make any changes she/he sees fit and then forward the consolidated evaluation form to the shelter manager.