Chelsea Staley and her husband, Mark, love dogs. They have more than 10 - six permanent and four rescue - at their 20 acre home in Charleston, West Virginia. When they adopted their first puppy, he was so ill that he didn't even make it home from the shelter. It was that moment when Chelsea knew she needed to do something more.
She and Mark started Dog Bless, an all-volunteer organization whose mission is to save dogs from euthanasia at their local animal shelter in West Virginia. Since they started the organization just one year ago, Dog Bless has rescued 568 dogs!
Keeping up with the thousands of dogs that need homes as well as day-to-day organizational tasks has been a daunting challenge for Dog Bless. They rely on a staff of eleven full-time volunteers to keep up with their responsibilities, including coordinating foster homes for sick puppies and fielding emergency rescue dispatches at all hours of the day.
Until four months ago, Dog Bless had no website or organizational management system. They were doing everything with Facebook, an Excel spreadsheet, and a stagnant flow of in-kind donations.
"'Let me know if you ever need help with that' used to get lost in the shuffle," says Chelsea, who runs all their marketing and rescue initiatives. "Now we're able to send email blasts to targeted groups based on their level of interest with Dog Bless. NationBuilder has changed the way we run our organization. We never could we have imagined the outcome."
Chelsea's friend (and organizer at NationBuilder) Thomas Whitaker encouraged them to start using NationBuilder. In just a few months, they've built a gorgeous website and with the help of three volunteer photography teams, have documented hundreds of dogs that need homes. Dog Bless now has the ability to better coordinate everything they do - from identifying and vetting foster homes to documenting dogs in need. Before, they simply did not have the capacity in their volunteer team to fulfill as many logistical challenges.
Logistics isn't the only area where Dog Bless has seen their performance improve. In just the last two months, they have raised $6,000 in donations and doubled their Facebook reach. They've even captured the attention of designer Todd Oldham, who found Dog Bless's website while on vacation in West Virginia. Oldman fell in love with Eve, and he brought the rescued dog back with him to NYC.
Dog Bless's story proves that if you are passionate to make a change in your community and have the right tools, you can quickly make an impact. If you would like to help, visit the Dog Bless website to see the dogs that need a safe home.
