ASPCA Awards Nearly $17.5 Million in Grants in 2013

NEW YORK—The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) today announced that it awarded close to $17.5 million in the form of 1,880 cash grants to more than 1,100 unique organizations in 2013, nearly $500,000 more than was awarded the previous year. Grantees included municipal and private shelters, rescue groups, sanctuaries, and other animal welfare organizations.  

“With every passing year, the ASPCA Grants program experiences unprecedented expansion and positive progress,” said Michael Barrett, vice president of grants management at the ASPCA. “While animal welfare is still grossly under-recognized compared to total grants given across all industries and causes, 2013 was a record-breaking year for us. It is our hope that the philanthropic efforts of the ASPCA, and all animal protection organizations, are recognized on a wider scale so those without a voice can be spoken for loudly and clearly.” 

Highlights of the $17,470,000 granted to groups across the country include:

• Grants toward increasing lives saved in shelters (811 grants totaling nearly $4.9 million), which supported adoption events and foster programs, medical care and vaccinations, shelter enrichment and behavioral programs, training of veterinary students and animal welfare professionals, and organizational capacity-building efforts.

• Grants toward cruelty prevention and response (207 grants totaling more than $3.7 million), which helped organizations across the country respond to incidents of cruelty via investigations, raids, interventions, and rescues from dogfighting rings, puppy mills, hoarding situations, and other cruelty situations. These grants helped provide training for humane law enforcement officers, forensics experts, and others who could help identify and prosecute cruelty cases. 

• Grants toward animal relocation activities (123 grants totaling more than $1.5 million), which helped move adoptable homeless dogs from areas of high supply and low demand to areas of higher demand. Many of these grantees are participants in the Carroll Petrie Foundation Dog Rescue Project, which provides shelters with $50 per transported dog.

• Grants toward reducing the number of animals entering shelters (118 grants totaling nearly $840,000), which subsidized safety-net programs such as pet food banks and veterinary wellness and medical care for struggling pet owners. We also supported return-to-owner initiatives such as ID tagging, microchipping, and related equipment.

Since 2008, the ASPCA has granted over $70 million to shelters, rescues and other animal welfare organizations across the country. To learn more about the ASPCA’s Grants Program, interested animal welfare professionals can visit www.aspcapro.org/Grants.