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    4. Top 50 Pet Charities of 2020

Top 50 Pet Charities of 2020





With the new year, comes a paw-some set of new charities. Check out our top Charities for 2020! Top 50 Pet Charities of 2020. This year we want to recognize 50 outstanding pet charities for their work in helping to improve the lives of cats, dogs, and other animals, along with their human caretakers. All animal charities are deserving of praise, of course, but these 50 charities have been recommended by our fans and customers and are ones we feel deserve special recognition for their contributions to the lives of pets & pet owners.

93.98 Shows the Charity Navigator Overall Score & Rating out of 100, if the charity has been ranked by Charity Navigator.

Alaqua Animal Refuge

Mission: To serve the Emerald Coast as: the premier no-kill refuge, providing protection, shelter and care to animals in need; a full-service animal adoption center; and a peaceful, proactive animal welfare advocate through educational outreach and community programs.

Alley Cat Allies

Mission: To transform and develop communities to protect and improve the lives of cats. Alley Cat Allies is an advocacy group that is dedicated to the protection and humane treatment of all cats, including feral cats which they help out through their innovative Trap-Neuter-Release program. Based out of Bethesda, Maryland, Alley Cat Allies helps advocate and promote humane care for cats across the country.

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)

Mission: To provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or ASPCA, founded in 1866, is one of the oldest pet charities in the Western hemisphere. They believe that animals are entitled to kind and respectful treatment from humans, and should be protected under the law. To this end they work nationally to rescue abused animals and advocate for the passing of humane laws.





Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF)

  • Website: www.arf.net
  • Location: Contra Costa County, California
  • Founded: 1991

Mission: To create a world where every loving dog and cat has a home, where every lonely person has a companion animal, and where children learn to care. Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation has a very interesting story. Tony, then Manager of the Oakland A’s came across a stray during a game between Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees. Tony captured the stray, and looked to place it in a local shelter, but found that there was not a single no-kill shelter in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. That event inspired Tony and his wife Elaine to create the ARF to find homes for abandoned animals and help control pet overpopulation through spaying & neutering programs.

Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County

  • Website: www.awlmc.org
  • Location: Montgomery County, Maryland
  • Founded: 2005

Mission: The AWLMC operates and maintains a no-kill cat shelter in Montgomery County, MD. Since 2005 we have completed over 1,000 cat adoptions. Our homey adoption friendly shelter is located in Olde Towne Gaithersburg. We moved into this location in 2011 and modified the interior to have 5 group rooms for the cats and allow space for floor cats to roam throughout the building. We have cat trees at every window and large climbing trees in the central areas. We added an outside storage shed on the property. We utilize all of the building to make the cats in our care safe and comfortable, and to offer potential adopters space to meet the purrfect cat for their household.

Bald Is Beautiful Dog Rescue

Mission: Bald Is Beautiful Hairless and Small Breed Rescue, Inc. is a national 501c3 non-profit organization. We are an independent rescue whose members- all volunteers- have over 25 years of combined experience in the rescue and rehabilitation of dogs in need. Our members’ reasons for being in rescue are varied from being compassionate lifetime dog lovers to having bought that “cute little puppy in the window” only to have our hearts broken when they became ill from being born to sick mothers kept in deplorable conditions. Or when we sadly discovered that the “home raised” pups were, in reality, puppy mill puppies. Whatever brought us to BisB, we stay because we have seen our hard work and dedication pay off in changing the lives of so many deserving dogs.





Best Friends Animal Society

Mission: To end shelter killing and Save Them All. The Best Friends Animal Society has the ambitious goal of ending shelter killing and finding home for all the abandoned animals in America. Every year over 4 million homeless pets are killed in American shelters, and Best Friends works to prevent this as much as possible by helping to make animal adoption easier and promoting spaying & neutering programs to reduce the number of animals entering the nation’s shelters.

Big Dog Ranch Rescue

Mission: Big Dog Ranch Rescue is a leader in the national animal welfare movement, through compassionate, innovative rescue practices and transformative educational programs. Our goal is to give the gift of life to as many dogs as humanly possible, enrich the lives of those who adopt them, and in doing so, help create a better world.

Blind Cat Rescue

Mission: Blind Cat Rescue was started in 2005 to serve as a safe place for blind cats that were deemed not adoptable by regular shelters. In 2011 we built a building to provide a safe sanctuary for FELV+ & FIV+ cats. We will accept an animal into our sanctuary IF we have space available. Blind cats must be certified by a vet as blind. Cats with 20% or less sight are accepted as blind. All cats must be fixed.





Canine Companions For Independence
  • Website: cci.org
  • Location: Santa Rosa, California
  • Founded: 1975

Mission: Headquartered in Santa Rosa, CA, Canine Companions for Independence is the largest non-profit provider of assistance dogs, and is recognized worldwide for the excellence of its dogs, and the quality and longevity of the matches it makes between dogs and people. The result is a life full of increased independence and loving companionship.

Give back to Canine Companions for Independence through their donation page.

Canine Estates

Mission: Canine Estates, Inc. is dedicated to saving the lives of abandoned, abused and injured dogs primarily from high kill shelters. We rehabilitate them, have them vaccinated, spayed or neutered. Our vision is to find loving homes for each dog.

Citizens for Animal Protection

Mission: Citizens for Animal Protection is a non-profit organization, founded in 1972, which shelters, rescues and places homeless animals for adoption with loving families. CAP advocates respect and compassion for animal life and provides humane education to help prevent cruelty to animals.







Common Sense for Animals

Mission: To promote animal welfare through education and community service. Common Sense for Animals is a great organization that seeks to improve animal welfare through various educational programs. The group hosts a number of innovative educational outreach efforts such as providing educational tours to groups such as scouts, 4-H clubs, and Mom’s clubs as well as hosting kid’s parties to educate people about animal welfare.

D.E.L.T.A. Rescue

Mission: To serve as the largest no-kill, care-for-life sanctuary in the world. D.E.L.T.A. Rescue is the largest animal sanctuary and no-kill shelter of its kind in the world, housing over 1,500 abandoned animals in its facilities in Southern California. Founded by Leo Grillo, 115-acre mountain top ranch is a haven for animals previously lacked a home.

Dogs Trust

Mission: To work towards the day when all dogs can enjoy a happy life, free from the threat of unnecessary destruction. Dogs Trust (formerly known as the National Canine Defence League) is the largest dog welfare charity in the UK. The organization helps over 16,000 dogs a year through its network of rehoming centers, and they also help subsidize the cost of neutering pets and have educational programs across thousands of classrooms to educate students in the responsible care of dogs and pets.







Dogs Without Borders

Mission: To rescue stray and abandoned dogs from local and international shelters and find a happy forever home. Since its inception in 2006, DWB has placed over 4000 dogs into a loving home. Using the support of volunteers and donations, DWB stands behind their dogs offering their clients advice and tips for the duration of their dogs’ lives to guarantee happy and successful adoptions.

Dumb Friends League (DDFL)

Mission: To provide shelter and care for animals, provide programs and services that enhance the bond between animals and people, and serve as advocates for animals, speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves. The Dumb Friends League has a long history, having been founded in 1910. Back then, the term “dumb” had a different meaning than it does today, and was used to refer to animals because they lacked the power of speech. Headquartered in Denver, the purpose of DDFL is to speak for those animals who cannot speak themselves through advocacy and educational programs.

Fences For Fido

Mission: We create safer and improved conditions for chained dogs by providing shelter, veterinary care, and spay and neutering services when necessary. We work to educate families on how to best care for their four-legged family members during the heat of the summer and the cold, wet winter months. With more than 800 dogs already unchained since May 2009, the mission of Fences For Fido continues. With generous help from our volunteers and donors, FFF hopes to share many more success stories.





Friends of Animals

Mission: To cultivate a respectful view of nonhuman animals, free-living and domestic and free animals from cruelty and institutionalized exploitation around the world. Friends of Animals is a nationwide organization that advocates for animal rights issues across the US. In addition to supporting spaying & neutering programs for pets, the organization also looks after the welfare of fur-bearing animals and has a Wildlife Law Program to help animal and environmental activists to defend the rights of animals across the country.

FurKid Rescue

Mission: Fur Kid Rescue is a small, private home-based rescue located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We officially started our organized rescue efforts in the Spring of 2008, but have been rescuing and working with other rescue groups and local shelters for over 5 years.

Golden Gate Basset Rescue (GGBR)

Mission: To rescue Basset Hounds from abusive, abandoned and unwanted situations Golden Gate Basset Rescue is an organization dedicated to the protection and adoption of basset hounds all throughout Northern California. Originally founded under the Northern California Basset Hound Club, GGBR works to rescue and place dogs as far south as Monterey and as far north as the Oregon border of California.





Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs

Mission: To rescue, raise, train and then donating medical service/assistance dogs to mentally and/or physically impaired individuals to provide assistance, independence and improve the quality of life of both the recipient and the dog. Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs is an amazing organization that helps both people and dogs. Guardian Angels works to train and pair dogs with people who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other disabilities. Through the dog pairing program, Guardian Angels helps to reduce suicide attempts and alcohol dependence for people suffering from mental disabilities, and creates a lifelong friendship between the dogs and their partners.

Guide Dogs for the Blind

Mission: To improve the quality of life for people who are blind, visually impaired, or with other special needs. The Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind is another great organization that helps both people and pets. The Guide Dog Foundation helps to improve the quality of life for people who are blind or visually impaired by providing guide dogs and training, free of charge, to people in need. The Guide Dog Foundation provides small classes and individualized instruction to help the visually impaired and their dogs work together as team and promote independence.

Helping Our Pets Everyday (HOPE)

Mission: Formed by the desire to save lives, and as advocates for all canine and feline animals, guided in the spirit of being the caretakers of God’s creatures, stewards to young people through example and leadership, entrusted with educating the public on spaying and neutering, empowered through volunteer dedication, and committed in our mission to make a difference.







Homeward Bound Dog Rescue

  • Website: www.homewardboundrescue.com
  • Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota
  • Founded: 1991

Mission: We are d