Stanford EntrepreneurEntrepreneurship isn’t a career, it’s a way of life

ETL - Christine BenningerFiled Under: ETL, entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship

ETL today was very different from the ones I have had in the past. Today’s guest was Christine Benninger of the Humane Society of Silicon Valley (HSSV), and is very different because she isn’t part of some crazy startup or investment circle. While the HSSV appears to be very boring, I assure you the things Ms. Benninger has accomplished while there are not. There are a lot of really cool lessons to be gleaned from the podcast which can be listed to here or read below.

Christine Benninger Background

Ms. Benninger has been President of Humane Society Silicon Valley for the past 13 years. During her tenure, she implemented a spay/neuter program that reduced the number of incoming animals to the shelter from 45,000 in 1993 to approximately 9,000 in 2006. She has also implemented key policy changes that have resulted in 99 percent of animals finding new homes while simply ten years ago less than 15 percent found new homes. Since taking a management role, Mrs. Benninger has grown the Humane Society’s volunteer base from 50 to more than 700 volunteers, along with the shelter’s donor base increasing from 300 to 30,000 donors. She also owns four dogs, all of which were adopted from the HSSV.Ms. Benninger also has a strong business background, spending four years as an auditor with Arthur Andersen & Co. and 15 years with Hewlett Packard. At HP, Christine held several managerial positions both in the United States and Europe. She is a Certified Public Accountant and received an M.B.A. degree from Stanford University. On top of being President, she also serves as a board member of the State Humane Association of California and acts as a volunteer consultant to various nonprofit boards. In 1989, Business Month magazine named Ms. Benninger to its list of “100 Women to Watch in Corporate America.”

Ms. Benninger’s Beginning in HSSV

Even though she wasn’t looking for a new career, Ms. Benninger decided to send in her resume and cover letter and hope for an interview because it seemed interesting. After four months, she received a reply and went in for the interview. They offered her the job and she accepted on the spot before hearing what her responsibilities would be and the compensation involved. Her reasoning for making the decision was because it felt right in her heart and gut, and as such she decided to go for it and hasn’t regretted the decision one bit. I personally identify with this because I make quite a few decisions based on my gut, and even though I make a mistake and fail miserably occasionally, I succeed more often than not and it makes up for the failure.

Early Strategic Decisions

When Ms. Benninger started at the HSSV, the contract with the county that provided 90% of the funding was being cancelled and they had only 300 donors. There was no support from local vets, the government, and the community; and employees were dealing drugs on site. Some animals were being sold to bunchers for use in somewhat questionable labs. They didn’t want to ask for donations because the board felt it gave the impression that they were begging. The one thing it did have going for it according to Ms. Benninger is an amazing mission, and that is to save and enhance lives. Even though there some huge revenue issues looming, Ms. Benninger decided they had to expand into the animal control realm and bid on contracts. In a period of six months, they had nine contracts in different cities that helped keep them afloat.

Finding the Right People

There was a lot of turmoil the first year, and Ms. Benninger ended up creating a complete turnover in management.  Because there was too much distrust within the organization, something had to be done to get the right people involved. When looking for people who shared a similar vision and would be a good fit, Ms. Benninger identified luck as one of the primary motivating factors for finding some people. She was able to bring some colleagues from HP over because she was able to share the vision and dream of the mission. It was all about the difference an individual can make in saving an animal’s life.

Passion is a Double-Edged Sword

When it came to hiring “regular” employees, Ms. Benninger found it particularly easy to find those who are passionate about working for the HSSV versus those looking for a paycheck. The problem comes though when people are too passionate and will do nearly anything for the mission. In those cases, passion ends up being personal and in times of conflict, teamwork has a tendency of going out the door if the individual passionately believes they are right. It is important to find the right balance of passion so that individuals will work effectively as a team.

Evolution of Business Strategies

After getting the HSSV out of its revenue crisis and developing a stronger management team, Ms. Benninger began to recognize the inherent clash between animal control and performing humane work. The objective of animal control is to keep people safe from animals., while humane work is to protect animals. As such, the decided to focus on their mission and drop the animal control portion. Even though 60% of their revenue came from animal control contracts, the inherent conflict had the opportunity of alienating all parties and destroying the momentum that was being developed. The most significant problem they decided to focus on was the community save rate - the number of animals that get adopted out of shelters. The average save rate is between 30% and 68% in Santa Clara county, yet Ms. Benninger was able to get that number to 90% in HSSV. Because they have been so successful, they have also been able to engage in something called regional rescue, which allows the HSSV to adopt animals from other shelters that would normally be euthanized. Sometimes these animals have medical or behavioral problems that the original shelter isn’t willing to treat, so it works out well that the HSSV adopts these animals.

Future Role

In the coming years, Ms. Benninger would like to attack the core issue of what drives animals to shelters. She identifies the core issue as a lack of commitment to pets, and feels that being involved in a community that enhances the human-animal bond would do wonders to solving this problem. As such, the HSSV has made the decision that current facility does not fit in with this new dynamic of providing a community and is intending to build a new facility that acts as an animal community center. it is a combination of the traditional shelter services of adoption, education and spay/neuter, but will also develop a community outreach program that includes daycare, boarding, grooming, dog parks, a pet store, and a cafe. The idea is to allow like minded individuals to come together and develop a social network full of opportunities for both the owner and their pet. They will have a place to come and essentially develop a sense of family, and it is this vision that Ms. Benninger perceives as the solution to commitment issues. From a business perspective this will also allow the center to diversify with alternative revenue streams.

Unconventional Solution to Feral Cat Issue

Eighty percent of all euthanasia occurs to cats. The vast majority of those that are homeless, and it is estimated that there are 125,000 homeless in Santa Clara county. Because cats are more elusive than dogs, they are treated somewhat as second class citizens and thus the problem isn’t perceived to be as serious as it really is. The traditional approach that was to catch cats off the street and then euthanize them. The problem with this is that they breed faster than can be euthanized. The catch neuter release program instead works allow the colony to decline because the same number of cats are on the street but they are no longer able to reproduce. She knew that donors don’t want to pay $25-40 per cat to spay them, so she had to go to the city for support. In order to get the city to pay for this idea, though, Ms. Benninger had to phrase the cost in terms of what the city was used to. As such, she pointed out that to catch and euthanize a cat, it costs approximately $200 (which the government was already paying), yet it would only cost $25-40 to spay them. Let’s just say the city went for the idea.

Perception of Value

Originally, the HSSV charged $25 to adopt a cat and $40 for a dog. Five years after she took over, the California Veterinary Association did a study that showed people who paid less for adoption saw the animal as worth less and were more willing to give them up. Ms. Benninger then decided to raise prices to increase the perception of value because she felt that these individuals were more likely to keep their adopted pet. At the same time, she decided to end the message that cats aren’t as important as dogs. After the first year of the change to $110 for each, there was a 10% increase in adoptions and a 50% decrease in returns. To me, this is an amazing insight and I’m very impressed that it actually worked.

How to Get Involved

The average stay of an animal is two weeks to seven months before they get a home. Therefore, to keep the animals in good condition they need volunteers that simply come and love the animals to keep them in good social condition. Sure, they need people to clean kennels, work events, stuff envelopes, do analytical studies, etc., but the easiest way to get involved is as a socializer. One example of a study that is being performed, though, is determining who is leaving without a pet and why? Also, as a final plug, Ms. Benninger says that no contribution is too small (time and money), and she absolutely loves it when little old ladies send them $5.

Audience question: How do you manage your own passion and other people’s passion?

I have to agree with Ms. Benninger when she immediately responded that it is a very difficult question to answer. She says that we should start with ourselves and be willing to strike a healthy balance. From there, we can work to develop a strong team with everyone willing to be a team player versus an extremely passionate individual. She worries about people who absolutely love animals and are willing to state that they think they are much better than people. Essentially, what she really needs is strong people-people. Also, because it is easy to work 15 hours a day, 7 days a week, you have to take care of one another and be able to tell people when to go home.

Conclusion

Although Ms. Benninger may seem at first glance nothing like an entrepreneur, after listening to her talk and reading her accomplishments, it’s easy to see that she is a perfect example of the entrepreneurial spirit. She has a knack for generating concrete results at the same time as passionately pursuing a social mission. Her strong analytical capabilities and amazing strategic thinking provides her with the assets to creating lasting change that adds value to the world.