PLATINUM2023

HOUSE WITH A HEART PET SANCTUARY

Love Lives Here

aka House with a Heart Senior Pet Sanctuary   |   Gaithersburg, MD   |  www.housewithaheart.org

Mission

The Sanctuary's Mission is to provide a “Helping Hand" for senior pets. For our residents, we are able to provide love, affection, and shelter. Many of these dogs receive medical care, such as diagnostic screenings, dental care, surgery, and medications, as needed. House with a Heart is not a foster home or rescue group. Once a dog becomes a resident, it has a loving home for life. Our Director, Sher devotes herself full-time to caring for the pets and maintaining and improving the Sanctuary. HWAH is supported by volunteers from Montgomery County and the surrounding Metro areas that walk, bathe, and care for the residents, as well as clean and maintain the house and two-acre property. As of 2022, 45 dedicated volunteers had joined the HWAH family.

Notes from the nonprofit

Volunteers are a valued and integral part of House with a Heart (HWAH). They provide outstanding care to all of the residents. HWAH volunteers are wonderful people who have a passion for helping senior dogs.

Volunteers have a chance to take on roles in areas that interest them and where they can best use their personal and professional talents.

House with a Heart (HWAH) relies on the generosity of its many financial supporters as well as those who volunteer their time and talents to provide the best for our residents. Both, improvements to the facility as well as helping with care and comfort for the dogs are greatly appreciated!

Ruling year info

2006

Director

Ms. Sherry Polvinale

Vice-Presdient

Rich Blevins

Main address

6409 Stream Valley Way

Gaithersburg, MD 20882 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

20-5291492

NTEE code info

Animal Protection and Welfare (includes Humane Societies and SPCAs) (D20)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2022, 2020 and 2019.
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Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Saving Seriously Senior or Special Needs Animals We are now embarking on a new way to help Senior and Special needs dogs – by providing necessary medical care to make them adoptable from the shelters and get them into their local rescue or a new forever home. Often when a rescue group goes to a shelter, they only look for young healthy dogs, even though many people are now considering a Senior or Special needs dog when looking to adopt. Our goal is to make that first step as easy as possible.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Short Term Foster Care

We offer short term foster care for seniors and special needs dogs whose owners need a caring environment when they need to travel or while on vacation.

Population(s) Served
Adults

Often when a rescue group goes to a shelter, they only look for young healthy dogs, even though many people are now considering a Senior or Special needs dog when looking to adopt.

Our goal is to encourage rescues to look at Seniors and Special Needs by making that first step as easy as possible:

With our K9 & Kitty Medical Miracle funds, we can step up with necessary initial medical care to make them adoptable and give them a new forever home.

Population(s) Served
Adults

The “FEED FIDO AND FLUFFY” HWAH PET PANTRY helps needy families, seniors and disabled folks feed their pets during these challenging times.

Population(s) Served
Seniors
People with physical disabilities
Low-income people
Retired people

Where we work

Awards

Humane Award of the Year 2009

Humane Society

PAWsitively GOOD award 2021

NBC4

Thomas E Quade Iris Award 2023

Thomas E Quade Foundation

Videos

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of animals rehomed

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

K9 & Kitty Medical Miracles

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Context Notes

This program is so important to our mission to help save as many senior dogs and cats abandoned in shelters as we can. These animals are often overlooked because of their age and health issues.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

Raise the awareness of the challenges senior dogs will have with being adopted if they end up homeless.

We want to make it possible for more Seriously Senior and Special Needs pups to experience love and care for whatever time they have left to be with us.

Many of these dogs receive medical care, such as diagnostic screenings, dental care, surgery, and medications, as needed.

For other senior dogs, we provide a “Helping Hand" by getting the word out about their special needs, and encourage others to give them a forever home through our House with a Heart “Sanctuary of Your Own" program.

HWAH has taken the opportunity on The Today Show, the local NBC station and in Bethesda Magazine to raise the awareness of the challenges senior dogs will have with being adopted if they end up homeless. We hope this encourages people to make plans for their pets and have increased the appreciation for senior dogs through these media appearances and interviews.

We have increased our online blogs and stories, most recently interview by Circo.com

In 2017 we started our program to help "Seriously Senior and Special Needs Pets". We hope to do this through our social media of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Blog postings. We are encouraged by our FB Empathy Team Group of 'Saving Seriously Senior Pups"

At House with a Heart, volunteers play an invaluable role in maintaining the Sanctuary and contributing to the health and welfare of our residents. They serve in a wide variety of positions such as: direct care and grooming of the pups and kitties; housekeeping; outdoor maintenance; website development; newsletter creation and editing; and so much more.
HWAH is supported by volunteers from Montgomery County and the surrounding Metro areas that walk, bathe, and care for the residents, as well as clean and maintain the house and two-acre property. As of 2019, 55 dedicated volunteers had joined the HWAH family.

Since it's inception is 2006, HWAH has taken in over 120 senior dogs and cats and given them a forever home. Our mission is to" Love for their lifetime".

Now our focus is on helping seniors everywhere and get the message out that we want to help save Seriously Senior and Special Needs animals. To date we have helped save over 32 dogs from shelters by our helping our rescue partners.

Financials

HOUSE WITH A HEART PET SANCTUARY
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

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HOUSE WITH A HEART PET SANCTUARY

Board of directors
as of 05/10/2023
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Sher Polvinale

House with a Heart Senior Pet Sanctuary Inc

Term: 2006 - 2026

Sher Polvinale

Rich Blevins

Jacqueline Raymo

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Not applicable
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Not applicable
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Not applicable
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Not applicable
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Not applicable

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 5/5/2021
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
Decline to state
Sexual orientation
Decline to state
Disability status
Decline to state

The organization's co-leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
Decline to state
Sexual orientation
Decline to state
Disability status
Decline to state

Race & ethnicity

No data

Gender identity

No data

 

No data

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 05/05/2021

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
Policies and processes
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.