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Best Friends Animal Society at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Best Friends Animal Society

To bring about a time when there are no more homeless pets.

$17M
Granted FY2024still arriving
307
Grants FY2024still arriving
—
States reached
$2.4M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02Its granteesRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Animals$57MPublic Benefit$1.4MHuman Services$488kPhilanthropy$318kEducation$280kCrime & Legal$207kFood & Nutrition$49kHousing & Shelter$41kOther$0
02FY2024 · 307 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 307 grants below total $16,053,157, the rows itemized in this filing. The $17,110,976 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $1,057,819 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k79 grants · $547k
  • $10k–50k174 grants · $3.8M
  • $50k–250k43 grants · $4.0M
  • $250k+11 grants · $7.8M
$17,405
Median grant
—
States reached
$201M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AUSTIN PETS ALIVE$2,350,000
JACKSONVILLE HUMANE SOCIETY$1,394,250
OPERATION KINDNESS$865,525
HUMANE SOCIETY OF HALL COUNTY - NORTHEAST GEORGIA$544,900
WEST VALLEY HUMANE SOCIETY$492,000
THOMASVILLE THOMAS CTY HUMANE SOCIETY$486,300
SAN DIEGO HUMANE SOCIETY$399,531
MASSACHUSETTS SPCA$399,300
HUMANE SOCIETY FOR GREATER SAVANNAH$316,600
CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY$268,990
PAWS FOR LIFE K9 RESCUE$262,350
ANIMAL RESCUE LEAGUE OF IOWA$240,000
BETTERTOGETHER FOREVER$203,750
BELLEVILLE AREA HUMANE SOCIETY$201,705
ANGEL CITY PIT BULLS$201,542
02Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

81%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$48M · 352 repeat orgs$11M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +39% since the first grant, against +21% for those funded once.

352 repeat relationships: 174 still active in FY2024, 178 since wound down; 132 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

352
409

Total granted

$48M
$8.9M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
+21%

Still filing today

72%
59%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 84% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2.6M went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
AnimalsHuman ServicesEducationYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyPublic BenefitOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • JH
    JACKSONVILLE HUMANE SOCIETY INC
    7× · 2017–2024 · $3.0M · revenue +14%
  • AP
    AUSTIN PETS ALIVE INC
    7× · 2017–2024 · $2.8M · revenue +30%
  • SC
    STRAY CAT ALLIANCE
    8× · 2017–2024 · $1.7M · revenue +111%

Funded once

  • AO
    ACE OF HEARTSgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $898k · revenue +153%
  • PB
    PALM BEACH COUNTY DIVISION OF SENIOR SERVICES
    one grant, 2017 · $256k
  • RC
    RANDOLPH COUNTY ANIMAL SERVICES
    one grant, 2023 · $171k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

03Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Hope Fur Paws Rescue

To help injured, abandoned and unwanted animals. We provide food, vet care that includes heartworm prevention and spay or neuter services, shelter and anything else needed.

Animals
2
Paws and Claws Animal Shelter
Animals
3
Safe Haven Inc
Animals
4
Paws Animal Rescue Center

To help rescue unwanted pets

Animals
5
Pound Pets Inc

Animal Rescue - finding homes for abandoned animals in Granite City, spaying and neutering stray animals and feral cats

Animals
6
Claws and Paws for a Cause

For our community we provide high quality low cost spay and neuter services as well as low cost vaccinations. we do have programs that allows us to help the families that have pets but are in financial strain and not able to have their…

Religion
7
Pets Without Partners

Find homes for homeless/abandoned dogs. Provide full vet car and housing while awaiting adoption,

Animals
8
Raskels Rescue
Animals
9
Fur Animal Rescue

Animal rescue organization dedicated to finding homes for animals at the animal shelter. we also provde vet care foster homes, and assistance with homing for special needs animals.

Animals
10
Hart

Animal shelter and rescue

Animals
11
Humane Society of Union County Inc

The Humane Society of Union County exists to reduce the number of abused, abandoned, and neglected cats and dogs through rescue, rehabilitation, adoption, and spay and neuter.

Animals
12
Paws and Claws Animal Welfare Society Inc

Animal Rescue

Animals
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Animal Friends Humane Society; the most unlike its peers is The Serengeti Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
03the grantee network

599 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 599 of the 894 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

21
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
191
Early backer (in before they grew)
580/599
Grantees still filing
390/599
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

JACKSONVILLE HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $2,990,844 · AnimalsJACKSONVILLE HUMANE SOCIETY INCAUSTIN PETS ALIVE INC: $2,841,874 · AnimalsAUSTIN PETS ALIVE INCSTRAY CAT ALLIANCE: $1,740,453 · AnimalsOPERATION KINDNESS: $1,522,847 · AnimalsKITTEN RESCUE: $1,472,325 · AnimalsCOMMUNITY ANIMAL MEDICINE PROJECT INC: $1,335,475 · Animals+139 more: $26,038,509 · Animals+139 moreANIMAL BALANCE: $482,750 · OtherANIMAL BALANCEREZ-SOLUTIONS AND ANIMAL SHELTER INC: $338,000 · OtherHORRY COUNTY GOVERNMENT: $313,980 · OtherCATS CATS CATS RESCUE INC: $312,400 · OtherPAW MISSION INC: $265,985 · OtherPALM BEACH COUNTY DIVISION OF SENIOR SERVICES: $256,239 · OtherCITY OF LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF RECREATION AND PARKS: $244,756 · OtherCOUNTY OF RIVERSIDE COMMUNITY HEALTH AGENCY: $221,166 · OtherABILENE FIRE DEPARTMENT: $214,259 · Other+41 more: $3,697,591 · Other+41 moreKITTY BUNGALOW CHARM SCHOOL FOR WAYWARD CATS: $602,410 · EducationCOLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $89,250 · EducationFJC: $318,250 · Crime & LegalENID SPCA: $105,832 · Youth DevelopmentPETCO LOVE: $100,000 · Philanthropy
Animals$37,942,327Other$6,347,126Education$691,660Crime & Legal$318,250Youth Development$105,832Philanthropy$100,000

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetJACKSONVILLE HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $2,990,844 over 7y, 17% of budgetAUSTIN PETS ALIVE INC: $2,841,874 over 7y, 11% of budgetSTRAY CAT ALLIANCE: $1,740,453 over 8y, 12% of budgetOPERATION KINDNESS: $1,522,847 over 3y, 5.1% of budgetKITTEN RESCUE: $1,472,325 over 8y, 14% of budgetCOMMUNITY ANIMAL MEDICINE PROJECT INC: $1,335,475 over 7y, 12% of budgetHUMANE SOCIETY OF HALL COUNTY INC: $1,102,100 over 2y, 20% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $989,300 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetPALM VALLEY ANIMAL SOCIETY FKA PALM VALLEY ANIMAL CENTER: $979,844 over 6y, 11% of budgetHeaven on Earth Society for Animals Inc: $944,100 over 7y, 9.9% of budgetBRANDYWINE VALLEY SPCA: $909,120 over 7y, 4.1% of budgetTHOMASVILLE-THOMAS COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $898,965 over 5y, 52% of budgetSAN DIEGO HUMANE SOCIETY AND SPCA: $806,245 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetANGEL CITY PIT BULLS: $652,157 over 8y, 22% of budgetKITTY BUNGALOW CHARM SCHOOL FOR WAYWARD CATS: $602,410 over 8y, 24% of budgetWEST VALLEY HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $542,400 over 4y, 25% of budgetMAYOR'S ALLIANCE FOR NYC'S ANIMALS INC: $520,000 over 2y, 24% of budgetANIMAL BALANCE: $482,750 over 6y, 31% of budgetCHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY: $463,155 over 4y, 2.3% of budgetHUMANE SOCIETY OF HARLINGEN: $426,650 over 5y, 11% of budgetTHE HUMANE SOCIETY FOR GREATER SAVANNAH: $419,665 over 4y, 13% of budgetLIFELINE ANIMAL PROJECT INC: $376,260 over 7y, 0.6% of budgetPAWS FOR LIFE K9 RESCUE: $369,900 over 4y, 7.0% of budgetONE TAIL AT A TIME NFP: $368,380 over 4y, 4.5% of budgetLYNCHBURG HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $330,776 over 7y, 2.3% of budgetFJC: $318,250 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetHumane Society of Southern Arizona: $306,050 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetSOURIS VALLEY HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $303,950 over 2y, 21% of budgetAcadiana Animal Aid: $296,082 over 7y, 4.1% of budgetANIMAL RESCUE LEAGUE OF IOWA INC: $273,675 over 5y, 1.8% of budgetFRESNO HUMANE ANIMAL SERVICES: $270,490 over 3y, 4.4% of budgetDELAWARE COUNTY SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $263,712 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetFixNation Inc: $263,175 over 4y, 2.6% of budgetSPAY NEUTER INITIATIVE PROGRAM: $257,675 over 4y, 86% of budgetSOUTH SUBURBAN HUMANE SOCIETY: $225,065 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetSECOND LEASH ON LIFE INC: $225,000 over 3y, 47% of budgetHouston Pets Alive: $223,550 over 5y, 6.8% of budgetTHE ANIMAL FOUNDATION: $218,763 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetHUMANE SOCIETY OF GREATER DAYTON: $218,362 over 4y, 3.1% of budgetBETTERTOGETHER FOREVER: $215,000 over 2y, 15% of budgetANIMAL CARE AND CONTROL OF NEW YORK CITY INC: $213,318 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetBELLEVILLE AREA HUMANE SOCIETY: $201,705 over 1y, 17% of budgetVANDERBURGH COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $187,125 over 2y, 5.4% of budgetHOMEWARD TRAILS ANIMAL RESCUE INC: $185,580 over 5y, 2.5% of budgetOKLAHOMA ALLIANCE FOR ANIMALS INC: $179,340 over 4y, 11% of budgetNuzzles & Co: $179,231 over 5y, 4.0% of budgetTHE LITTLE LION FOUNDATION: $171,450 over 5y, 27% of budgetFIX WEST TEXAS: $162,362 over 4y, 4.8% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds JACKSONVILLE HUMANE SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds AUSTIN PETS ALIVE INC ↗
  • Who funds STRAY CAT ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds OPERATION KINDNESS ↗
  • Who funds KITTEN RESCUE ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY ANIMAL MEDICINE PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds HUMANE SOCIETY OF HALL COUNTY INC ↗
  • Who funds MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS ↗
  • Who funds PALM VALLEY ANIMAL SOCIETY FKA PALM VALLEY ANIMAL CENTER ↗
  • Who funds Heaven on Earth Society for Animals Inc ↗
  • Who funds BRANDYWINE VALLEY SPCA ↗
  • Who funds THOMASVILLE-THOMAS COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds ACE OF HEARTS ↗
  • Who funds SAN DIEGO HUMANE SOCIETY AND SPCA ↗
  • Who funds ANGEL CITY PIT BULLS ↗
  • Who funds KITTY BUNGALOW CHARM SCHOOL FOR WAYWARD CATS ↗
  • Who funds WEST VALLEY HUMANE SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds MAYOR'S ALLIANCE FOR NYC'S ANIMALS INC ↗
  • Who funds ANIMAL BALANCE ↗
  • Who funds CHARLESTON ANIMAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds HUMANE SOCIETY OF HARLINGEN ↗
  • Who funds THE HUMANE SOCIETY FOR GREATER SAVANNAH ↗
  • Who funds LIFELINE ANIMAL PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds PAWS FOR LIFE K9 RESCUE ↗
  • Who funds ONE TAIL AT A TIME NFP ↗
  • Who funds LYNCHBURG HUMANE SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds FJC ↗
  • Who funds Humane Society of Southern Arizona ↗
  • Who funds SOURIS VALLEY HUMANE SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds Acadiana Animal Aid ↗
  • Who funds ANIMAL RESCUE LEAGUE OF IOWA INC ↗
  • Who funds FRESNO HUMANE ANIMAL SERVICES ↗
  • Who funds DELAWARE COUNTY SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS ↗
  • Who funds FixNation Inc ↗
  • Who funds SPAY NEUTER INITIATIVE PROGRAM ↗

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Petco LoveThe Duffield Family F…The American Society …Banfield FoundationBISSELL Pet FoundationPetsmart Charities IncGreater Good CharitiesHumane World for Anim…The Michelson Found A…Pedigree FoundationThe Grey Muzzle Organ…Vca Charities
Petco LoveTX221× affinity289 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Petco Love · The Duffield Family Foundation Dba Maddie's Fund · The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals · Banfield Foundation · BISSELL Pet Foundation · Petsmart Charities Inc · Greater Good Charities · Humane World for Animals Inc · The Michelson Found Animals Foundation Inc · Pedigree Foundation · The Grey Muzzle Organization · Vca Charities

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Best Friends Animal Society funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Best Friends Animal Society. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 70%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Tlc Petsnip Inc: 1% of income from government
  • People for Animals Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Halifax Humane Society Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
7get no government money at all
46report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
04Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Best Friends Animal Society?

Find your warmest path to Best Friends Animal Society through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 894 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Best Friends Animal Society’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home