2018 Grant Recipients Announced By Pedigree Foundation

248 PET SHELTERS AND RESCUES WILL BE AWARDED MORE THAN $600,000 IN GRANTS

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Nov 27, 2018, 10:00 ET

FRANKLIN, Tenn., Nov. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Since 2008, PEDIGREE Foundation has provided more than 5,300 grants, totaling more than $7.3 million, to support people and organizations that help dogs in need find forever homes. This Giving Tuesday, PEDIGREE Foundation is pleased to award more than $600,000 in grants to nearly 250 pet shelters and rescue organizations.

"There are millions of homeless dogs throughout the country and PEDIGREE Foundation is continuously working with partners to find loving homes for these dogs and ensure they are safe, well-fed and loved while waiting for those homes," said Bo Segers, President of PEDIGREE Foundation Board of Directors. "In our tenth year of giving, we're proud to support this year's group of shelters and organizations who share in our mission and are inspired by the progress they have already made to better the lives of adoptable pets."

In honor of its 10-year anniversary, PEDIGREE Foundation has created three new grant initiatives, which include:

Dogs Rule^TM Grant – $100,000 – ($50,000 Year 1; $50,000 Year 2):

Austin Pets Alive! (Austin, TX) – The new Dogs Rule Grant is the largest grant in PEDIGREE Foundation's history, awarding $100,000 to be used over the course of two years to support a Virtual Foster Program designed to bring the benefits of a foster home to a kennel environment. This program pairs dogs who are having difficulty finding a foster home with a volunteer who is unable to house a dog themselves but who instead serves as a "virtual foster" to the dog by fulfilling all of the foster-related needs of the dog. The program is intended to reduce the length of time that these dogs stay in the shelter and boost adoption rates.

Role Model Shelter Grant - $50,000:

Nashville Humane Association is the recipient of this $50,000 grant to help them share best practices with a local shelter with the purpose of helping get more dogs adopted.

PEDIGREE Foundation LeAnn Rimes Grants – $40,000:
This year PEDIGREE Foundation partnered with Grammy award-winning artist, LeAnn Rimes, who shares a passion for dog adoption. As part of the partnership, four shelters and rescues will be awarded a $10,000 grant and recognized by Rimes for their efforts to help homeless dogs find their forever loving homes. Recipients include:

Humane Society for Seattle-King Co (Seattle, WA)
Berkeley East Bay Humane Society Inc. (Berkeley, CA)
Basset Hound Rescue of Southern California (Mission Viejo, CA)
The Animal Foundation (Las Vegas, NV)

In addition to the new grants, a strong group of shelters and organizations will be receiving this year's program development and operations grants, including:

Program Development Grants – Ranging from $5,000 - $10,000:

Animal Rescue Incorporated (New Freedom, PA) – $9,792 to support the expansion of their Senior Dog Rescue program. They plan to increase the number of senior dogs they take into their care by 20 percent from 51 to 60 dogs.
Arizona Humane Society (Phoenix, AZ) – $10,000 to support the expansion of their Parvo Puppy ICU Project (PPICU). The investment in additional PPICU equipment will increase their survival rates and they plan to increase these rates from 77 percent to 80 percent in the coming year.
Beaver County Humane Society (Aliquippa, PA) – $10,000 to support their Senior 2 Senior program which pairs senior dogs with senior citizens and provides "peace of mind" support after adoption when they need extra help to care for their pet. They expect to place 40 senior dogs with 40 senior citizens in the first year of this program.
Capital Area Humane Society (Hilliard, OH) – $10,000 to support the renovation of the back portion of their adoption arena. This renovation will update their puppy and dog adoption areas and create an anti-cruelty department to allow more dogs to be housed and receive medical care. This program will raise their intake and adoption numbers.
Delaware County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Media, PA) – $10,000 to support the last phase of their Building a Forever Future Capital Campaign. This phase entails renovating their kennels and is expected to decrease length of stay for the dogs in their care as well as boost adoption rates.
Dubuque Humane Society (Dubuque, IA) – $7,000 to support their Behavior Modification and Enrichment program. This program is intended to properly address unfavorable behaviors in difficult-to-adopt dogs to increase their chance of being adopted.
Friends of the Animal BR (Baton Rouge, LA) – $10,000 to support the creation of a "pop-up" educational adoption van that would allow them to present more dogs to the public for adoption. This is expected to increase their adoption rates.
Heart of the Valley Humane Society Inc. (Bozeman, MT) – $10,000 to support their dog transfer program. Most of the dogs they transfer are strays from Native American communities and require a great deal of medical attention. This grant is intended to cover these medical and transfer costs to prevent these dogs from being euthanized.
Hinsdale Humane Society (Hinsdale, IL) –$10,000 to support the renovation of their onsite kennel and to provide the newly renovated area with updated vet supplies. The shelter is expanding and this newly renovated area will allow for them to provide in-house medical care to the dogs in their care and would also expand its capacity allowing them to save nearly twice as many dogs per year.
Humane Society of Johnson County (Franklin, IN) – $9,802 to support their Happy Tails Play Yard. This grant will cover equipment and shelter improvements in the play yard, which allows the dogs to socialize with each other and meet potential adopters in a more inviting setting as well as provide a setting for community outreach programs.
Humane Society of Park County Inc. /Stafford Animal Shelter (Livingston, MT) – $7,500 to support the creation of a dedicated space at the shelter for owner surrenders, adoption counseling, behavior assessments to improve the experience of shelter visitors, improve the effectiveness of staff interactions with visitors, and to meet the needs of all animals coming into the shelter. This is intended to increase adoption rates and decrease return rates.
Humane Society of Utah (Murray, UT) – $10,000 to support their Transfer & Rescue program. This program allows them to transfer dogs at risk of euthanasia to their facility for treatment and to be adopted. They anticipate that 30 percent of their adoptions in 2018 (with a goal of 11,000 total) will come from this transfer program.
Kentucky Humane Society (Louisville, KY) – $7,920 to support their Fast Forward Fostering program. Their foster program focuses on putting dogs who do not respond well to the shelter environment in homes so that they are more comfortable and adoptable.
League for Animal Welfare (Batavia, OH) – $10,000 to support their "More than a Shelter" campaign which is intended to expand their facility so that they can address a broader range of needs for the animals in their care. This campaign will include creating a vet clinic, an animal enrichment and training center, and more all within the shelter. These updates will allow them to better serve the needs of the animals in their area as well as the community.
Little Traverse Bay Humane Society (Harbor Springs, MI) – $5,000 to support their Mutts for Manners program which provides shelter dogs, many of whom are seniors, with manners and skills that make them more adoptable companions. This program also helps these dogs stay in their forever homes by making them well-behaved family members. This program has decreased their return rate by over 50 percent.
Muttville (San Francisco, CA) – $10,000 to support their Hospice program which helps dogs arriving from shelters who have untreatable or terminal illnesses sustain a good quality of life for the remainder of their lives. This program will focus on increasing the adoption rate of these Hospice dogs and also on educating other rescue organizations about the need for Hospice programs.
Nuzzles & Co (Park City, UT) – $10,000 to support their Best Behavior K9 Training and Achievement program. This program provides expert-level training to all dogs in the organization to make them more adoptable. This program intends to increase adoption rates and decrease euthanasia rates in the area as well as provide community outreach.
Paws Atlanta Incorporated (Decatur, GA) – $5,650 to support their Seniors4Seniors Program. This program aims to reduce the length of time that senior dogs stay in the shelter by pairing them with senior citizens in the community. They hope to adopt out 90 senior dogs in the first year of this program.
PETS Low Cost Spay and Neuter Clinic (Wichita Falls, TX) – $10,000 to support their Underdog Express program. The purpose of this program is to transport dogs from overcrowded shelters in the area, provide them with vet care, place them with fosters, and then transport them to an adoption facility in New York. Many of the dogs from this program are adopted within hours of their arrival at the new facility.
Priceless Puppy Rescue Corp. (Chino, CA) – $10,000 to support the expansion of their shelter and adoption operations. This expansion is expected to increase adoptions by 28 percent and save the lives of an additional 350 dogs.
San Antonio Pets Alive Inc. (San Antonio, TX) – $10,000 to support their transport program by providing the medical care, vaccinations and health certificates required to transport an additional 312 dogs to areas where they will have an increased chance of adoption.
Second Chance Animal Shelter Inc. (East Brookfield, MA) – $7,000 to support their Project Good Dog program. This project pairs behaviorally needy shelter dogs with pre-release incarcerated individuals who are at the end of their stay in three correctional institutions in the area. The inmates train the dogs and provide them with round-the-clock, one-on-one care to make them more adoptable. Because of the foster-based nature of the program, it increases the shelter's ability to take in more dogs, while also increasing the likelihood of these dogs finding forever homes.
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Westchester (Briarcliff Manor, NY) – $10,000 to support their Adopters Welcome program that is aimed to increase adoption rates, decrease length of shelter stay, and decrease return rates. It will do so by training adoption counselors who will focus on thoroughly getting to know each dog as well as each adopter who is interested in adopting from them. Then they will make better long-term matches between the two to create sustainable forever families.
Westside Shepherd Rescue of Los Angeles Inc. (Los Angeles, CA) – $8,320 to support the creation of their Halfway Home Foster Program. This program will provide German Shepherds in their care who exhibit behavior issues with focused training and foster homes that will offer structured transition to adoptive homes. Their goal is to rescue, train, foster and complete adoptions of 36 dogs within the first year of this program.
Wisconsin Humane Society (Milwaukee, WI) – $10,000 to support their Benchwarmers Program which is designed to create quicker adoptions for dogs who exceed the average length of stay in the shelter. The program does this by bringing special attention to these dogs and reducing their adoption fee. Through this grant, the program will help approximately 200 dogs find homes as quickly as possible.

Operations Grants - $1,050:

217 shelters and rescues across the country will receive unrestricted awards of $1,050 each to use for their greatest needs which could be anything from medical care to staffing or utilities.

These grants would not be possible without the support and dedication of dog lovers everywhere who are passionate about finding dogs in need forever homes. To make a donation on this Giving Tuesday and to help PEDIGREE Foundation help more dogs through its grants program, please visit www.pedigreefoundation.org.

About PEDIGREE Foundation
Formed in 2008 by the makers of PEDIGREE® food for dogs, PEDIGREE Foundation is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to helping dogs in need find loving homes by supporting the good work of shelters and dog rescue organizations throughout the country. Through no fault of their own, more than four million dogs end up in shelters and rescue organizations every year, and nearly half of them never find a place to call home. For more information on how you can support the foundation visit www.pedigreefoundation.org.

About Mars Petcare
Mars Petcare US is the U.S. operations of the world's largest petcare company at the privately-held Mars, Incorporated. Mars Petcare US produces some of the world's most beloved pet care brands, including PEDIGREE® Pet Food and Treats for Dogs, CESAR® Canine Cuisine, IAMS™ Pet Food, SHEBA® Entrees for Cats, WHISKAS® Food for Cats, GREENIES™ Dental Chews and PILL POCKETS™ Treats, NUTRO™ Pet Food, EUKANUBA™ Pet Food and TEMPTATIONS™ Treats for Cats, as well as exclusive brands products for some of the leading retailers in the U.S. Headquartered in Franklin, Tenn., more than 3,700 Mars Petcare US associates make, sell and distribute its high-quality pet food from 20 manufacturing facilities located in communities across the U.S. For more information, please visit www.mars.com.

SOURCE PEDIGREE Foundation