Petsmart Charities

Found: One corporate charity that wants to do more for animals. Gave away $5 million in the United States last year. Looking for more partners.

It's not often you find a charity with the brand name of a Petsmart talking about how little the general public understands about the range and breadth of their good works.

"We're not very well known by the public," remarks Joyce Briggs, Petsmart Charities' Executive Director. The dog-food and cat-toy buying public, she suggests, may be aware that Petsmart has transformed valuable shop space into pet adoption centers. "But Petsmart Charities is not so well known as a separate organization."

What the public definitely doesn't know is that Petsmart Charities is also a 501c registered charity that functions as a sort of "hybrid" donor/fundraising organization.

Twice a year Petsmart taps the pockets of its loyal customer base with a continent-wide, in-store fundraising campaign that brings in close to $2 million a time. Another $1 million is chipped in by the company's dedicated employees annually. "There's charity work going on right in the store," adds Briggs.

Because the bulk of their money comes from these relatively neutral sources, the charity's activities are not overly influenced by the market demands of the corporation, she suggests. "Our giving is not done based on what exposure we can get for it … That's one of the reasons we have a fairly low profile."

Looking for Animals to Save
Besides their highly successful in-store adoption program, which recently gave away its one millionth pet, Petsmart partners with a relatively narrow niche of charities - humane societies, animal welfare and rescue groups, as well as spay and neuter organizations.

What They're About Petsmart Charities claims to be the nation's leading funding source for animal welfare groups. Their primary goal is to support organizations that heighten awareness of pet overpopulation or work directly to get animals into the hands of families. With their in-store adoption program at the forefront, Petsmart supports organizations such as: Humane Societies Animal Welfare Groups Animal Rescue Organizations Spay/Neuter Programs Limited Scholarly Research Education & Enrichment Programs

The key mission of the charity is to get "companion animals" into the homes of good families. Subsequently, Petsmart doesn't touch projects where animals help people - seeing eye dogs, for example.

One initiative that Briggs seems quite proud of is a program where prisoners work with troubled dogs and train them to become more adoptable. Petsmart also sponsors a similar program for at-risk youth. "It imparts a lot of values and positive lessons."

The charity has also supported some limited post-secondary research and backs educational programs that employ animals to teach children the value of compassion.

Like other funders, Petsmart prefers to back what Briggs refers to as "seed and spread" programs. "What I personally like to see is programs that show they are going to advance the field … programs that we can help organizations pilot in their community then suggest to other communities as a way to make an impact."

The Vision Thing
Talking to Briggs you get the sense that at Petsmart, it really is about getting puppies, kittens, birds - even lizards - into a nice warm home. That may not be terribly surprising at a company whose slogan is, "where pets are family."

What's unique is how well their corporate identity and charitable ambitions match up. Briggs says she often looks around for other corporate funders that she can learn from and benchmark against. "It's been difficult for me to find corporations or charities that are better aligned."

The focus of the charity may be on helping animals, but Briggs argues that it's really about helping people take better care of animals.

By ensuring that a low income family can get a spayed or neutered pet, for example, Petsmart plays a role in keeping the population down - which means fewer animals get euthanized. Their actions, however, also have the added benefit of turning the family into stronger "guardians" of that animal.


BIG Picture: When you're researching a prospective funder, take enough time to understand their market, corporate values and brand identity. You'll discover that the two usually overlap and reinforce each other.

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