Beginning December 2, FAST-15 is undergoing routine maintenance and will be closed. This tool will reopen April 2023.
Looking to improve your foster caregiver satisfaction?
Do you know how your foster volunteers feel about their work with your organization? Looking for ways to retain current foster caregivers? Want to develop stronger customer service for your foster caregivers?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, the Foster Assessment System Tool, or FAST-15 for short, is for YOU!
What is The FAST-15?
The FAST-15 is a free automated survey tool to assess engagement and satisfaction of current foster volunteers. By surveying your foster volunteers this tool will help you identify your strengths and make recommendations for improvement.
A strong foster program can help you bolster your connection to your community - allowing you to retain current fosters and even grow your foster volunteer base. Ultimately increasing your lifesaving potential - getting more pets out of the shelter thereby freeing up more space to help even more pets.
Made possible by Maddie’s Fund, this tool was designed by graduates and faculty in the Organizational Science doctoral program at University of North Carolina, Charlotte.
How does the FAST-15 work?
To better understand the foster experience at your organization, we have constructed a survey that the foster manager/coordinator will distribute to your foster caregivers. The survey provides information regarding your fosters’ levels of engagement in your program and fosters’ feelings, attitudes, and reactions to your program. The questions are rated in terms of how much the foster agrees with each statement. The FAST-15 evaluates the health of your foster program in 11 different key areas. To see a list of these key areas, click here.
Organizations with foster volunteers are encouraged to apply. To apply your organization for FAST-15, please follow the steps below. Once approved, you will be assigned a survey link on your FAST-15 dashboard which your Foster Care Manager/Coordinator can send to your foster care volunteers.
Surveys remain open for volunteer response for two weeks. A reminder email will be sent automatically to the FAST-15 account manager one week prior to the close of the survey. After the two weeks, a report of your program’s score and recommendations will be generated based on your foster’s responses.
Step One:
The FAST-15 process will start with a short screener survey which the foster manager can fill out during the application process. The screener survey takes just a few minutes and asks basic questions about your foster program.
Step Two:
Once your organization’s application has been accepted, you will be able to create an account and start delivering the surveys to your fosters via email. A template letter will be provided to you on your FAST-15 dashboard that you can use to invite fosters to participate in the FAST-15 survey.
Step Three:
The survey will remain open for 2 weeks. A template letter will be provided to you on your FAST-15 dashboard that you can use to remind your fosters that the deadline is approaching soon. You can also extend your survey if you need more time, all from your FAST-15 dashboard.
Step Four:
At the end of the 2 weeks, the survey will close and a PDF report will be instantaneously generated based on your fosters’ responses. The report will include foster demographics, an overall FAST-E (engagement) score, the aggregated results for each survey item, and recommendations based on your results with suggestions for best practices. You must have at least 5 survey responses in order for a report to be created.
If you have questions, review the Frequently Asked Questions or contact us.