Do you want to raise more money, adopt more animals and recruit more volunteers for your shelter or rescue group? Ditch the depressing ads about suffering pets and animal abuse and go positive.

That’s the message from The Chronicle of Philanthropy:

Many organizations worry about making a bold change to their advertising, notes M.P. Mueller, an advertising-agency owner in Austin, TX, who writes for a New York Times blog. But doing so has increased donations and recruited scores of new volunteers for the Austin Humane Society, she notes.

Aided by Ms. Mueller’s advertising agency, Door Number 3, also in Austin, the Humane Society dropped its grim spots about animal abuse and neglect starting early last year. Such heart-wrenching advertising works with animal lovers, but the charity found the results tend to be short-lived.

Instead the charity has opted for a series of happier messages, like the ad shown here that focuses on the lifelong bonds and emotional connections between owners and their pets.

“I’m not on Twitter,” the exuberant dog in the ad promises readers, “but I’ll still follow you.”

The results speak for themselves. They saw a 13 percent increase in donations and adoptions increased from 770 to 838 for similar two-month periods before and after the new campaign, and they more than doubled their volunteer force.

Read more about going positive in “Shift Away From Negative Ads Increases Giving to Animal Shelter” here.