ASPCA Announces Finalists in $25,000 Community Engagement Award

NEW YORK—The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) today announced the three finalists in the running to win the ASPCA’s $25,000 Community Engagement Award: the Tallahassee Leon Community Animal Service Center, in Tallahassee, Fla., the Mohawk and Hudson River Humane Society in Menands, N.Y., and the Humane Society of Boulder Valley in Boulder, Colo. All three shelters also are in the running to win the ASPCA’s $100K Challenge, a national contest designed to inspire animal shelters across the country to save more lives.

“These animal welfare organizations have clearly committed themselves to making a difference in the lives of animals,” said ASPCA President & CEO Ed Sayres. “When they took on the ASPCA's $100K Challenge, they not only succeeded in saving at least 300 more animals during the contest period than they did a year ago, but they also rallied their communities in support behind them. That is why they are finalists for this award.”

The ASPCA Community Engagement Award—a $25,000 grant—will be awarded to the $100K Challenge contestant that did the best job of getting its community involved in saving more lives during the ASPCA $100K Challenge. The three finalists were determined based on which received the most online votes on the $100K Challenge Web site. The ASPCA Community Engagement Award winner will be selected from the three finalists by the ASPCA Grants Committee based on the following criteria: the number of people the contestant engaged during the challenge; the breadth of ways the community participated; and the level of community enthusiasm for saving homeless animals as evidenced by photos, stories, links, news coverage, and videos posted on the ASPCA $100K Challenge Web site.

During this three-month contest, each contestant worked to save at least 300 more animals—from August through October 2010—than they did during the same period in 2009. The contestant that achieves the greatest increase during the three-month period will receive a $100,000 grant from the ASPCA to continue their life-saving work. A second grant of $25,000 will be awarded to the contestant that engages the largest number of community members in helping to save more lives.