Mentoring & Support

Partners for Wildlife seeks to foster networking and build community among wildlife rehabilitators and wildlife veterinarians. 

One of the major initiatives within Partners for Wildlife is our mentoring and support structure, which seeks to connect directly with individual rehabilitators and rehabilitation centers in order to provide customized assessment, mentoring, and financial support.

Snowy owl

P4W works with individuals and organizations across all seven states in our focus area (Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin), aiming to balance an extensive existing network while onboarding new partners on a regular basis. The P4W network comprises over 70 distinct sites ranging from major centers to individuals covering large rural areas. Our experienced Partnership Coordinator provides feedback and mentorship on a broad range of taxa and subject matter, ranging from rehabilitation, infrastructure and succession planning, to biosecurity and working with animal ambassadors. Our team also relies on the power of this expanding network to activate resources across the spectrum – if our team can’t provide direct advice, we certainly know another P4W partner who can! 

Cooperative Site Assessments

Typically, a site receives partnership onboarding in the form of a cooperative site assessment – the Partnership Coordinator travels to see the site’s facilities, meets with the rehabilitator (and, if applicable, their team), and provides immediate thoughts on the state of their operations. This visit is highly cooperative – P4W strives to be an open partner to rehabilitators, welcoming input and feedback at all stages of this process. Cooperative assessments are enacted through an invite-only process with a complex prioritization process distributed across the program’s focus area.

Financial Support

P4W assists some site partners through micro- and small grant support. This granting is focused on supporting resilience and sustainability throughout the sector, and is critically tied to benefitting the welfare of animals under each grantee’s care. P4W aims to concentrate our work on bolstering broader change, assisting sites with infrastructure investments, succession planning, staff development and continuing education, and other longe-term efforts. 

All of P4W’s support is deployed through an invite-only structure. P4W does occasionally publish open calls for funding support proposals. 

Mentoring

P4W works hard to support members of its network as well as other partners and organizations throughout the focus area through consulting, networking, community building, and mentoring on a broad range of wildlife rehabilitation subjects. Our Partnership Coordinator provides customized support to a myriad of rehabilitators and centers throughout the year; our broader team provides one-time and more complex consultations to organizations as issues arise. P4W prides itself on being an open and collaborative program that seeks to provide help to all who work to advance the welfare of animals in wildlife rehabilitation.