PEDIGREE Foundation Awards More Than $600,000 in Annual Grants to Animal Shelters and Rescue Organizations

PEDIGREE Foundation this week has awarded more than $600,000 in annual grants to animal shelters and rescue organizations across the US and Canada. With the support of these grants, 61,000 dogs in both countries will receive care and find their forever homes. Since its inception in 2008, PEDIGREE Foundation has awarded greater than $12 million and helped more than 800,000 dogs through its annual grant program to cement its support of the animal welfare community across North America.

The 2023 grants were awarded to 33 shelter/rescue organization programs in the US and 10 in Canada, with an emphasis on foster, transport and behavior programming. This marks the second year where PEDIGREE Foundation expanded its annual grant program to Canada awarding $100,000 CAD to shelters and rescue organizations in need, in addition to $25,000 CAD in disaster relief to help fight the Canadian wildfires.

“Since its founding in 2008, our mission at PEDIGREE Foundation has been to support dogs in need and to help end pet homelessness,” said Kimberly Wise, President of the Board of Directors for PEDIGREE Foundation. “Over the past 15 years, the Foundation has donated millions of dollars through annual grants, furthering its commitment to serving dogs in need and the animal shelters that tirelessly care for them throughout the U.S. and now its second year in Canada.”

The complete list of the 2023 PEDIGREE Foundation grant recipients is available on the website. A few of this year’s grants include:

• DOGS RULE. Grants – $100,000 over two years to develop an innovative initiative that can become a best practice for other shelters and rescues.
  • Humane Rescue Alliance (HRA, Washington, D.C): This grant will support the WayStation Transport Program, a large-scale, integrated network that transports 2,500 – 3,000 animals each year from overcrowded shelters to locations where adoption rates are higher. The WayStation Program also works in conjunction with HRA’s disaster deployment program, allowing HRA to help shelters overwhelmed with pets needing emergency sheltering and decrease shelter populations before a storm hits.
  • Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PA SPCA, Philadelphia, PA): This grant will allow the PSPCA to create a full-time behaviorist position, which will assess dogs for behavioral challenges that may interfere with adoption success, address them with a behavior modification plan and support adopters with training materials and post-adoption consultations. The program will address the most common behavioral reasons for post-adoption return, including arousal, reactivity, stranger, danger, fear and anxiety.
• Program Development Grants – These grants help U.S. shelters and rescues expand operational capacity through strategic programming to increase dog adoption with a focus on transport, foster, behavior and matching initiatives.
  • In 2023, PEDIGREE Foundation awarded nearly $450,000 in funding to 31 shelters and rescues across 20 states and territories spanning the country.
• Canadian Grants – In its second year, $100,000 CAD was awarded to animal shelters and rescue organizations with programming that provides behavioral training, transport needs and safety net grants to keep people and pets together.
  • 10 Canadian shelters/rescue organizations were awarded these grants, supporting more than 3,300 dogs in need.

“Funding from the grant program will support bringing in vital support for dogs in their adoption journey,” said Alicia Avendano, Shelter Liaison, Nova Scotia SPCA. “More specifically, support will increase training for our volunteers who spend one-on-one time with dogs in our care to promote positive behaviors that keep pets mentally and physically healthy which will improve the chances of adoption.”

PEDIGREE Foundation is encouraging dog lovers to check out the DOGS RULE. online store throughout the holiday season for gifts that support dogs in need. Proceeds from the store help dogs find loving homes through shelter and rescue grants.

To help PEDIGREE Foundation help more dogs, visit this link.

To learn more about the 2023 grant recipients and how they’re utilizing their grants to help end pet homelessness and for information about how you can make a difference with PEDIGREE Foundation, visit PedigreeFoundation.org.