Stray Animal Project in University
Background:
In Assignment 5, I managed to create a website that addresses the issue of stray animals within the university and publish it in a real environment. This was like a fulfilment of the promise I had made at the beginning and it was very exciting and rewarding.During the previous interviews, I realised that many university societies are very passionate about the issue of stray animals, but there are basically three challenges that they encounter. For more detail, you can click here.And the real website is called TRNcat.
Funding issues (monetisation)
Most of the directors and participants mentioned to me that stray animal rescue is like a bottomless pit and it is difficult to have sustainable and stable funding to keep it running. Most of the time it is internal members who make the donations. To address this issue, I first looked into the practices of competing and other established animal rescue organisations, and then adapted the payment methods for the mainland. Most mature NGOs use a form to make donations, with staff matching one-to-one and then completing the exact donation process, which adds credibility to the organisation. Secondly, NGOs in all countries accept bank card transfers, which is a more mature and traceable way of donating. However, during the interviews, I learnt that due to payment methods and students’ behavioural preferences in the Mainland, most donations are made through WeChat and Alipay, so I also added the QR code payment function for donations. I hope that by diversifying and making donations more in line with users’ habits, users will be prompted to donate and facilitate the act of donating.
Cooperation issues
It is difficult for rescue animals to survive on a single source of funding, so more and more established organisations are adopting a collaborative business approach. Examples include collaborating on events, generating co-branded events and relying on the animals’ strengths for event planning. At the same time, there are more volunteers willing to get involved in events, learn about and become part of the organisation. I hope to be able to provide a pathway on the website for more willing partners to learn about the content and spawn a willingness to collaborate so that a partnership can be reached. The review of the activities and the introduction of the cooperation content can let the partners understand the organisation’s proficiency in the cooperation process. It will also attract more volunteers to join us. This section will be highlighted on the home page and the about us page to strengthen the organisation’s image in this area.
Adoption issues
The target users cite the low efficiency of adoption as the underlying reason for the difficulty in maintaining it. Once there are animals that have been relying on organised breeding for a long time, then a lot of money is needed. In order to get to the root of this problem, there needs to be greater exposure of adoptions. That’s why I set up an adoption section. I wanted to show as many cats for adoption as possible, so that users would know more about the situation. The contact us logo is also visible everywhere, so that users can get information more quickly. If there is a strong desire to adopt, it will be easier for users to find us. In order to convince external funders that funds are being allocated effectively to address adoption and partnership activities, I have added financial reports to both about us and the home page to confirm the transparency and effectiveness of the organisation’s finances.
Further improvement in final version
1. Currently jupyternotebook can link the concact table database, but in the real webpage of pythonanywhere, the link is not successful, need to recheck and confirm in the final version.
2. Currently the pythonanywhere webpage needs to add JS functionality, which will be further improved in the final version.
