What do we mean by a high-volume clinic?

A high-volume clinic performs enough surgeries to have an impact in the community.

You must be able to perform a minimum of 5,000 surgeries annually. While not necessary, we generally recommend that your community has a population of 250,000 or more within a 60-mile radius to accomplish this.

What do we mean by expansion?

Increasing surgeries by 5,000 within 1-year of funding. (We will consider a 2-year program with a good business plan.)

What do we mean by public animals?

• Owned cats and dogs
• Feral and free-roaming cats

You may sterilize your own organization’s animals or animals from other rescues/shelters in your clinic, but at least 75% of the surgeries must be done on public animals.

What is funded?

• Medical and office equipment necessary to open or expand a high-volume clinic
• Consumables (suture material, gloves, glue, drugs etc.) necessary to open or expand a high volume clinic for up to 3 months
• Travel costs to train at Humane Alliance or the ASPCA® for organizations in their mentorship programs

For a complete list of equipment, we recommend visiting humanealliance.org. You do not have to use this exact list but it is a good starting point.

What is NOT funded?

• Equipment that has already been purchased on credit or that you are seeking reimbursement. You must apply for funding and not order equipment until you are approved and have the funds in hand.
• Equipment to replace or update existing items to maintain the current level of surgeries.
• Outfitting of surgery suites solely for in house shelter or foster animals. Equipment and consumables for clinics primarily serving shelter or foster animals. Public surgeries must be included in your clinic plans.
• Salaries and operating costs.
• Construction or renovation of the clinic building or purchase of the mobile van. Only equipment to outfit the clinic or mobile is considered.

How do we apply?

• View the Starting a High-Volume Spay/Neuter Clinic webinar presented by PetSmart Charities and Humane Alliance.
• Make sure your contact information is up-to-date. 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 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8822.pdf.)
• Update your organization’s profile at GuideStar as information pertinent to your grant application will be obtained from this site.
• Complete applicable pre-application questionnaire in the "Are You Ready?" section below to determine if this is the right grant and the right time for you. Upon completion of the survey you will also be expected to talk with PetSmart Charities staff about your clinic plans.  As part of these plans, you will be expected to submit a business plan and 12-month budget on how you will make this clinic self-sustaining when the grant funding is gone.

When should we apply?

• There is no deadline for applying for spay/neuter clinic equipment grants. Applications are accepted year round.
• We prefer that you apply when you are about 6 months or less from opening.
• You must have secured your building by lease or purchase and be able to submit a signed copy of your lease or deed with your application.
• Your renovations should be close to being finished.
• You must have approximately $35,000 or 3 months of operating funds in reserve.
• If you are following a specific model, such as Humane Alliance, you should have already applied for and been accepted into their mentorship program and be ready to schedule your training with them.
• You should be able to agree to provide data for a minimum of 36 months after the funding date to allow us to measure the results of your program.  In most cases, this will mean sharing your surgical data including surgeries broken down by species, sex, zip code, age/weight, and possibly other categories.

Review Process

• You will receive a confirmation e-mail once we have received the grant and entered your information.
• It is our goal to complete the review process for each grant as soon as possible after we receive the completed proposal. This is generally about one month.
• Funding is never guaranteed.
• PetSmart Charities reserves the right to approve grants as deemed appropriate by the PetSmart Charities Board of Directors. Grant decisions are final. Any decision inquiries should be sent, in writing, to the PetSmart Charities Grant Committee at the above address. 
• No decision information is available by phone. 

Are you ready?

If you feel you are ready to apply for a clinic equipment startup or expansion grant, please begin by completing the appropriate pre-application questionnaire about your program. Once the questionnaire is complete and eligibility is confirmed, additional information is provided in order to access the grant application.

• Start up?
  Launch pre-application questionnaire for clinic equipment start up now 
• Expansion?
  Launch pre-application questionnaire for clinic equipment expansion now

If you encounter technical issues with the pre-application questionnaire, please e-mail info@petsmartcharities.org.

If after reviewing the requirements and grant application, you realize you aren’t quite ready for a clinic, please visit our Resources section for further ideas on fundraising, starting and growing your spay/neuter program, where to apply for grants, how to write a good grant, and more!

Thank you for your interest in applying for a spay/neuter clinic equipment grant.

Resource Quick Links