Mountain West Region Grant Priorities
Competitive proposals must demonstrate, with comprehensive statistics, a direct impact on a reduction in the number of cats and dogs killed in shelters. Proposals without shelter data will not be considered. Priority consideration will be given to projects that will improve lifesaving within a shelter/community to achieve a 90% save rate (which is currently below 90%), focused on helping in those areas with the largest lifesaving gaps, and programs elevating Community-Supported Sheltering models. If you are supporting a local shelter in your proposal, application collaboration (including partnership letters of support) is strongly encouraged. Please refer to the pet lifesaving dashboard to see where the greatest lifesaving opportunities are in your area. Past successful proposals have an average $80-100 cost per animal impacted (oftentimes, as a partial grant for the work) and have been able to showcase clearly through data how the project will directly decrease the number of dogs or cats killed in the selected shelter(s).
In the Mountain West region, we are looking for programs that:
- Priority will be given to community programs that focus on collaboration between organizations to strategically save more lives in key shelters with existing gaps in lifesaving (under 90% save rate), and programs supporting Community-Supported Sheltering.
- Robust cat programming:
- Return-to-field (RTF)/shelter-neuter-return (SNR) cat projects: providing healthy impounded stray cats spay/neuter, vaccinations, ear tipping and returning to the outdoor location they were found)
- Lifesaving neonatal (under eight weeks) kitten programming
- Finder-to-foster kits
- Leave kittens where they are programming
- Wait 'til 8
- Trap-neuter-vaccinate-return programs, only as a preventative measure in lieu of cat intake
- Projects targeted toward significantly increasing lifesaving for at-risk large dogs:
- Creative fostering programming
- Surrender prevention/return to home
- Behavior programming
- Transfer/transport programs with organizations willing to increase their medical or behavior support for large dogs
- Programs that provide advancements in medical prevention protocols and increasing quality of life & survivability within vulnerable shelter populations:
- Creation of panleukopenia or similar treatment programs
- Parvo and distemper prevention and programming
- Collaborative projects that directly reduce shelter deaths:
- Transfer and transport programs
- Shelter-to-shelter collaboration programs to increase visibility of adoptable populations
- Collaborative programs that provide services in priority communities and shelters with lifesaving gaps that facilitate a reduction in owner surrender intake and increased pet retention:
- S/N Voucher programs
- Microchip/vaccination programs
- Facilitation of RTO
Examples of previously funded Save Them All projects:
- A rescue group provided pre-built “kitten kits” to multiple area animal welfare agencies to use as neonatal kitten intake intervention tools, both in shelter and in the field.
- A humane society with municipal contracts used funds to increase the number of SNRs in their servicing community and expanded their cat ringworm and panleukopenia wards. In addition to improving the number of cats they could save, they also used funds to expand these services for cats from two other neighboring animal shelters.
- Funding pilot programs that support TNVR in lieu of intake