Donate Now: NBC and Telemundo Owned Stations and Michelson Found Animals Kick Off The "Fund The Shelters Challenge"
$200,000 In Grants to Be Awarded to Animal Welfare Organizations
Competition Inspires Hundreds of Organizations to Raise Money, Now People Can Donate to Support Lifesaving Programs for Pets
LOS ANGELES, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Michelson Found Animals Foundation, a non-profit committed to saving pets and enriching lives, and NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations (NBC and Telemundo stations), today announced the launch of the Fund The Shelters Challenge online competition. The program offers the public an opportunity to donate to participating animal welfare organizations dedicated to keeping pets out of shelters. Hundreds of organizations from across the country are registered to compete for grant money to fund life-saving programs for pets in their communities.
The Fund the Shelters Challenge borrows from the successful model of the Michelson Found Animals Saving Pets Challenge. Since 2014, this pioneering fundraising effort has generated a cumulative program impact of over $7.2 million across over 600 participating organizations. The Fund The Shelters Challenge is also a new initiative that complements the NBC and Telemundo stations' Clear the Shelters™ nationwide pet adoption campaign that returns on August 17, and has resulted in more than 250,000 pet adoptions since 2015.
"For the last five years we've been able to help hundreds of animal welfare organizations raise much needed funds through the Saving Pets Challenge, and we're thrilled to evolve the program with NBC and Telemundo stations, great partners who share our passion for helping pets," said Dr. Gary Michelson, Founder of Michelson Found Animals. "The Fund the Shelters Challenge is an exciting opportunity for people across the country to support organizations that are doing so much to get pets into loving homes."
"Our Clear The Shelters pet adoption campaign has inspired communities all across the country to open their homes to pets in need, resulting in more than a quarter million homeless animals finding new homes," said Valari Staab, President, NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations. "We're excited to work with the Michelson Found Animals Foundation to take our Clear The Shelters campaign to a whole new level by offering individuals an opportunity to support their local animal shelters/rescues through donations."
The Fund the Shelters Challenge kicks off April 9 and runs through May 9. The program is hosted on CrowdRise by the GoFundMe platform. Michelson Found Animals will award a total of $200,000 in prize money to organizations that participate in the challenge. There are two ways for groups to win: grand prizes totaling $135,000 will be presented to groups that raise the most money, and weekly bonus challenges totaling $65,000 will be presented to groups throughout the month-long challenge to encourage their participation and to give all organizations a chance to win money. Michelson Found Animals and NBC and Telemundo stations will announce the grand prize winners in May 2019.
As NBC and Telemundo stations prepare to present their fifth annual Clear the Shelters™ pet adoption campaign later this year, the Fund the Shelters Challenge will allow shelters and rescues to raise funds to not only support their programs, but also offset reduced or waived adoption fees during Clear The Shelters Day 2019 (August 17).
People can visit crowdrise.com/fundtheshelters to donate to participating organizations and support lifesaving programs for pets in their own communities and beyond.
For more information about NBC and Telemundo stations' Clear the Shelters™ 2019 campaign, please visit cleartheshelters.com. To access information in Spanish, please visit DesocuparLosAlbergues.com.
About the Michelson Found Animals Foundation
Michelson Found Animals Foundation is a leading animal welfare non-profit organization committed to keeping pets safe at home with the pet parents who love them. With a mission of Saving Pets, Enriching Lives, Found Animals operates a range of innovative programs that improve the lives of pets and their people, including the first free, national microchip registry, solutions-based programs addressing pet adoption, low-cost spay neuter services and grants for research into non-surgical spay and neuter methods. The foundation provides educational resources for pet parents, support for a variety of animal welfare organizations and is also supporting start up innovation in the pet care industry with the Leap Venture Studio. Generously funded by Dr. Gary Michelson and Alya Michelson, Found Animals has helped more than 5 million pets since it was founded in 2005. Learn more at foundanimals.org.
About NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations
NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations is the division of NBCUniversal that includes 42 NBC and Telemundo local television stations serving 30 markets, a regional news network and their associated websites and digital platforms, as well as a group of out-of-home properties, a production company, an in-house marketing and promotions company and two national multicast networks, COZI TV and TeleXitos. The local stations, which can be viewed in 38 percent of U.S. homes and in Puerto Rico, produce and deliver their local communities compelling and unique local news, real-time weather forecasts, consumer and investigative reports and entertainment programming across all platforms to help keep their English and Spanish-speaking audiences informed anytime and anywhere.
About CrowdRise by GoFundMe
CrowdRise by GoFundMe is the world's largest social fundraising platform dedicated exclusively to fundraising for charities. Trusted by some of the biggest names in charitable fundraising, CrowdRise by GoFundMe empowers nonprofits and individuals to raise funds for the causes they care about. For more information visit www.CrowdRise.com.
SOURCE Michelson Found Animals Foundation
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