Free-roaming Cat Spay/Neuter Program

The online grant application period for PetSmart Charities’ free-roaming cat spay/neuter grants opens on July 15. The online grant application period closes at noon on September 3.

We will review and approve applications as they are submitted throughout the application period.  

If you are interested in applying for a PetSmart Charities® Free-roaming cat spay/neuter grant, we strongly encourage you to view the following updated recorded webinars:

• Navigating PetSmart Charities' New Online Grant Application (there are two webinars: one for new users , the other for returning users)
• PetSmart Charities’ High Impact Spay/Neuter Grants: What Are We Looking For? This webinar contains some helpful tips for preparing your application.

Questions? Please see the Grants FAQs. We are unable to provide reference copies of the application.

Program Description

The free-roaming cat grant offered by PetSmart Charities is intended to provide funding and mentoring for high impact Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) projects. The goal is to stabilize and ultimately reduce the free-roaming cat population within a specific geographic area. Target areas may include all or part of a county, city, township, ZIP code, census tract, neighborhood, mobile home park or other location. Your project may include pet cats; however, if they will comprise the majority of animals you expect to spay/neuter, you should apply for a Targeted Spay/Neuter grant.

In order to achieve a high impact, you will need to spay/neuter a substantial percentage of the estimated free-roaming cat population in the target area. While there are no specific percentages required, as an example, if a town has an estimated feral and stray cat population of 1,000, aiming to alter 750 of the cats would be a well-targeted project.

To help determine the success of your project, you will be required to use verifiable data to measure the impact. What data you use will depend on what is available to you and the nature of your project. If you are targeting an entire ZIP code, you may choose to measure the impact by tracking cat intake from that ZIP code at your local shelter. If you are targeting a neighborhood, you can count the actual number of cats when you first TNR their colonies, then perform an annual census and compare the numbers over time. We will ask you for this “impact data” once-a-year for up to two years after your project ends.

Your budget for the grant may include spay/neuter expenses, trapping equipment, transportation, marketing materials or other outreach expenses, certain personnel costs or other items directly related to your TNR project. Please contact us at freeroaming@petsmartcharities.org if you would like further clarification on permitted expenses.

PetSmart Charities will consider applications up to $100,000 per year with the possibility of a two-year commitment. The maximum possible grant is thus for $200,000 for two years (at $100,000 per year). Mentorship for grantees is also available during the course of a funded project and ongoing communication with PetSmart Charities staff is highly recommended.

Guidelines and Review Process

• Competition is rigorous. The quality and detail of the application and proposed plan, as well as your capacity and willingness to collect and report data before and after the grant, will be important.
• There are no state deadlines.
• Organizations are eligible to apply for only one of the two spay/neuter grants (targeted spay/neuter and free-roaming cat) at a time.
• Follow up reports will require data that helps complete the “before and after” picture-whether the size and the scope of the problem was changed as a result of the grant and whether the group was more effective in its work because of the grant and mentoring provided by PetSmart Charities.
• We strongly recommend you update your organization’s profile on GuideStar.org as information pertinent to your grant application will be obtained from this site.
• Grant applications are reviewed and approved throughout the open application period. Due to the length of time to review and process grant applications, applicants are encouraged to apply early within the application period. 
• The address listed on your most recently filed 990 is where all correspondence from PetSmart Charities will be mailed. If you have had a change of address forward a copy of the change of address form 8822 to the following address:
  
  PetSmart Charities Grants
  19601 N. 27th Ave.
  Phoenix, AZ 85027
  
  or e-mail to: info@petsmartcharities.org.  (If you need a form 8822 it can be downloaded from the IRS website at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8822.pdf.)

Related Resources 

Helpful TNR Webinars