Follow the Impact – Animal Welfare Edition
At our Follow-the-Impact event on November 13, three Change Maker finalists – IndyHumane, Medical Mutts Service Dogs, and FACE Low Cost Animal Clinic – summarized their agencies’ goals, the impact of our grants, and their needs for the future. Over 30 members and friends gathered at Northminster Church on November 13 for this annual event, which focuses on past finalists to understand what has happened since they received our grants. This event was unique – we heard from finalists in the Animal Welfare category who had received our unrestricted Community Support grants. Click here to learn about our grants’ process and our timetable for this year.
Lindsay McGuire, our emcee and the Impact 100 Grants Co-Chair, asked our presenters to describe their Change Maker proposal and the impact of the Community Support grant that they received.
- IndyHumane was a 2025 Change Maker finalist for their Pet Resource Center. Donna Casamento, CEO, described the Center’s purpose as a way to keep “families” together as an alternative to surrendering pets. Their Community Support grant was used to enhance the program.
- Medical Mutts was a 2024 Change Maker finalist for their Mutt Mentor program, which enlists foster families to help train service dogs. Jen Cattet, Executive Director, reported that the flexibility of the Community Support grant allowed them to pilot the mentor program and to fund veterinary care during training.
- FACE was a 2022 Change Maker finalist for their Community Cats program, which captures feral cats for spaying and vaccination. Alyssa Star Newerth, Director of Community Impact, emphasized the importance of unrestricted grants to a non-profit. FACE used the unrestricted Community Support grant to redesign their website to provide better information to the community.
Lindsay closed the program by reminding the audience that their support of Impact 100 provides the funding for our Change Maker and Community Support grants. Contributions for the 2026 awards should be made by the end of 2025. Click here to learn more about Membership and making non-Membership donations to support our grants.
