LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - May 4, 2015) - Michelson Found Animals (www.FoundAnimals.org), an independently funded nonprofit working to find the big ideas that reduce euthanasia in shelters, launched its annual Michelson Found Animals Saving Pets Challenge today. The second CrowdRise Challenge for pets is a fundraising competition, where animal welfare organizations gain awareness, recognition, and, most importantly, raise money for projects addressing the underlying causes of shelter euthanasia in their community. Found Animals will grant over $100,000 to the top fundraising organizations and through weekly incentives that any organization can win.
"Our inaugural Saving Pets Challenge last year was a huge success, as we helped raise more than $1 million towards reducing pet shelter euthanasia," said Aimee Gilbreath, Found Animals Executive Director. "As a leader in finding real-life animal welfare solutions on a big scale, we're thrilled to bring back the Saving Pets Challenge to help even more animals this year."
The Saving Pets Challenge launches today, Monday, May 4, 2015, at Noon ET, and runs through Friday, June 5, 2015, at 1:59:59 pm ET. Organizations are encouraged to start registering now for Found Animals' approval into the Challenge; the last day to sign up is May 15, 2015, at 5:00 pm ET. On top of the money the individual organizations raise as part of the Saving Pets Challenge, the top-five organizations that raise the most money will also receive a cash grant from Found Animals:
- First place: $50,000
- Second place: $20,000
- Third Place: $10,000
- Fourth Place: $7,500
- Fifth place: $5,000
In addition, more than $25,000 in weekly "Bonus Challenges" will be awarded, for which every organization has an opportunity to win, not just the top fundraisers. New this year is the opportunity by both donors and participating organizations to win more than $20,000 in non-cash prizes from generous sponsors like: Boehringer Ingelheim, Cat Crib, DOG for DOG, Feline Yogi, FitBark, Jackson Galaxy, Kittyo, Metro Paws, Petmate, ThunderShirt, and more.
There are no restrictions on the type of projects participants can raise money for, provided they address the common goal of saving pets from euthanasia in shelters. Teams can raise money for projects that prevent shelter intake, or accelerate live releases. Whether it's trap-neuter-return, spay/neuter, adoptions, or surrender prevention, Found Animals is committed to delivering practical solutions that ensure the health and safety of dogs and cats everywhere. Even those teams that don't win the actual prize money walk away from the campaign with every dollar they raise.
The inaugural Michelson Found Animals Saving Pets Challenge Fundraiser raised more than $1 million in 2014 during its fundraising competition, and reached more than 175 humane societies, municipal sheltering agencies, spay/neuter clinics and rescue organizations participating.
For complete rules and details, visit: www.crowdrise.com/SavingPetsChallenge. For more information on Found Animals, please visit www.FoundAnimals.org.
About Michelson Found Animals
Found Animals is an independently funded nonprofit that works to achieve one goal: find the big ideas that help reduce the number of pets euthanized in shelters each year. Led by business and medical professionals, we develop innovative solutions that address the underlying causes of shelter euthanasia. Programs address pet adoption, low-cost spay neuter services, pet microchipping and registration, and sterilization research. By offering a wealth of educational resources to pet owners and animal care professionals, Found Animals advances the health and safety of animals everywhere. Support for Found Animals and its initiatives come from the generous contributions of Dr. Gary Michelson and Alya Michelson. Follow our progress online at www.FoundAnimals.org, or via social media at Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
- For more information on the Michelson Prize & Grants: www.michelsonprizeandgrants.org
- For more information on Found Animals Registry: www.found.org
- For more information on Found Animals Adopt & Shop: www.adoptandshop.org
About CrowdRise
CrowdRise is the platform that millions of individuals, charities, companies and celebrities use to give back. People use the site to donate to and fundraise for the causes they're passionate about. CrowdRise's unique approach to making giving back fun and notable and cool and interesting creates a network effect that drives amazing awareness and, most importantly, revolutionary fundraising for thousands of organizations every day.
Launched by Edward Norton in 2010, CrowdRise the fastest growing and largest online fundraising platform for good. We have raised over $200 million for charity to date and are on track to raise another $200 million in 2015 alone. If Facebook is the place that defines you by your friends and Twitter is what you use to say what you're doing right now then CrowdRise is the site for you to show how you give back. The power of the crowd is real and lots of small donations really do add up to create monumental impact.
CrowdRise is committed to innovation in fundraising, and making raising money for charity fun and effective. We're the friend-to-friend platform for the New York City Marathon, the Boston Marathon, Red Cross, Unicef, Ironman as well as celebrities like Sean Penn, Seth Rogen, Ian Sommerhalder, Sophia Bush, Paul Rudd, Olivia Wilde and so many more. The CrowdRise community was named a "Top 25 Best Global Philanthropist" by Barron's. We beat Oprah. And, Mashable named CrowdRise something like "the best place to raise money online for your favorite causes."
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