Meet the Free Tool That Calculates the True Cost of Running Your Shelter

AI is everywhere, but do you know how best to use it for lifesaving? In the AI for Lifesaving series, we’re here to cut through the noise and help you investigate one thing: how you and your team can use artificial intelligence responsibly and effectively to save more pets.  

Shelters and their supporters often know they're under-resourced, but struggle to put a number on exactly what it would cost to meet basic lifesaving standards, making it hard to advocate for the funding and staff they need.

Meet the brand new, free tool designed for shelters with small staff, that calculates the costs of saving lives in a shelter, giving a clear picture of what it takes to meet baseline standards and a compelling way to advocate for the resources to get there.

Know Your Baseline: Operations & Budget Tool is an interactive resource designed to help small shelters and their supporters articulate the true cost of running a safe, humane operation.

Best Friends Chief Programs Officer Marc Peralta, led the development of this tool and walks through how the tool works, why it matters for shelters with small teams, and how he used both animal welfare expertise and AI to create the resources for “Know Your Baseline” faster and more comprehensively than would have otherwise been possible.

Built specifically for small teams often doing the work of many, “Know Your Baseline” walks users through the core programmatic standards every shelter should meet, at a minimum, paired with a downloadable Excel budget that automatically scales to your shelter's annual intake.  

This webinar is your chance to hear directly from the person behind the tool about its potential to help shelters secure the resources they need and save more lives.