(PRESS RELEASE) NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations (NBC and Telemundo stations), a division of NBCUniversal, and Michelson Found Animals Foundation, a nonprofit committed to saving pets and enriching lives, announced they are teaming up to host their first-ever Fund the Shelters Challenge.
As NBC and Telemundo stations prepare to bring back their popular Clear the Shelters nationwide pet adoption campaign on Aug. 17, the Fund the Shelters Challenge will offer shelters and rescues an opportunity to raise funds and win cash prizes to support their life saving programs for pets in their communities, and offset reduced or waived adoption fees during Clear the Shelters Day 2019. Since 2015, more than 250,000 pets of all types have been adopted through NBC and Telemundo stations’ Clear the Shelters nationwide pet adoption campaign.
The Fund the Shelters Challenge kicks off on April 9 and runs through May 9. The program is hosted on the Crowdrise by 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.
The challenge is open to shelters and rescue groups participating in Clear the Shelters and to animal welfare organizations all across the country. Organizations must have a minimum annual operating budget of $25,000 and a maximum annual operating budget of $20,000,000 to participate in the challenge. Interested groups can visit crowdrise.com/fundtheshelters to register for the Fund the Shelters Challenge and to read additional program rules and eligibility information.
The NBC and Telemundo stations and Michelson Found Animals Foundation will announce the grand prize winners in May 2019.
Fund the Shelters Challenge borrows the successful model of the Michelson Found Animals Saving Pets Challenge, which it replaces for 2019. Since 2014, this pioneering fundraising effort has generated a cumulative program impact of over $7.2 million across over 600 participating organizations. For more information about the Fund the Shelters Challenge visit crowdrise.com/fundtheshelters. To learn more about Michelson Found Animals, visit
foundanimals.org
Groups interested in participating in Clear the Shelters 2019 can visitcleartheshelters.com or contact their local NBC and Telemundo stations directly, to sign up. To access information about Clear the Shelters in Spanish, please visit DesocuparLosAlbergues.com