Animal Welfare Professionals

Looking for ideas for funding our TNR Program!

A bit of backstory...
We are a 501c3 nonprofit organization, though we hold contracts with the city for all strays, and the county for stray dogs only. We began our TNR program a few years ago to offer a solution to the county cat population problem as we are not physically able to take in county cats. Also we believe that TNR is the most effective solution for these types of situations rather than relocation/euthanasia. So far this year we've provided free TNR services (spay/neuter, vaccinations, ear notches) for 136 cats, and currently have 82 more on our schedule before the end of July. New requests keep coming in as we are the only place that offers this level of access to care in our area, and the need is so great. 

Long story short, our previous grant funding for TNR has run out and while there is a local fund that usually contributes the majority of the funding, we had to direct their assistance towards other needs of the shelter after we were forced out of our old facility in September 2025 due to the city causing an emergency evacuation by using the building's crematorium to dispose of illegal narcotics. Since then we've been building our shelter back up from scratch, now being housed in a warehouse until the completion of our Capital Campaign to build a new shelter. 

The Capital Campaign and the immediate animal housing needs are what the majority of regular community donations/fundraisers and many bigger grants are going to. However that doesn't mean that the need for public access to medical care in order to keep animals out of the shelter isn't needed. I'm wondering if anyone knows of any general grants/funds we could apply for, or any TNR specific funding sources. 

Thank you!

#FundraisingandDevelopment

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Riley Bailey
Shelter Veterinary Practice Manager
Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter
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Have you tried using the Foundation Directory search feature on Candid to look for foundations that may be possible donors? You don't have to pay for access if you enter enough information to get your Gold seal for the year. I need to get better at using it myself but you can look for other non-profits like yours and see who gave to them. You can also search for foundations that give to animal rescues, etc. It might help narrow the search a bit. Good luck.

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Brandi Washburn
Executive Director
Bigglesworth Sanctuary
VA
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Riley, first, what your team has pushed through is something else. Forced out by a crematorium narcotics evacuation, rebuilding from a warehouse, running a Capital Campaign, and you still ran free TNR on 136 cats with 82 more booked before August. That is prevention under fire. Respect.

Brandi is right about Candid, and here is how to make it pay off fast for TNR specifically. When you search the Foundation Directory, do not just search "animal welfare," search for the funders already giving to TNR and community cat work, then look at who else those same funders support. That reverse lookup surfaces the cat-specific money that a broad animal search buries.

A few TNR and community cat funding sources worth chasing:

Petco Love has funded spay/neuter and community cat work at real scale, and they favor organizations doing exactly what you are, high-volume access to care that keeps animals out of the shelter. PetSmart Charities funds spay/neuter and has specific community cat and access-to-care grants. Maddie's Fund itself, right here, has grant opportunities and this forum will tell you when cycles open. Two Mauds is small and cat-specific and worth a look. And do not overlook your state's animal-friendly license plate fund and any local community foundations, because a shelter that just survived what yours did is exactly the local story those funders want to back.

One angle for your applications, since you mentioned the Capital Campaign is eating the big grants and community donations. Frame TNR as the thing that protects the investment. Every cat you fix is intake you never have to house in the new building. Funders who care about the capital project should care about the program that keeps it from overflowing on day one. That reframing can unlock money that would otherwise all flow to the building. Always check their funding cycles and verify eligibility.

Happy to compare notes on the access-to-care side. We run a prevention-first nonprofit and spay/neuter access is the whole ballgame for us too.

------------------------------
Join The Shift To Prevention.

BJ Adkins
Founder/Director
Animal-Angels Foundation
Pinson, AL
calendy.com/animal-angels
bjadkins@animal-angels.org
animal-angelsfoundation.org
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You have some FANTASTIC information here. Thank you so much for sharing!!!!

------------------------------
Brandi Washburn
Executive Director
Bigglesworth Sanctuary
VA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 07-03-2026 07:49 PM
From: Bj Adkins
Subject: Funding for TNR Programs

 

Riley, first, what your team has pushed through is something else. Forced out by a crematorium narcotics evacuation, rebuilding from a warehouse, running a Capital Campaign, and you still ran free TNR on 136 cats with 82 more booked before August. That is prevention under fire. Respect.

Brandi is right about Candid, and here is how to make it pay off fast for TNR specifically. When you search the Foundation Directory, do not just search "animal welfare," search for the funders already giving to TNR and community cat work, then look at who else those same funders support. That reverse lookup surfaces the cat-specific money that a broad animal search buries.

A few TNR and community cat funding sources worth chasing:

Petco Love has funded spay/neuter and community cat work at real scale, and they favor organizations doing exactly what you are, high-volume access to care that keeps animals out of the shelter. PetSmart Charities funds spay/neuter and has specific community cat and access-to-care grants. Maddie's Fund itself, right here, has grant opportunities and this forum will tell you when cycles open. Two Mauds is small and cat-specific and worth a look. And do not overlook your state's animal-friendly license plate fund and any local community foundations, because a shelter that just survived what yours did is exactly the local story those funders want to back.

One angle for your applications, since you mentioned the Capital Campaign is eating the big grants and community donations. Frame TNR as the thing that protects the investment. Every cat you fix is intake you never have to house in the new building. Funders who care about the capital project should care about the program that keeps it from overflowing on day one. That reframing can unlock money that would otherwise all flow to the building. Always check their funding cycles and verify eligibility.

Happy to compare notes on the access-to-care side. We run a prevention-first nonprofit and spay/neuter access is the whole ballgame for us too.

------------------------------
Join The Shift To Prevention.

BJ Adkins
Founder/Director
Animal-Angels Foundation
Pinson, AL
calendy.com/animal-angels
bjadkins@animal-angels.org
animal-angelsfoundation.org
------------------------------

A little backstory too! We're a small, fairly new all-volunteer TNR in rural East Feliciana Parish (county in the rest of the US), Louisiana. We have zero resources. No shelter, no animal control, no nothing, nada. Just a small group of retired old ladies with a combined 25 years of experience as volunteer citizen TNR trappers. We have no fundraising expertise but are learning.

Most other municipalities or parishes (counties) are typically residency restricted, so we're shut out. We do have access to a TNR voucher program covering 6 parishes (counties).

Your organization is way above and ahead of us by far, but here are a few ideas that I hope may help. 

As BJ Adkins suggested, we received a TNR grant from the Louisiana Pet Overpopulation Advisory Council, which oversees Louisiana's Pet Friendly License Plate program raising grant funds for spay/neuter. So that's worth looking into in your state as well. 

You might also try your local Walmart. We received a grant from our Walmart in Zachary, LA this year for TNR. Those grants are available once a year, I think? You can also sign up for their "round up program" where shoppers can round up their purchase amount & donate the change. https://www.walmart.com/nonprofits

If you're on Facebook, you can receive PayPal/Venmo through https://www.paypal.com/us/paypal-giving-fund/home and of course, straight up donations via PayPal / Venmo directly.

Bissell Foundation may be another resource worth looking into: https://www.bissellpetfoundation.org/grant-guidelines-eligibility-requirements/

https://missionmeow.org/ 

https://www.unitedspayalliance.org/community-cats-grants/

I know this is not much for an organization at your level, but every little bit helps when it comes to TNR and hope this  is useful to you.

------------------------------
Jan Leonard
Founder/Chief Cat Wrangler
BACKWOODS TNR
Clinton, LA
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574157533279
------------------------------

Jan, this is exactly right, and do not undersell it. For a small all-volunteer group, funding TNVR is a patchwork, and you just laid it out better than most grant consultants would. The state license-plate spay/neuter fund, the local Walmart grant, the round-up program, PayPal Giving Fund for Facebook and Venmo, United Spay Alliance, BISSELL. That is the real playbook, not one big check.

A few to add, since you gave so freely: Petco Love and PetSmart Charities both fund community cat and spay/neuter work, and the Petfinder Foundation does small grants that fit a group your size. And if you ever want to sharpen the fundraising muscle, Community Cats Central has free and low-cost training on exactly this.

One thing that unlocks the bigger grants down the road: log every surgery from day one, home ZIP, ear-tip, all of it. Grantmakers fund numbers, and 25 years of field experience plus a clean count is a stronger application than most funded orgs turn in.

Honestly, you just helped a lot of small groups you will never meet. I am writing a prevention how-to for orgs in exactly your shoes, and your list is going straight into the funding section. Thank you for that, and keep wrangling. Backwoods TNR is doing the work that actually moves the number.

------------------------------
Join The Shift To Prevention.

BJ Adkins
Founder/Director
Animal-Angels Foundation
Pinson, AL
calendy.com/animal-angels
bjadkins@animal-angels.org
animal-angelsfoundation.org
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 07-04-2026 08:58 AM
From: Jan Leonard
Subject: Funding for TNR Programs

A little backstory too! We're a small, fairly new all-volunteer TNR in rural East Feliciana Parish (county in the rest of the US), Louisiana. We have zero resources. No shelter, no animal control, no nothing, nada. Just a small group of retired old ladies with a combined 25 years of experience as volunteer citizen TNR trappers. We have no fundraising expertise but are learning.

Most other municipalities or parishes (counties) are typically residency restricted, so we're shut out. We do have access to a TNR voucher program covering 6 parishes (counties).

Your organization is way above and ahead of us by far, but here are a few ideas that I hope may help. 

As BJ Adkins suggested, we received a TNR grant from the Louisiana Pet Overpopulation Advisory Council, which oversees Louisiana's Pet Friendly License Plate program raising grant funds for spay/neuter. So that's worth looking into in your state as well. 

You might also try your local Walmart. We received a grant from our Walmart in Zachary, LA this year for TNR. Those grants are available once a year, I think? You can also sign up for their "round up program" where shoppers can round up their purchase amount & donate the change. https://www.walmart.com/nonprofits

If you're on Facebook, you can receive PayPal/Venmo through https://www.paypal.com/us/paypal-giving-fund/home and of course, straight up donations via PayPal / Venmo directly.

Bissell Foundation may be another resource worth looking into: https://www.bissellpetfoundation.org/grant-guidelines-eligibility-requirements/

https://missionmeow.org/ 

https://www.unitedspayalliance.org/community-cats-grants/

I know this is not much for an organization at your level, but every little bit helps when it comes to TNR and hope this  is useful to you.

------------------------------
Jan Leonard
Founder/Chief Cat Wrangler
BACKWOODS TNR
Clinton, LA
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574157533279
------------------------------

Do you have to be a nonprofit to get this aid? We currently only have nonprofit status in our state

------------------------------
Bre Hoffman (they/m)
Special Little Whiskers Sanctuary Decatur IL
SpecialLittleWhiskersKittenRescue.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 07-04-2026 08:58 AM
From: Jan Leonard
Subject: Funding for TNR Programs

A little backstory too! We're a small, fairly new all-volunteer TNR in rural East Feliciana Parish (county in the rest of the US), Louisiana. We have zero resources. No shelter, no animal control, no nothing, nada. Just a small group of retired old ladies with a combined 25 years of experience as volunteer citizen TNR trappers. We have no fundraising expertise but are learning.

Most other municipalities or parishes (counties) are typically residency restricted, so we're shut out. We do have access to a TNR voucher program covering 6 parishes (counties).

Your organization is way above and ahead of us by far, but here are a few ideas that I hope may help. 

As BJ Adkins suggested, we received a TNR grant from the Louisiana Pet Overpopulation Advisory Council, which oversees Louisiana's Pet Friendly License Plate program raising grant funds for spay/neuter. So that's worth looking into in your state as well. 

You might also try your local Walmart. We received a grant from our Walmart in Zachary, LA this year for TNR. Those grants are available once a year, I think? You can also sign up for their "round up program" where shoppers can round up their purchase amount & donate the change. https://www.walmart.com/nonprofits

If you're on Facebook, you can receive PayPal/Venmo through https://www.paypal.com/us/paypal-giving-fund/home and of course, straight up donations via PayPal / Venmo directly.

Bissell Foundation may be another resource worth looking into: https://www.bissellpetfoundation.org/grant-guidelines-eligibility-requirements/

https://missionmeow.org/ 

https://www.unitedspayalliance.org/community-cats-grants/

I know this is not much for an organization at your level, but every little bit helps when it comes to TNR and hope this  is useful to you.

------------------------------
Jan Leonard
Founder/Chief Cat Wrangler
BACKWOODS TNR
Clinton, LA
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574157533279
------------------------------

For all of them I have found, they do require 501c3 status. That said, because IL has the ability for IL Domestic Non-Profits, you may be able to find some Foundations in your state that could offer support. Candid has a foundation directory that will help you search.

------------------------------
Brandi Washburn
Executive Director
Bigglesworth Sanctuary
VA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 07-05-2026 01:33 PM
From: Bre Hoffman (they/m)
Subject: Funding for TNR Programs

Do you have to be a nonprofit to get this aid? We currently only have nonprofit status in our state

------------------------------
Bre Hoffman (they/m)
Special Little Whiskers Sanctuary Decatur IL
SpecialLittleWhiskersKittenRescue.com
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 07-04-2026 08:58 AM
From: Jan Leonard
Subject: Funding for TNR Programs

A little backstory too! We're a small, fairly new all-volunteer TNR in rural East Feliciana Parish (county in the rest of the US), Louisiana. We have zero resources. No shelter, no animal control, no nothing, nada. Just a small group of retired old ladies with a combined 25 years of experience as volunteer citizen TNR trappers. We have no fundraising expertise but are learning.

Most other municipalities or parishes (counties) are typically residency restricted, so we're shut out. We do have access to a TNR voucher program covering 6 parishes (counties).

Your organization is way above and ahead of us by far, but here are a few ideas that I hope may help. 

As BJ Adkins suggested, we received a TNR grant from the Louisiana Pet Overpopulation Advisory Council, which oversees Louisiana's Pet Friendly License Plate program raising grant funds for spay/neuter. So that's worth looking into in your state as well. 

You might also try your local Walmart. We received a grant from our Walmart in Zachary, LA this year for TNR. Those grants are available once a year, I think? You can also sign up for their "round up program" where shoppers can round up their purchase amount & donate the change. https://www.walmart.com/nonprofits

If you're on Facebook, you can receive PayPal/Venmo through https://www.paypal.com/us/paypal-giving-fund/home and of course, straight up donations via PayPal / Venmo directly.

Bissell Foundation may be another resource worth looking into: https://www.bissellpetfoundation.org/grant-guidelines-eligibility-requirements/

https://missionmeow.org/ 

https://www.unitedspayalliance.org/community-cats-grants/

I know this is not much for an organization at your level, but every little bit helps when it comes to TNR and hope this  is useful to you.

------------------------------
Jan Leonard
Founder/Chief Cat Wrangler
BACKWOODS TNR
Clinton, LA
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574157533279
------------------------------

First of all, thank you for these ideas!

Second, I LOVE hearing from smaller organizations/individuals that have a specific focus because while I might be good at a lot of different things, people like you guys know how to be GREAT at specific things. I think that smaller organizations can contribute immensely to helping keep animals out of larger shelters in the first place. I wish I had more people like you around here, then we wouldn't be busting our butts to try and cover so many different areas for shelter diversion. Thank you for all that you do!!

------------------------------
Riley Bailey
Shelter Veterinary Practice Manager
Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 07-04-2026 08:58 AM
From: Jan Leonard
Subject: Funding for TNR Programs

A little backstory too! We're a small, fairly new all-volunteer TNR in rural East Feliciana Parish (county in the rest of the US), Louisiana. We have zero resources. No shelter, no animal control, no nothing, nada. Just a small group of retired old ladies with a combined 25 years of experience as volunteer citizen TNR trappers. We have no fundraising expertise but are learning.

Most other municipalities or parishes (counties) are typically residency restricted, so we're shut out. We do have access to a TNR voucher program covering 6 parishes (counties).

Your organization is way above and ahead of us by far, but here are a few ideas that I hope may help. 

As BJ Adkins suggested, we received a TNR grant from the Louisiana Pet Overpopulation Advisory Council, which oversees Louisiana's Pet Friendly License Plate program raising grant funds for spay/neuter. So that's worth looking into in your state as well. 

You might also try your local Walmart. We received a grant from our Walmart in Zachary, LA this year for TNR. Those grants are available once a year, I think? You can also sign up for their "round up program" where shoppers can round up their purchase amount & donate the change. https://www.walmart.com/nonprofits

If you're on Facebook, you can receive PayPal/Venmo through https://www.paypal.com/us/paypal-giving-fund/home and of course, straight up donations via PayPal / Venmo directly.

Bissell Foundation may be another resource worth looking into: https://www.bissellpetfoundation.org/grant-guidelines-eligibility-requirements/

https://missionmeow.org/ 

https://www.unitedspayalliance.org/community-cats-grants/

I know this is not much for an organization at your level, but every little bit helps when it comes to TNR and hope this  is useful to you.

------------------------------
Jan Leonard
Founder/Chief Cat Wrangler
BACKWOODS TNR
Clinton, LA
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574157533279
------------------------------

Summerlee Foundation, based in Dallas has been a good source of grants for us and they very much like TNR.  There window to apply has passed but put it on your calendar for 2027. They accept applications starting July 1 and only accept the first 150, so you want to jump on to apply right at 10am on July 1.  It's a quick LOI so only takes about 20 minutes to fill out the information.  I just did it for our second grant.  I would also encourage you to look under Bank of America Philanthropic Services.  You will see a list of smaller foundations the bank manages and you can sort for "animal welfare."  We've received several grants from foundations they manage.  

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Bruce Thorsen
President of the Board
Purrfect Match Cat Adoptions Inc.
DBA Purrfect Match Cat Rescue
Millington, TN 38053
www.purrfectmatchcatrescue.org
------------------------------

In addition to the great recs that you received, I thought I'd share a recent fundraising campaign that we just launched. It's not grants, but it might help supplement your grant funding and also give your TNR efforts more awareness. This isn't specific to TNR, but more so our general Spay & Neuter program. You can easily design to make it just for TNR. https://ocanimalallies.org/the-big-snip-project-results/

Good luck!

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Peter Chang
Executive Director
OC Animal Allies
CA
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