We're here to help! Disaster fund grants can provide support with repairs to a damaged facility, expenses caring for displaced animals or other needs associated with your organization's response to a significant man-made or natural disaster. Petfinder.com shelter and rescue members are eligible to receive disaster fund grants during and after a disaster strikes.

To submit a request for financial assistance, please fill out the Disaster Fund Grant Request Form and fax it to the Foundation (520-844-6396) as soon as possible. Grants awarded usually range between $200 and $2,000.

Questions? Email us at foundation@petfinder.com

Background and Purpose
The Petfinder.com Foundation was created in 2003 to further assist adoption partners through problem solving, fundraising and providing relief in times of stress or disaster

The Petfinder.com Foundation oversees a special Disaster Fund, which is made possible by the generous contributions of individuals, foundations and corporations. By working together, we can help the animals and the animal organizations affected when a natural or man-made disaster hits a community.

Significant disastrous events, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, shelter fires, wildfires, floods and earthquakes, can devastate organizations in so many ways. The physical buildings can be damaged, animals and humans injured and important financial or other business records lost or made inaccessible.

We believe that organizations that make a commitment to "get ready" can function during, and recover from, major disasters.

Effective OCTOBER 25, 2007, the Petfinder.com Foundation is making available a portion of its Disaster Fund to help Petfinder.com animal welfare organizations proactively increase their organizations' capabilities of surviving and recovering from a disaster.

These grants will assist Petfinder.com animal shelter and rescue group members in becoming more disaster-ready, thus reducing their overall risk of suffering human or animal injuries, significant property damage, disruptions to services and overwhelming costs to the organization.

What the Disaster Preparedness Grants Will Support
The following are examples of eligible types of equipment, training or services that may be funded by the grants:

• Emergency equipment or supplies needed to help the organization function when a disaster hits (such as generators, generator hook-ups, or disaster kits in facility and/or shelter vehicles)
• Communication and technological equipment to be used in the event of a disaster
• Physical improvements to the animal shelter/facility and property that will minimize damage in the event of a disaster (disaster mitigation)
• Animal transport and housing equipment allocated for use in the event of a disaster
• File and records management systems to allow the organization to continue operating during and after the disaster (business continuity)
• Equipment and training for staff and/or volunteers who are critical responders for the organization during an emergency (incident command training, and/or emergency training activities, for example)
• Staff and/or volunteer disaster plan training so they are fully prepared to operate the organization under emergency conditions
• Mock exercise drills for the staff and/or volunteers to practice their disaster drills and revise, if needed, the disaster plans.

Size of Grants
$500 - $5,000 Due to the limited grants available, only one grant will be awarded per organization.

Eligibility Requirements

• Only Petfinder.com members are eligible for grant funding.


• Must be a 501c3 organization or municipal agency with an established process to accept restricted grants (attach your IRS determination letter if you are a 501c3).


• Only completed applications will be considered.

Applications must include four parts:

1. Application cover form


2. One-to-two-page summary
   In the summary of the project:
   1. Explain the project or need.
   2. Tell why the grant is needed.
   3. Explain the impact the grant-funded project or need will have on your organization's preparedness efforts. (Or, how will it increase your organization's capacity to withstand a disaster?)
   4. Explain how, if the Petfinder.com Foundation cannot fund the entire project or need, you plan to secure the additional funding.
   5. Include a timeline--When will this project be completed?
   6. Describe who is going to be involved in implementing this project.
   7. Explain how you will measure the results. What does success look like?


3. A copy of the IRS Determination Letter


4. Project budget with detailed costs for the project.

Foundation Expectations to Grant Recipients

1. A final report on how grant was used and the results achieved. This report is due no more than three months after the expiration of the grant.


2. Documentation (receipts, proof of training completed, etc.) and photographs (if appropriate) following the completion of the project or training must be submitted to the Foundation.


3. Acknowledgement of the Petfinder.com Foundation whenever sponsor recognition is possible, using the proper version of the Petfinder.com Foundation logo.


4. A written copy of the organization's disaster plan, if available, must be submitted to the Petfinder.com Foundation. Portions of the plan may be cited as good models for Petfinder.com members to emulate.

What we will NOT fund with our preparedness grants

• Special events or fund raisers
• Spay/neuter surgeries or direct animal care
• Endowments, political campaigns, religious organizations
• Existing deficits
• Equipment that is used primarily for daily or routine use in the organization
• CPR/First aid training
• Pet first aid training
• Maintenance contracts
• Supplies, training or equipment relating to responding to animal rescue requests by the community in a disaster

Application process
Complete the application cover form (available as a PDF) and submit all the required documentation and mail at least three days before November 30, 2007 to:


The Petfinder.com Foundation does not accept unsolicited requests for support, with the exception of the two types of disaster grants mentioned above. Due to our size we often approach the animal shelters and rescue organizations and invite them to apply for a specific program or project funded by the Foundation.

As a general guide, priority is given to animals shelters and rescue organizations who participate in (and actively promote) Petfinder.com.

We also do not award grants to sponsor local fundraising events. If you are seeking sponsorships or a Petfinder.com member in need of assistance, please email outreach@petfinder.com first.

From the 2004 wildfires in California to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma; windstorms in the Pacific Northwest to tornadoes in Florida, the Petfinder.com Foundation has distributed grants to help the local animal organizations repair their facilities, care for displaced pets and reunite lost pets with their owners.

Total disaster grants awarded (since 2005) = 126 for $675,065.00
Total transportation grants provided to reunite pets from Hurricanes Katrina/Rita and Wilma = 51 grants for $6,446.26

Read below a sampling of how our grants have been put to good use:



"That would be my headline," says Terri Valenti, Vice President of Gulf Coast Doberman Rescue, were she to write a story about Petfinder.com. Petfinder's grant allowed Valenti's team to place 51 Dobermans into loving homes in 2006, half of which were "Katrina Dobes." Like many groups that received grants from Petfinder, GC Doberman Rescue spent the funds on heartworm treatments, spaying and neutering, and especially housing rescued pets. Many foster families could no longer care for animals, and even families who had evacuated with their pets were eventually forced to surrender them, creating a housing crisis. Valenti reports that Katrina taught rescue organizations the necessity of maintaining data bases for all adopted animals, including the use of microchips.


In the following days the men worked non-stop to rescue their neighbors until one of the rescuers himself, Tony Stewart, died of exhaustion. His mother's dog, Koko, had been the first creature Tony saved.

Although KARE (Knapptime Adoption, Rescue, and Education) is primarily a parrot rescue organization, it was one of the first groups on the ground following Hurricane Katrina. Thanks to KARE's efforts, made possible by a grant from Petfinder.com, Koko was tracked to the Cincinnati SPCA following Tony's death, treated in Michigan for medical problems, and is now living with Tony's sister Ann.

Petfinder's grant further enabled KARE to save 400 birds; transport several hundred dogs and cats to no-kill shelters; and return three pit bulls and two mutts to owners in across four states (several of whom were tracked on Petfinder.com). "Your website," writes KARE, "was heaven set to the animals displaced in these storms—there was no other like it!"


The Humane Society of Boulder Valley, Colorado, rescued and reunited over 80 animals made homeless in natural disasters. Petfinder's funds went to housing, medical care, and sleuthing (using Petfinder's website) to track down owners. The Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society in California only received five dogs following Katrina, yet reported that upon arrival all were seriously ill from heartworm, parasites, and aliments from contaminated floodwaters. None of the dogs had been neutered, and three were marginally socialized. Thanks to Petfinder's funds, four dogs were eventually adopted in good health. A similar story comes from Georgetown Animal Outreach in Texas, which took in and placed 25 dogs following hurricanes. Due to help from Petfinder, the group is able to say with confidence that they'll take back any animal that owners are not able to keep.