High Adoption Fees Versus Low Adoption Fees

In my recent post-conference post I mentioned two opposing positions on discounted adoption fees.  The two viewpoints were expressed by Bonney Brown of the Nevada Humane Society and Mike Arms of the Helen Woodward Animal Center during a panel discussion at the No More Homeless Pets Conference in Las Vegas.  While Bonney and the Nevada Humane Society embraced discounted and low adoption fees, Mike Arms came across as emphatically opposed.  While I know that Mike is not adverse to discounted promotions, he definitely seems in favor of charging higher adoption fees in general.

Mike’s position on this matter is well-known and elegant in its efforts to raise the bar on how we view ourselves and the animals we assist. He firmly believes (as recorded in a question and answer session available on the No More Homeless Pets Forum) that “the message [minimum fees send] to the American public is that our animals are bargain basement animals” and “together, by increasing our fees, we can let the public know our animals are a value.”

He goes on to say that “Our adoptions have quadrupled in five years with no hitch at all in raising the fees.” And suggests a shelter try a higher fee for 30 days.  ”I can almost guarantee the only effect you will have is an increase in revenue and no decrease in adoptions.”

I have to say that many of Mike’s ideas over the years have been largely excellent at breaking down nonsensical sheltering tradition. For example when asked during the panel discussion what one sheltering myth he would like to see dispelled it was that “you shouldn’t adopt out black cats around Halloween.”  Some have taken it a step further to prohibit the adoption of any cat near Halloween.  

I totally agree with the destruction of this myth.  Any halfway decent adoption process can weed out the infinitesimal fraction of society that would be adopting for bad reasons.  If the newspapers were filled with actual events of Halloween torture it might make me think twice but it just isn’t reality.  What it IS is a kneejerk reaction to an actual or imagined event at some point in time.  As horrible as that event (if real) would have been, it pales in comparison with the tens of thousands of wonderful cats across the country who will die in the week that adoptions were halted. 

On the other hand, when it comes to discounting adoption fees I definitely disagree with Mike and agree with Bonney.  Discounted adoption fees can help dramatically boost attention for the shelter and the animals and help sustain higher rates of lifesaving.  

I first read about discounted adoption fees when I saw a small story, years ago, about a little shelter.  When they were so overcrowded and were facing a mass killing they decided to do “free” cat adoptions for one weekend.

What happened?  They had an empty shelter by the end of the weekend.  They were shocked and amazed.  They never expected that sort of community support.  They had never expected that much interest in their animals and they were relieved that the killing was abated for the time being. 

That snippet of a story got me thinking and a year or two later I finally had the guts to break with tradition and try something similar.  The reaction was much the same.  We had incredible support from the public and the media.  After that experience many of my friends and colleagues who work with animals are now doing the same thing.  Furthermore - and here’s where I really break with tradition - I continued the trend by reducing fees for the hardest to place and most common animals across the board and not just for a limited period of time.    

In Nevada, Bonney took it to a whole new level.  In addition to fee reductions NHS created flyers and discount certificates to enlist volunteers and supporters to spread the word.  Let me tell you, I’ve stolen more than one idea from her playbook.  What I’ve discovered - and perhaps Bonney has too - is that instead of trying to compete with the breeder or pet store, we are often competing just as much with “free” pets from friends and neighbors.  

Additionally, while we are seeking higher prices in an effort to somehow impart a higher value of animals on the public, we are missing the emotional target that drives a great number of people to a shelter in the first place: they want to SAVE an animal.  One of the coolest things I remember about our first big discount event was a comment on a message board.  The writer stated how she was so excited at the opportunity to save another cat.  She had wanted to save a life and adopt from a shelter but the average $100 adoption fee was a stumbling block for her.  She figured correctly that it would cost more than that for her first vet visit.  Here she was, a responsible vet-going, young animal-saver who couldn’t justify spending that $100 for the adoption fee.

One of the first things I did when coming to the shelter where I am now was reduce the fees for cat adoptions.  I figured out that it was less expensive to find a cat on the street, walk it in the door of our low-cost spay & neuter and vaccination clinic than to adopt one from our shelter (in the same building…).  

That just did not make sense.  

Since we have dropped the adoption fees we have increased adoptions.  From January to October of this year we have adopted 1274 cats compared to 853 during the same time frame in the previous year.  Dropping the adoption fees was only one component of our improved adoption program but an extremely important one in my opinion.

What I didn’t drop the prices on was puppies and I actually raised the prices for small dogs.  In this way I think I am in complete agreement with Mike but it has less to do with the value of the animal than the laws of supply and demand.  Our region’s supply of puppies and small dogs does not even come close to meeting demand.  Puppies and small dogs are not dying in our shelters.  For those specific types of animals we truly ARE competing with high priced pet stores and backyard breeders.  

It is very important to take a look at which animals are dying in your region’s shelters.  If puppies are dying by the bunches, high adoption fees are not going to impart any particular value on your dogs that will cause the public to choose them over the “free” ones that the neighbors’ dog had down the street.

I’ve written about reducing adoption fees before so I’m going to reprint a few on The No Kill Nation site here and here.  To read more of the Mike Arms Q&A on the No More Homeless Pets Forum visit here: http://www.bestfriends.org/archives/forums/080105adoptions.pdf