Pet Partners® is the nation’s leading therapy animal registration organization. It maintains the most rigorous therapy animal and handler registration standards, and promotes a variety of animal species for volunteer work as therapy animal teams.
The combination of Pet Partners® leadership vision with our resources to implement the new advocacy direction has empowered their volunteers to effectively engage in the public policy process. Our collaboration included:
- Creation of comprehensive volunteer advocacy manual with procedures and templates for advocacy recruitment, event execution and legislator relationship-building guidelines
- Facilitation of Public Policy Committee strategy meeting
- Recruitment of Board and Public Policy Committee members
- Creation of executive communications announcing the new advocacy direction to strategic partners, volunteer leaders and key stakeholders
- Delivery of inaugural advocacy training workshop and webinar
Results
- Clear criteria and guiding strategy for engagement on local, state and federal legislative proposals
- Within four months of the advocacy program’s establishment, over 1700 members joined the advocacy program and made more than 2300 meaningful actions
- Greater local therapy animal club alignment with Pet Partners® brand
- Defeated Michigan legislation (absent any other animal interest group’s participation) that would have negatively affected volunteer therapy animal teams via a new advocacy program volunteer