Colorado Pet Pantry
A food bank for family pets
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
In times of financial distress, many pet owners and families are faced with the heart-breaking decision to give up their pets because they can't afford the expenses any longer. Colorado Pet Pantry was created to provide pet food for owners facing economic hardship, with the goal of keeping beloved pets out of shelters and with their families. Even when a family has employment, the sudden absence of an income through health problems, death, or change in employment status can take an otherwise stable family into the depths of poverty. Inability to purchase pet food and accessories is one of the main reasons that animal shelters report that people relinquish their pets. In fact the Dumb Friends League in Denver, CO, states that re-homing a pet costs on average $500 due to costs for food, housing, training, and veterinary care. Keeping pets in their homes with families that already love them is in the best interest of the pets themselves, families, communities, and animal shelters.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Pet Food Banks
The Colorado Pet Pantry holds monthly pet food banks throughout the state of Colorado. The pet food banks are held in partnership with human food banks and other organizations that directly help families with low or no income.
Animal Welfare Share Program
The Colorado Pet Pantry manages and houses the Animal Welfare Share Program. This program allows the Colorado Pet Pantry pet food bank and many local animal welfare organizations to share supplies which are in surplus. Many times an organization will receive donated supplies in large quantities and this program allows them to share with other like-minded groups so that all groups are more efficient with donor-dollars. (Ex. a large-breed dog rescue will receive cat collars.)
Emergency Pet Food Assistance
The Emergency Pet Food Assistance Program assists families that need help with pet food before the next nearby monthly pet food bank in Colorado to help people obtain pet food until the next monthly pet food bank. We work with partners to make this program possible, and these emergency locations can only help one time per year.
Where we work
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Average number of service recipients per month
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Unemployed people, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Pet Food Banks
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This is the number of pets that received a month's worth of food each month.
Total number of organization members
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Animal Welfare Share Program
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This is the number of animal welfare organizations participating in the Animal Welfare Share Program which Colorado Pet Pantry manages and houses.
Number of animals with freedom from hunger and thirst
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Unemployed people, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Pet Food Banks
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This is the number of dogs and cats that received a month's worth of pet food in each year.
Number of animals with freedom from fear and distress
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Unemployed people
Related Program
Pet Food Banks
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This is the number of dogs and cats that were fed for a month and able to stay in their homes, allowing their loving families to keep them healthy and happy. (some pets get food over multiple months)
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
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?
The Colorado Pet Pantry's goal is to help families avoid relinquishing their pets to shelters if the human-animal bond is still strong. The pet food bank helps families to feed their pets and keep these loved pets in their homes. In 2021, the organization fed 100,000 pets for one full month* via 103 monthly pet food banks throughout the state of Colorado, which equates to 6 million meals. Each family may come to the pet food bank once every two months, covering about 50% of their pet food needs. The goal is to assist with pet food, but not for the family to take pet food off of its budget.
Within the effort to reduce the number of pets in the animal shelters, we also work with Spay Today and Dumb Friends League to offer spay/neuter waivers to families that are otherwise unable to spay/neuter their pets.
The Colorado Pet Pantry also assists local animal welfare organizations** to feed pets and get/give other needed supplies as part of the Animal Welfare Share Program. The Program is a centralized donation hub (located in Englewood, CO) to streamline, economize, and make the process of getting donations to the organizations that need them more efficient.
* Please note: not PER month, but for one month during a year
** PACFA-licensed animal rescue groups with spay/neuter required pre-adoption, low-cost spay/neuter organizations, and low or no-cost veterinary clinics
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Over the first nine years, the organization grew to 103 monthly pet food banks throughout Colorado serving about 100,000 pets (food for a month) in 2021. The Colorado Pet Pantry (CPP) started the Emergency Pet Food Assistance Program in late 2016 and the Animal Welfare Share Program in April 2017 to fill some gaps and needs that were identified during the prior years.
Description of Programs:
1. Pet Food Banks: Within the program we serve people in two ways:
a. Open to the Public Pet Food Banks: To reach our clients, the CPP partners with local food banks to leverage clients that are already vetted (reducing administrative work) and participating in human food bank services. CPP distributes out of each human food bank partner location once monthly. In addition, because the CPP supplements human food banks with pet food, the human food banks have more confidence that their food and donor dollars are affecting humans and not being passed to the families'; pets in times of hardship.
b. Mini Food Banks: These pet food bank distributions target low- income housing facilities (typically for people with disabilities and elderly lacking transportation), members of community programs for the homeless and very low-income, and low-income community college programs.
2. Emergency Pet Food Assistance Program: In late 2016, CPP began working with local animal shelters to facilitate an emergency pet food program to cover the gap until clients can get to a monthly pet food bank location. Eight Front Range animal shelters are participating in the coordinated effort.
3. Animal Welfare Share Program: In April 2017, CPP launched a share program for groups to pick up and drop off valuable donated items. This program allows all local animal nonprofits organizations to be more efficient with their donor dollars and storage space. CPP created and maintains an inventory website, set up a secure space within its warehouse, and fully manages the program.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The Colorado Pet Pantry has 10 employees and 740 volunteers who pick up pet food donations, sort the donations, build the packing list of supplies that go to each pet food bank location, run the pet food bank locations, manage the Emergency Pet Food Assistance Program, and manage the Animal Welfare Share Program.
The organization has pet food drive bins in 100+ local pet food stores, grooming shops, and veterinary clinics. Additionally, the Colorado Pet Pantry has strong relationships with local pet food manufacturers and pet food distributors which greatly support the program with mass pet food donations.
The organization has built a solid set of policies and procedures which incorporate efficiency with compassion. We perform regular evaluations and check-ins with the many partners that support the programs to ensure that the programs evolve and adapt whenever necessary.
Financially, the Colorado Pet Pantry has grown significantly since its inception through individual donations, corporate sponsorships, and grants, which has allowed it to strategically expand when resources (fund, volunteers, food) are growing as a group.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Colorado Pet Pantry is now in its 9th year, and has pet food banks in many towns throughout Colorado. The stability, structure, and strength of the organization has been vital in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation affecting people's livelihoods, and world events. The organization has grown significantly to address the growing need for assistance in Colorado to help pets stay with their families. Animal shelters, human food banks, case and social workers, and animal control officers alike all refer clients to Colorado Pet Pantry.
Here's an example of our goal everyday:
German Shepard Lucien and her family walked into the Dumb Friends League, a local animal shelter, with tears in their eyes saying they regretfully needed to surrender their beloved dog. The staff at the shelter asked a few questions, ultimately realizing the issue all came down to food. The family was going through hard times. Being as Lucien was not the only pet in the family, and she was the one that needed the most food, the tough decision was made to surrender her so that another family could love and properly care for her.
But Lucien already had a loving family.
The staff member at DFL handed Lucien's family a Colorado Pet Pantry flyer, and there was a pet food bank the very next day. The family had never heard of the pet food bank, but it was the answer that solved their most heart-breaking problem.
They could now keep their family together.
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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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 identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, 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 demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), 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, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
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.
Colorado Pet Pantry
Board of directorsas of 04/19/2023
Peter Mason
Eileen Lambert
Colorado Pet Pantry
Peter Mason
Edge of Seven
Mindy Armbruster
PEBC- Public Education & Business Coalition
Tina Maglio Johnson
Encana
Kristen Hillier
RealPage, Inc.
Nicholas Podrasky
Houndabout & Tessera Marketing
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? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
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? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.
Equity strategies
Last updated: 03/18/2022GuideStar 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
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- 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.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- 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.