I have been a member of HeARTs Speak for several years and wanted to share what makes them so awesome as a resourceguinea for animal shelters and rescues.
They too are a nonprofit organization so they rely on funding, donations and their members to make the magic happen to give rescues and shelters the resources they do. We recently did a post focusing on how photographers and animal organizations can work together – HeARTs Speak is the perfect place to go to find photographers to work with on these types of projects!
They focus on the visual and marketing aspects in the rescue world and basically offer a variety of different resources to help promote animals with better imaging and marketing strategies.
They recently had the opportunity to pitch their next idea “Petblicity” at the 2018 Innovation Showdown sponsored by Petco where organizations pitch their innovations for the rescue community for an opportunity to win up to $350,000 in funding. HeARTs Speak did a fantastic job in the showdown and walked away with some funding to further the progress of Petblicity.
Petblicity is a cloud-based tool which acts as an all-in-one marketing assistance for shelters and animal advocacy groups. It allows for easy editing, designing and distributing of marketing materials through an online tool! We hope they can continue on with this project and look forward to seeing where they take this.
Their current programs include:
Artists Helping Animals
This is what they launched with and the program focuses on artists all over the world that provide donated services to make a better world for animals. Artist members have a variety of resources and work together as a community to support and educate each other to ensure they stay focused and nurture their skills an passion.
If you are a rescue, shelter or animal organization that is looking for a photographer or artist in your area to work with – their Artistic Directory is just what you need. With members all over the world, we are sure there is someone waiting to do amazing things with your organization to help the animals you care for.
The directory has photographers, illustrators, videographers and so much more.
For artist members there is a whole other area filled with more resources that help them work more efficiently and be a part of a nurturing, caring community of animal lovers.
Perfect Exposure Program
I am a particular fan of this program because I believe 100% in the value of a great image to help get a homeless pet adopted. Often times you will see images on websites like Petfinder or even rescue websites that are under-exposed, over-exposed or just plain blurry. This is no way to present animals to potential adopters.
The Perfect Exposure Program provides on-site training, provides photography equipment and training to shelters or rescues who need it.
To date they have held over 25 workshops across the US! This program is made possibly by donations and grant funding – so they are limited to how many organizations they can help. The video below outlines the program and let’s you get a sneak peak as to how the magic happens!
HeARTs Speak EDU
OMG! If you are looking for pretty things to pump up your shelter marketing – this is the place to go. A large collection of free downloads are available that were created by the HeARTs Speak artist community and are made just to help shelters and rescues market themselves better.
From a social toolkit just for marketing adoptable guinea pigs to a full annual editorial calendar filled with marketing ideas – the resources are endless – and free.
There are also video tutorials available for things like editing images to how to use some of their image overlays.
They did a fantastic job in this area and every shelter or rescue should have this area bookmarked!
Images With Heart
This is their latest addition to their programs and one we think will be a huge success! Images with Heart is a pet only stock photo site that ultimately will benefit rescues all over the country. A portion of the proceeds go to the photographer while a portion goes back to HeARTs Speak so they can continue to run their Perfect Exposure Program and all the other programs they have.
They also have a pretty awesome blog as well that offers a lot of great news, tutorials, interviews and more ideas to increase your rescues success rate in fundraising and adoptions!
For Pet Owners!
Although HeARTs Speak is focused on helping animal welfare organizations – a lot of their artist members are also available for custom private work. If you are looking for a pet photographer, portrait artist or any other pet related artist to get a gift or something personal of your own pet – their directory is a perfect resource!
There are some amazingly talented artists in the organization and since so many of the artists donate so much time, it is a great way to help support them so they can continue with their pro-bono work.
What Do You Think?
So what do you think about HeARTs Speak? Have you had the opportunity to work with them – or have you never heard of them? We hope you will share this post with any rescue or shelter who needs some help can see what they offer!
We hope you will visit HeARTs Speak today – whether to become an artist member, or take advantage of their many resources – or better yet, make a small donation so they can keep doing what they truly LOVE to do!
Jill, thanks so much for the love, and for your ongoing support! We’re so honored to call you a friend of heARTs Speak and can’t thank you enough for helping to spread the word about the tools we’re so excited to provide to shelters, rescues, and artists everywhere!
Thank you Hannah! You guys have come such a long way and I am so proud of all of you. Keep up the great work…together we can all make a difference!
That’s it Jill – TOGETHER we are stronger!
HeARTs Speak sounds like a wonderful organization! Have the rescues/shelters who’ve used them collected data to see the difference in adoption rates?
Great question! I will have to do some research on that and see what I can find. I will try to do a follow up post if I can get some data. Personally speaking, I have directly seen shoots i have done result in adoptions – cannot give a percentage, but I know it does work!
This is phenomenal!!! As a photographer (and parent to five Siberian Huskies), I know how wonderful the right shot can capture the essence of an animal and that in turn can help capture the attention of a potential hu-parent! I love that they do workshops, too…I will be learning more about them thanks to you! Every now and again something comes along that really gets me excited, and this organization does. I Pinned to my Bark About board and will be sharing over on my social media! Thank you for this post and letting us know about HeARTs Speak! PS – the video outtakes are hysterical! Love them!
LOL – I love the videos — it really shows that shelter pets are probably the hardest to photograph. I have been doing it for years, although took a hiatus – but it is definitely the most difficult type of sessions to do! I am glad you are pumped, I really love their mission.
Thank you for posting about this fabulous organization. I’m also very proud to be an artist member and hope more people join. It truly is a wonderful community, making a difference for shelter animals.
Awesome Sadie! So glad you are part of the community!
What a great organization. Tucson has two photographers listed in their directory, which I think is really good given that our photography market is small. I’m actually calling our Humane Society for some research questions this week, so I’ll mention HeART Speak to them. Will be sharing this post too!
Thank you Irene!
Every and any effort to help animals in need is great and worthy of appreciation and praise. I am going to check out the HeArts Speak website.
I’m sure most, if not all, rescue organizations realize the value of great photos. Many cannot afford a professional or don’t have access to a volunteer photographer. Thank you for spreading the word about this valuable resource.
I had not seen all the amazing work HeartsSpeak do. Good photos and videos can make such a difference in adopting dogs and fundraising. Great to have the pet stock photos and workshops.
We are super excited about the stock photos! Hope that takes off for them since it helps animals.
Wow . I’m sorry I never heard of Hearts speak before. I’ll have to check them out more in detail and visit their site. I’ll definitely have to share this information as well. Great resource..
Thanks Kamira!
This sounds like such a great program! I love that the photos actually help pets get adopted. I’ll definitely promote this program.
Thank you so much Sandy!
I’ve never heard about Hearts Speak before, so glad I did now! They really are making a big change in the rescue world. I love the idea of pet-only stock photo website!
Me too! Especially when it helps animals!
What a great organization. Absolutely true that a great photograph can get a pet adopted.
Yep — it is amazing what a great image can do!
I’ve been a big of fan and ambassador of Hearts Speak for years. I love their mission and all the resources they provide to help people help homeless pets!
I thought you may already be involved! Thanks for supporting them! Lisa is great and so passionate about their mission.
Aww, thanks Jill!
LOL! My pleasure Lisa — keep up the great work!!!!
I do work for Place for Cats a small USA Foster network and know that a couple of cats were adopted because of the expertise of a professional photographer. The difference their skill makes is IMMENSE.
I also like the idea of image decoration. I need to check that out for Place for Cats.
THANK YOU!
Awesome Marjorie! Thanks for what you do for Place for Cats – I hope the image decorations are an option they consider using!!!!!!
What a wonderful organization! I had never heard of Heartspeak before. I can think of several artists and photographers who would be very interested in helping them out in their mission. I will be sharing this with them. Thank you!
Thanks so much Stephanie!!!
I hope they do a workshop here some day. I’ve checked but they haven’t yet. Good cause.
Have your shelter or rescue email them and ask if they will host one in their area! Doesn’t hurt to ask and at least then they will be on the radar for a future workshop!
This sounds like an amazing organization, what great resources! I’m Pinning & Tweeting and will share this link w/ my animal shelter volunteer coordinator. Thanks!
Love & Biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv THem
Thanks so much Cathy! I hope your shelter finds some of their resources helpful!
WOW what a fantastic organization, I have never heard of them and thank you for sharing plus thank them for the wonderful work they do
Thanks Ruth!
Sounds like a great organization. I know how important things like good photos can be in rescue!
We have seen people come adopt just because of an image they saw — just wish every shelter believed in the value!