The Best Friends Podcast Episode 69
Did you know that nearly half of the animal shelters in the United States are now no-kill? That is just one of many encouraging discoveries in the Best Friends 2020 National Dataset.
Each year, Best Friends undertakes this massive data collection and compilation effort to measure lifesaving progress towards the no-kill 2025 goal. It is the most comprehensive, accurate dataset tracking sheltered dogs and cats in the United States. It shows us what’s happening at the national level and provides us data on individual communities. Other critical data points such as what is happening to cats and dogs are also collected and shared.
What does the data tell us about what happened in 2020? Have we been able to continue the downward trend in shelter deaths? How much did COVID-19 pandemic play a role, and what do we think will happen next year? We spoke with the director of business and intelligence for Best Friends, Vicki Kilmer, to find out.
Click here to check out all the episodes from the podcast.
Resources from this episode- State-by-State Lifesaving Rankings
- The 2020 Data Set is Here!
- The Best Friends Pet Lifesaving Dashboard
- Human & Pet Vulnerability Study
- 24PetWatch Owner Surrender and Acquisition Source Analysis
- The State of Animal Welfare Today
- No-Kill FAQs
Guest this week
Vicki Kilmer
director, business intelligence and strategyBest Friends Animal Society
As Director of Business Intelligence and Strategy for Best Friends, Vicki Kilmer provides leadership for market and business intelligence strategy to set the direction for key business priorities, and measure progress, to Save Them All by 2025.
During her decade-plus tenure at Best Friends, Vicki has leveraged her career-long marketing experience grounded in an appreciation of data to inform strategy and decision-making. She pioneered the establishment of a marketing division, led the development of the foundational brand strategy, and launched the Save Them All call to action. Vicki played a critical role in the founding and initial leadership of Shelter Animals Count, and she continues to serve as a board member and marketing chair. Together with her more recent leadership of a no-kill communities database and the largest national sheltering data set, she has influenced change in the industry regarding the importance, availability, and transparency of data to increase lifesaving.
Episode Transcript