Michelson Found Animals Launches Third Annual “Saving Pets Challenge” to Raise Millions for At-Risk Shelter Animals

The Michelson Found Animals Foundation, Inc. is excited to announce the launch of the third annual Saving Pets Challenge. The thirty-one day competition, hosted through popular fundraising platform, CrowdRise, has animal welfare organizations across the U.S. competing to raise money for their efforts, while working together for the ultimate goal of saving pets. The Challenge begins Tuesday, July 5th at 12:00pm EST, and ends Thursday, August 4th at 1:59:59pm EST. This year there are nearly 600 organizations participating, more than twice as many as in 2015. In two years, participants have raised more than $2.5 million to support programs that help pets nationwide.

The top five groups that raise the most money during the 2016 Saving Pets Challenge will be rewarded with cash grants from Found Animals, totaling $150,000. First place receives $50,000, second place receives $30,000, third place receives $20,000, fourth place receives $10,000, and fifth place will receive $5,000.

In addition to the grand prize money and the money raised on their own, there are weekly Bonus Challenges totaling $35,000. Participating organizations and individual donors will have an opportunity to win prizes from co-sponsors Whistle, Merial, Metro Paws, Patterson, and Petcube.

“One of the best things about the Saving Pets Challenge is that even if a group doesn’t win any of the grand prizes or bonus challenges they still get to keep all the money they raise during the campaign, so everyone wins,” adds Gilbreath.

“The team at Found Animals knows how hard animal welfare organizations across the country work to help pets in their communities,” said Dr. Gary Michelson, Founder of Found Animals.   “They are the unsung heroes for at-risk animals and the people who love them.  We are thrilled to be able to provide this fundraising tool to help them save more pets.”

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
The Michelson Found Animals Foundation is a non-profit supporting pet-owners and animal welfare organizations; our mission is Saving Pets, Enriching Lives. After celebrating a decade of service to animals, we continue to grow as we find new and innovative ways to help pets and the people who care for them. In addition to creating the first free microchip registry, we now have our own adoption centers, research next generation spay/neuter technology, and sell affordable high quality products—all in the service of pets. Our unique perspective into all aspects of animal welfare allows us to better support pet owners and pet professionals alike. All of this is possible thanks to generous funding from Dr. Gary Michelson and Alya Michelson.

See how we’re using our brains and expertise to obtain real, sustainable, results at FoundAnimals.org. To learn more about our free microchip registry, and the many innovative tools that are making it easier to connect lost pets to their people, check out found.org. Our spay/neuter technology research is at michelsonprizeandgrants.org. And to find out more about our Adopt & Shop locations, where all profits go back to caring for our adoptable pets, take a look atadoptandshop.org.

About CrowdRise
CrowdRise is the world’s largest and fastest growing online platform dedicated exclusively to charitable fundraising.  CrowdRise is used by millions of individuals, tens of thousands of charities, hundreds of companies and many of the most famous artists and athletes in the world to creatively leverage their resources and networks to unlock the power of the crowd to support positive social missions and create massive impact.

Founded by actor Edward Norton, film producer Shauna Robertson and Robert and Jeffrey Wolfe, CrowdRise has conceived, implemented and powered campaigns that have raised hundreds of millions dollars to date. For more information visit www.CrowdRise.com.