The Open Arms Challenge winners are…

The Open Arms Challenge winners are here!

From November 22, 2021 to January 3, 2022, animal shelters and rescue organizations piloted new approaches that opened doors to adopters and volunteers, and welcomed their entire community. The 194 participating organizations embraced inclusive policies, including translating materials into multiple languages, creating new partnerships with organizations outside of animal welfare and removing barriers to adoption, foster and volunteering. These amazing efforts resulted in the adoption of 47,341 dogs and cats and support for 33,565 volunteers and 25,296 foster caregivers during the Challenge Period!

“We were so excited to see all of the hard work that these amazing organizations did to make their programs and services more open to everyone in their community, and the positive response that resulted,” said Amber Eby, Grants Specialist at Maddie’s Fund. “We understand these changes can be difficult and truly appreciate the efforts towards equity and inclusion. We can’t wait to see what comes next for everyone!”

One organization shared that their adoption leadership team expressed surprise that they did not ‘miss’ many of the questions they removed from their adoption application. One admitted that excluding some of the age and household information has helped them to not put adopters into unfavorable categories unconsciously.

Another participating organization said that small changes made big changes, without a notice of “more work” on the staff’s behalf. They were able to reach and build relationships with all members of the community in ways that they weren’t able to before.

Stay tuned as we share more in-depth stories from winners over the next few months.

Below are a few of the winners. You can see the entire list on our website. Congratulations to everyone!

Best Overall Effort: $10,000