Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Pets for Patriots aims to enhance the lives of our nation's military veterans while saving the most vulnerable shelter dogs and cats, nationwide.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Companion pet adoption for veterans
Pets for Patriots gives the gifts of fidelity, joy and love to both veteran and pet through companion animal adoption. The organization helps veterans and military members adopt the most overlooked shelter pets, including adult, special needs, long-term homeless, and large breed pets, offering them a second chance at life through adoption. Pets for Patriots partners with U.S. shelter and veterinary networks, military and veteran organizations, and the public to value and honor the lives of both the most vulnerable and heroic among us. For more information, visit www.petsforpatriots.org.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Combined Federal Campaign 2014
Combined Federal Campaign 2013
Combined Federal Campaign 2015
Combined Federal Campaign 2016
Combined Federal Campaign 2017
Combined Federal Campaign 2018
Combined Federal Campaign 2019
Combined Federal Campaign 2020
Combined Federal Campaign 2021
External reviews

Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of animal adoptions
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Companion pet adoption for veterans
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Most of the shelter/rescue partners we work with nationwide continue to under COVID-19 restrictions, which has a dampening effect on veteran-pet adoptions.
Dollars devoted to hardship veterinary care
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Veterans
Related Program
Companion pet adoption for veterans
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Our hero fund for veterinary care pays for life extending, life saving, and palliative care for pets adopted through our program that would otherwise cause our veterans undue financial hardship.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Pets for Patriots vision and ultimate goal is to end animal homelessness in the United States by facilitating the adoption of at-risk shelter pets with every available, able and willing military veteran. In support of this objective, our goals:
- Continue to find ways to expand the pool of qualified adopters, serving more veterans and saving more pets
- Expand our sponsor network to include more nationally-operating brands that provide goods/services to help lower the overall costs of pet ownership for veterans in our program
- Expand our overall veterinary care network to provide the most robust options for our adopters and their pets
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
- Continue to develop free tools and assets for our adoption and veterinary partners to promote our work together and reach more potential beneficiaries.
- Pursue all channels, online and offline, for sharing our adoption success stories.
- Better communicate all the ways individuals, businesses and others can support our work and mission.
- Continue to educate the public about the benefits of companion pet adoption writ large, and particularly for our nation's military veterans and their families.
- Embrace a philosophy of continuous improvement so that we are always looking for ways to serve our beneficiaries more effectively and efficiently.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
- Leverage technology to enhance our operational capabilities at the lowest possible cost; we will continue to invest/innovate in this area.
- Develop and pursue partnerships that align with our mission and goals.
- Unique program focus and expertise in the placement of hard-to-adopt companion animals with veterans.
- Dedicated staff who are each committed to outstanding service to our beneficiaries, partners, sponsors and donors.
- Independent and diverse Board of Directors that invest our organization with the requisite expertise, temperament, and passion to meet our goals.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Pets for Patriots is unique in being open to veterans at any stage of their careers and our singular focus on hard-to-adopt shelter pets. As a result we continue to receive increased demand for our program in communities across the country, large and small.
As of early 2022 we have accomplished more than 3,625 veteran-pet adoptions, saving lives at both ends of the leash.
Moving forward we will continue to invest in technologies to improve our already agile veteran application processes; continue to reduce dormancy and remove nonparticipating organizations among the more than 620 shelter and veterinarian partners in our program; share more impacts of our donors' generosity; and nurture casual website visitors into advocates for our mission.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
Our primary beneficiaries are military veterans from WWII to active duty. Our secondary beneficiaries are animal welfare organizations (shelters, rescues, etc.).
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Case management notes, Suggestion box/email, phone conversations,
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve,
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
We have continued to refine implementation of an initiative started in 2021 in which we removed a previous requirement that applicants must live within a certain distance of one of our veterinary partners. This has meaningfully increased the number of successful applicants to our program, resulting in more lives saved of both people and shelter pets. Part of the listening that led to this change uncovered that our beneficiaries wanted more choices for affordable veterinary care. In addition to our growing network of independent veterinary hospitals and clinics, we have improved communications with our veterans of the availability of two other major, national affordable veterinary care providers where they can seek quality care for their pets.
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners, Public, via social media,
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How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship?
We have always welcomed and solicited feedback, so nothing has changed in this regard.
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive,
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time, Email/survey fatigue in general,
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
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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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Pets for Patriots, Inc.
Board of directorsas of 02/22/2022
Keith Weaver
Bechtel
Term: 2016 - 2023
Beth Zimmerman
No affiliation
Keith Weaver
Bechtel
Letitia White
Innovative Federal Strategies
Marla Dicandia
FleishmanHillard
Paul Converse
Andrea Arden
Andrea Arden Dog Training
Jay Farrar
Bechtel
Shon Crewe
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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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? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
No data
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
No data
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data