September 17, 2010, 5:16PM MT
By Ted Brewer, Best Friends staff writer
Pawsitive Alliance wins Network Charities grant for its innovative adoption program;
Downtown Dog Rescue is runner-up.
When Best Friends’ Network Charities launched last year, the impetus was to provide small animal welfare organizations with the support they needed to implement and sustain their life-saving programs, programs helping us achieve a time of No More Homeless Pets. As part of that support, the Network Charities announced in July it would be awarding $10,000 total in grant money to two participating charities with the most innovative, effective and collaborative programs that have already been established or are in the works. Network Charities received 44 applications for the grant.
“There were lots of great programs, and it was definitely a hard choice to pick the two winners,” says Lavanya Raju, Network Charities coordinator at Best Friends.
But the choice had to be made. We’re now pleased to announce that Pawsitive Alliance of the Seattle, Washington, area has won the $7,500 first-place grant. Runner up and winner of the second-place $2,500 grant was Downtown Dog Rescue of Los Angeles.
The program that garnered Pawsitive Alliance the win is simple, yet incredibly effective and collaborative: Bring animals from shelters and rescue groups located in rural areas around Washington, where there is an overabundance of adoptable pets, and showcase them at super adoption events in the Puget Sound area, where the human population is densest in the state and the animals stand the greatest chance of getting adopted. And that’s what Pawsitive Alliance has been doing since Andrea Logan and Yolanda Morris founded the group in 2005.
Shelters and rescue agencies in Washington’s rural areas are generally hard-pressed to find homes for the animals they care for — too many animals, not enough people to adopt. Pawsitive Alliance has helped fix that problem, by creating a venue for those adoption agencies to showcase their dogs to a captive audience. The alliance goes to great lengths to make the adoption events as fun and attractive as possible, which is drawing people to them who might be hesitant about going into a shelter and adopting.
“Pawsitive Alliance is making adoption accessible to the public, which is critical for so many shelters,” Raju says.
The results are impressive, testifying to the diligence and expertise Pawsitive Alliance brings to organizing and marketing super adoptions. Since 2008, the events have yielded 1,455 dog and cat adoptions. The adoption rate at the events is usually 65 to 70 percent for dogs, and 40 to 50 percent for cats.
“We were so excited,” Logan says about the moment she learned her group had won the grant. “The money is going to make our adoption program so much stronger and help us expand.” She says the money will allow Pawsitive Alliance to put on an additional two adoption events this year and to honor a number of requests the groups has gotten from adoption agencies in the Seattle area to help organize their adoption events.
The adoption events have not only helped get animals adopted but have also facilitated collaboration among shelters and rescue groups in Washington, so that high intake shelters are now, for instance, partnering with rescue groups and private shelters and boosting the number of pets they save.
The runner-up
The runner-up, Downtown Dog Rescue, won $2,500 for its Operation Safety Net, another highly innovative program which is giving low-income residents of Los Angeles the resources they need to keep their dogs at home rather than surrender them to shelters.
Anytime anyone calls Operation Safety Net, the folks at Downtown Dog Rescue ask the question, “What would it take to keep your dog out of the shelter?” If that means mending a fence (so a dog won’t escape anymore) or clearing up an ear infection, Downtown Dog Rescue is there to help. If that means helping change a dog’s behavior, Downtown Dog Rescue provides free classes that teach people how to train their dogs. If that means feeding a dog, Downtown Dog Rescue provides free dog food. Whatever it takes, indeed.
As part of its Operation Safety Net, Downtown Dog Rescue also operates a monthly (sometimes twice-monthly) mobile spay/neuter clinic in neighborhoods such as Compton, Lynwood and Watts. In addition to free spay/neuter, the clinic offers free vaccinations and microchipping.
“Downtown Dog Rescue is having a great impact because it’s focusing on low-income areas with a high population of pit bulls,” Raju says. “By providing education and resources where there previously have been none, they are helping keep many dogs in their homes.”
Join Network Charities now
We urge all 501(c)(3) animal welfare organizations committed to achieving No More Homeless Pets to join our Network Charities Program. Once approved by Best Friends to participate in the program, a wealth of possibilities opens up, including the abilities to:
Participate in future promotions available only to Network Charities.
Be eligible for scholarships and/or discounts to the No More Homeless Pets Conference and to Fundraising Essentials Workshop, held by Best Friends.
Recruit volunteers from the Best Friends volunteer database.
Be included in special offers Best Friends receives, such as an enormous supply of donated dog treats Best Friends recently dispersed among Network Charities groups.
Join affiliate programs like the IDtag.com Lifetime Tag program, which can help your group increase funds.
Educate viewers about your organization, the work you’re doing, the issues you confront, and ways the public can help.
► Learn more about the Network Charities Program.
Photos courtesy of Pawsitive Alliance and Downtown Dog Rescue
