How We Can Help
We are here to directly support your work and help you save lives.
The Best Friends Network is a community of more than 5,000 shelters, rescue groups, spay/neuter organizations, and other animal welfare groups, all working to save the lives of dogs and cats in communities across the country.
We want you to be part of it!
Joining the network is free, and comes with benefits — including access to a variety of programmatic resources and experts, customized data insights, and other support to help you achieve goals and increase lifesaving impact. Organizations making an effort to increase lives saved in their shelters and communities may even qualify for special grant opportunities!
What Do You Need Help With?
The Best Friends Network team is your lifeline to support for your organization and collaboration with this community of 5,000+ shelters, rescues, and support organizations.
Find Out More
Teams of experts can help your organization identify obstacles and implement lifesaving programs and strategies.
Learn More
Looking to increase your knowledge and learn new skills? You can do it for free!
Improve Your Skills
Network partners are eligible for grants, and to participate in exclusive opportunities and challenges throughout the year.
Fundraising Help
From free data analyst support to Shelter Pet Data Alliance, together we’ll turn your data into actionable, sustainable solutions that address your largest lifesaving barriers.
Get the Details
Meet the team or connect with us on social media to stay in the loop about the lifesaving progress we’re making together — and how you can be a part of it!
Reach Out
Collaboration and Mentorship
Network Partners
The Best Friends Network is made up of thousands (and counting) of shelters, rescue groups, and other animal welfare organizations in all 50 states. Every partner in the network has one common goal: to save the lives of dogs and cats.
If you are affiliated with a 501(c)(3) public charity or municipal shelter, and are interested in becoming a network partner, find out more. Membership is free!
Learn more about becoming a Best Friends Network Partner »
Peer-to-Peer Shelter Collaboration
The Best Friends shelter collaborative program (officially named the Prince and Paws Shelter Collaborative after the beloved pets of the program’s principal investor) pairs mentors from no-kill shelters with their colleagues from shelters that aren’t yet no-kill. The peer mentors offer their expertise and support to shelter fellows to help them achieve no-kill. Best Friends provides funding to accomplish this goal, and is there to support participating mentors and fellows!
Direct Shelter and Program Support
Regional Teams
The Best Friends regional team works directly alongside shelters to help you save lives. We can help you evaluate your operations and implement practical, lifesaving solutions that lead to increased capacity and more live outcomes. Our goal is to identify and remove barriers to success while developing customized strategies that help you save more pets and have more time and resources to do it. We are your hands-on partners every step of the way, helping your shelter drive real change and sustainable results.
Learn about working with our Regional Teams »
National Shelter Support
The Best Friends national shelter support team offers opportunities for agencies looking to improve their animal control services and/or shelter operations, create an ideal balance between public safety and animal protection, and improve their agency's reputation through community programs. We offer operational assessments, trainings, and support to help create and sustain successful animal welfare operations for all types and sizes of communities throughout the country.
National Shelter Embed Program
Through the national shelter embed program, made possible in part by a grant from Maddie’s Fund®, Best Friends staff members are placed in agencies across the country to work side-by-side implementing proven lifesaving strategies that will guide them to achieve no-kill status. These short-term, program-specific embeds are backed by a diverse array of subject matter experts, and are designed to help partner organizations accomplish lifesaving outcomes that would normally take years in just months. Support almost always involves direct funding.
Meet our National Embed Program Team »
National Shelter Medicine Team
The Best Friends National Shelter Medicine program provides customized medical support for animal welfare agencies across the country to increase their lifesaving. With a team of experienced veterinarians and veterinary technicians, this team brings years of shelter medicine and operations expertise to the movement. No matter the size of the organization or current veterinary capacity, this group can help shelter teams save more lives!
Training and Education
Explore by Topic
Want to learn more about fundraising? Community cats? Fostering? Return-to-home programs? Interested in diving into advocacy and legislation, adoptions, marketing, HR and staff development, or disease prevention? Our free educational resources include online courses, playbooks, handbooks, manuals, webinars, and many other tools— with new content being added all the time to help you learn, grow, implement best practices, and save animals’ lives.
Learning Advancement
With our courses offered in partnership with Southern Utah University, you can transform your passion for helping dogs and cats into professional growth. Whether you’re an experienced animal services professional looking to grow your career or new to the field, the partnership between Best Friends and Southern Utah University offers unique online learning opportunities in contemporary animal services tailored to fit your needs — from degree programs to professional certifications and credentials. Some scholarships are available!
View courses offered in partnership with Southern Utah University »
Grants and Fundraising Opportunities
Challenges and Events
Best Friends Network Partners are eligible to participate in events and other challenges throughout the year — national initiatives to encourage innovations that increase adoptions, transfers and partnerships, returns-to-home, and other lifesaving practices. Events and challenges come with support and grant opportunities, for participants whose data is current in Shelter Pet Data Alliance.
See our current challenges and events »
Rachael Ray No-Kill Excellence Grants and Rachael Ray Save Them All Grants
The Rachael Ray Foundation™️ and Best Friends are dedicated to helping our network partners save more pets in your communities through impactful programming. Every year, there are two types of grants exclusively open to network partners, but you must select only one to apply for. The Rachael Ray Save Them All grants fund projects to reduce the lifesaving gap of cats and dogs in U.S. shelters. The Rachael Ray No-Kill Excellence grants celebrate no-kill groups that are leading the movement through innovation partnerships, mentorships, and progressive collaborations within their community.
How to Use Your Data
Research and Tools
Understanding national trends and your organization’s data will help you make informed decisions to improve your programs and target your resources to ultimately save more lives. We’ve compiled the latest research and tools to help you easily integrate data into your operations.
Individual Data Analysis Support
Best Friends Network Partners on Shelter Pet Data Alliance can request one-on-one time with our data analysts to review your data and provide a better understanding of your reports. Together, we will turn your data into actionable, sustainable solutions that address your largest lifesaving barriers!
Have you joined Shelter Pet Data Alliance yet?
Stay Connected
Let’s be friends!
Connect with us on social media to stay in the loop about the lifesaving progress we’re making together.
