Grants to Fight Animal Cruelty

The ASPCA Anti-Cruelty grant program supports private organizations and public agencies dedicated to the prevention and elimination of animal cruelty throughout the United States.

The ASPCA's anti-cruelty funding priorities for 2012 include grants for costs associated with anti-cruelty efforts, limited to the following categories:

Prevention of and response to animal cruelty toward companion and farm animals, including but not limited to:

• Animal cruelty investigations (Forensic evidence collection, necropsies, etc.)
• Large scale seizures (Puppy Mills, Hoarding, Animal Fighting)
• Costs associated with seizures (sheltering, veterinary care, transport, etc.)
• Disaster Response (includes preparation and/or recovery from disasters, creation of county and state animal response teams and other response activities)
• Community programs aimed at preventing or eliminating animal cruelty
• Advocacy for anti-cruelty ordinances and legislation
• Reducing the suffering of equines (please use the Letter of Inquiry for Equine Organizations)

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• Sponsorships for conferences, conference tracks, trainings or other events that provide education and/or training on animal cruelty or animal law enforcement
• Scholarship programs, scholarships, and travel stipends for shelter, animal control or law enforcement staff to attend animal welfare conferences or other training directly related to animal cruelty (we do NOT fund scholarship requests for professional development training that has no direct impact on animals, e.g. board relations/development and volunteer management)

Grants typically range from $500 to $10,000 though exceptions are made on a case-by-case basis depending on severity and need. We typically fund organizations with a 501 c (3) status and public, law enforcement agencies that are working in conjunction with animal welfare organizations to prevent or combat animal cruelty. Programs aimed at the prevention of animal cruelty must collect data and demonstrate measurable criteria.

How to Apply

To be considered for a grant, you must submit your request online through one of the following links:

• Letter of Inquiry for Anti-Cruelty Grants
• Application for Anti-Cruelty Conference, Event or Training Sponsorships
• Application for Anti-Cruelty Scholarships Paid to Organizations

In order to expedite your request, please make every effort to follow the online application procedure.

For expedited requests in extraordinary cases of genuine time sensitivity (e.g. large-scale seizures or other incidents of animal cruelty that affect large numbers of animals) you may either submit the Letter of Inquiry or email grants@aspca.org for instructions on how to submit a single stage application. Be sure to specify in your message that your request is an anti-cruelty situation.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.