Here's the Plan...

Do Ability

FiXiT Foundation is using strategic marketing to tap into the pet owner demographic that typically do not fix their pets. We have conducted multiple large-scale surveys of owners of unfixed animals, asking them what has motivated their decisions and what messages and advertisements would be most likely to change their mind. What we have learned is that 38% of Crucians are owners/guardians of dogs or cats, but that two-thirds of these pet owners had NOT fixed their pets. These people often lack the motivation and resources to spay/neuter their animals. 

 

We also found that expense, motivation, and schedule conflicts were among the most common explanations given to explain why animals remained unfixed. To combat these deterrents, thus far, we have promoted spay/neuter through a series of offers: a control promotion of low cost surgeries, low cost with comparable valued incentives, and now free. At each transition, we have seen a significant increase in motivation by these pet owners. We currently distribute over 47 free codes to Crucians on average per week, but we need 70. Bringing spay/neuter to the communities with the highest pet relinquishment when schedules are less restricted will get us to that level and provide evidence that a strategic marketing methodology can bring an end to animal homelessness.

 

Readiness

FiXiT Foundation is composed almost exclusively of a volunteer staff of twenty-five experienced professionals with varying specialties, most with experience in the animal welfare community. Among these professions, we have experts in marketing, public relations, web development, online media, corporate relations, and law. In Norfolk, Virginia, we have a fundraising team of ten individuals and a social networking team of six. These teams would be responsible for getting the word out about the "FiX Island Animals" project via our social networking sites and FiXiT Foundation’s website. 

 

FiXiT’s executive director is based in St. Croix, USVI, where we have established the St. Croix Animal Welfare Network. This is a collaborative effort to bring spay/neuter to everyone between FiXiT Foundation, St. Croix Animal Welfare Center, and the island’s veterinary community. We currently advertise the spay/neuter clinic as a project of the Network. As part of our collaboration, we share many of the same animal-loving volunteers. FiXiT St. Croix has dedicated volunteers that perform help advertise the spay/neuter promotions, conduct marketing surveys, and social networking, and the animal shelter alone has over 200 volunteers that we would be willing to spread the word on the street.

 

Impact

We are targeting a pet owning population of the island that is most likely not to have access to veterinary clinics during office hours or transportation and where there will be the highest impact. The local animal shelter, St. Croix Animal Welfare Center, carefully tracks the areas of high cat and dog relinquishment. Optimally, we will host an event that increases the number of surgeries to a monthly level of 300 by offering an event open to 60 animals.  After only 2 years, this number of spays could save more than 5000 animals from being born.  Being able to provide access to spay/neuter to the islands poorest residents will be an investment to save thousands of dollars in shelter resources and companion animal lives.  

 

Currently, our study is tracking the success of a variety of marketing channels. We are currently offering spay and neuter procedures for free, but have been moving through a series of escalating offers. At each new promotion, we have been tracking how demand has changed through different offers and how different media channels are differentially utilized. This event would prove that we might overcome the existing practical limitations to reach a level few other spay/neuter programs have ever reached. This type of research has never been performed for spay/neuter in a closed system, making the island of St. Croix the perfect model to apply to end overpopulation across the globe.

 

Propriety

St. Croix is primarily of West Indian descent, but is a melting pot of Caribbean cultures. A challenge will certainly be determining which messages/incentives that work for one cultural group and not another and strategically placing advertisements in the appropriate regions/media. Providing a local community event will positively impact the social challenge of our revolutionary spay and neutering program.

Sustainability

FiXiT Foundation is committed to working with the St. Croix Animal Welfare Network until we reach a method for bringing population neutrality for dogs. During this time we have up a sustainable network of animal groups on island -- all island vets participate in our free spay/neuter promotion. The St. Croix Animal Welfare Center will have in place its own spay/neuter clinic from which can sustain the progress made by the strategic marketing campaigns.