The 2026 Foster Forward Challenge

In June 2026, the Best Friends Network challenged partners to Foster Forward. This initiative was designed to get more cats and dogs into foster homes, empowering shelters and rescues to save more pets.

More than 20,100 pets found foster homes during the challenge period, and over $178,000 in grants were awarded to keep this progress going! 

Thanks to the dedication of participating rescues and shelters, this challenge did more than move pets into foster care. It built lasting foster infrastructure for communities working toward no-kill. Organizations were equipped with practices and tools to boost recruitment of foster families, better support high-need pets, and remove bottlenecks standing in the way of pets being adopted.

How did they do it? 

Explore the resources, materials, and new operations that challenge participants used to achieve these remarkable results. Whether you’re looking for inspiration or ready to implement some proven strategies, we’ve got the tools to help you make an impact on your community.  

• Downloadable Guide: Foster Forward 2026 Operations Guide
• Downloadable Guide: Foster Forward 2026 Marketing Guide
• Downloadable Materials: Foster Forward 2026 Press Release Template
• Downloadable Materials: Foster Forward Challenge 2025 Creative Templates and Resources for Your Foster Programs

What they did:  

During the Foster Forward Challenge, participating organizations collaborated with local shelters and their community, implementing new programs and practices such as:  

• Asking kitten finders to foster them until they could be spayed or neutered, keeping litters out of rescue and keeping them healthier
• Creating online orientations to raise awareness of fostering opportunities, with advertising on social media to recruit volunteers  
• Encouraging fosters to become more involved with marketing foster pets, facilitating meet and greets that gave potential adopters the chance to talk with the people who know these animals best — their fosters
• Starting foster day dates, where people could take a foster dog for the day or even a couple of hours
• Adding special foster training for supporting anxious, nervous and reactive dogs
• Offering short-term foster and foster-to-adopt programs that allowed animals to spend time outside the shelter and gave families a chance to see if an animal would be a good fit before making a permanent commitment  
• Creating a virtual foster program that matched social media users with physical fosters to promote adoptable dogs online  
• Launching Humane Hearts Rescue Workshops, a series of informative, interactive workshops for children in grades K-5, with a central workshop activity that teaches kids about fostering   
   

Congratulations to our grant recipients! 

Greatest percentage of improvement in total animals fostered:   

• Butte Humane Society
• Humane Society Of St. Lucie County
• PopFix
• The Sato Project
• Weird Rescue

Participating organization grant recipients:  

• 4 Paws 4 Ever
• Abandoned Animal Rescue
• Acadiana Animal Aid
• Ace of Hearts Dog Rescue
• Almost Home Canine Rescue
• Animal A.I.D. Of Mississippi
• Animal Friends, Inc.
• Animal Protective League Springfield & Sangamon CO
• Animal Rescue Connections
• Animal Services Center Of The Mesilla Valley
• Animal Shelter of Northeast Nebraska
• Animal Welfare Society
• Anna's Angels Dog Rescue
• Appalachian Pug Rescue
• ASTRO Foundation
• Averting CAT-astrophe, Inc
• Badass Animal Rescue
• Baltimore Humane Society
• Beaumont Pets Alive
• Big Lake Humane Society
• Blue Angels Advocacy & Rescue Resource
• Bluefeather Horse Sanctuary And Misfit Mustangs
• BnR's Rock n' Rescue
• Brave Hearts Rescue
• Butte Humane Society
• Capital Area Animal Welfare Society
• Carin' About The Strays, Inc.
• Cat Haven
• Char-Wills German Shepherd Rescue
• CHARM Rescue
• Compassionate Canine Society
• Contra Costa Humane Society
• Country Acres Rescue
• Cuddle Cat Rescue
• Daisy's Legacy
• Dog Rescue Ranch
• Eleventh Hour Rescue
• Ellen M Gifford Sheltering Home
• Emerald Coast Pet Rescue
• Fayette Friends of Animals
• Fayette Humane Society
• Feline Matchmakers
• Fetching Hearts Rescue
• Forgotten Dogs Animal Rescue
• Freedombridgeanimalrescue-NC
• Friends of Coos County Animals, Inc.
• Friends of Rescue Animals
• Friends with Four Paws Foundation
• Furget Me Not
• Fuzzy Texan Animal Rescue
• Garlic City Kitty Rescue
• Gateway Pet Guardians
• Good Mews Animal Foundation
• Grammy Rose Dog Rescue & Sanctuary
• Granville County Animal Control
• Gray Muzzle Society
• Great Lakes Bay Animal Society
• Greenville Humane Society
• Gulf Coast Humane Society
• H.E.A.R.T. Rescue
• Hamilton County Animal AdvoCATes
• Hands to Paws
• Happy Hills Animal Foundation, Inc.
• Happy Tails Adoption Center
• Hardin County Animal Care and Control
• Heart of Texas Partners in Animal Welfare Services Hot-Paws
• Helen Sanders Catpaws
• Helping Strays of Monroe County
• Homebound Hounds
• Homeless Tails
• Huey's Rescue
• Humane Society Of Indianapolis
• Humane Society Of North Texas
• Humane Society Of St. Lucie County
• Lake Oconee Humane Society
• Lending Paws A Hand Inc
• Lifeline Pet Rescue
• Lone Star Pawz
• Long Way Home Adoptables
• Louie's Legacy Animal Rescue
• Lucky Dog Animal Rescue
• Luna Farms Inc.
• Make A Stand Bully Rescue
• Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center
• Mended Paws Sanctuary
• Meow and Forever Cat Rescue
• Mercy Full Project
• Metro East Humane Society
• Mutts N Such Rescue
• Nassau Humane Society
• Nexus Animals
• Notorious D.O.G. Dog Rescue
• Oklahoma Humane Society
• Oklahoma Pet Collective Society
• Oracle Animal Rescue & Rehabilitation Inc.
• Orphan Angels Cat Sanctuary and Adoption Center
• Partners for Pets
• Passion for Pitties
• Paws and Claws Cat Rescue
• Pender County Humane Society
• Perfectly Imperfect Pups
• Pet Friends
• Pet Protectors League
• Pets Bring Joy
• Pets of Ohio Rescue Team
• Pip's Rescue Pack
• Pits and Tits
• PopFix
• Ranch Paws Rescue
• Real Good Rescue
• Rescue 330
• Rescue Pets of Florida Inc
• Rescue Texas Resources
• Salem Friends of Felines
• San Antonio Feral Cat Coalition
• Sanctuary Park Rescue
• Safehaven Humane Society
• S.A.V.E. Rescue Coalition
• Saving Paws Animal Rescue of KY
• Scott County Humane Society, Inc.
• Scruffy Tails Humane Society
• Second Chance Animal Services
• Shadow Cats TNR Inc.
• Shelter from the Storm Animal Rescue Inc
• Smitten With the Kittens
• Southern Counties Rescue
• SPCA Florida
• SPCA of Texas
• Special Pals
• Spicy Whiskers Cat Rescue
• SpokAnimal
• St. Francis Society, Inc.
• Standish Humane Society
• Stephens County Humane Society
• Stray Cat Blues, Inc.
• Surf City Kitties Rescue
• Team Memphis Rescue & Support
• Texas Animal Society
• Texas CARES
• The Cat Lounge Rescue and Adoption Center
• The Catcade Inc.
• The Feline Society of Ruston
• The Little Ones Animal Center
• The Sato Project
• The SICSA Pet Adoption and Wellness Center
• Three Little Pitties Rescue
• Tiny Miracles Kitten Rescue
• Tiny N Tall Rescue, Inc.
• Tri-city animal sanctuary
• Underdog Pet Rescue of Wisconsin, Inc.
• Watching over Whiskers
• Weird Rescue
• Westfield Homeless Cat Project
• Wild Blue Cats
• Woof Animal Rescue
• Wright Way Rescue
• Ziva Dog Rescue