Animal Victory began with something deeply personal:
I have an overwhelming passion to stop animal abuse.
It’s a feeling I could no longer ignore.

When I first stepped into this world, I had no idea how broken the system truly was.
In 2024, Americans donated $592 billion to charity — yet animals aren’t even given their own category.
They’re grouped with the environment under “Animals & Environment,” which receives only
7.7% of all giving.

That means only about $45.6 billion goes to both sectors combined.
When separated, animals receive an estimated $18.2 billion.

But here is the truth that changed everything for me:

How Funding Really Flows

Approximately 87% of all animal-related donations go to the top 1–5% of the largest organizations.

There are approximately 25,000–30,000 animal welfare and animal rights organizations in the United States.
When you remove the top 1–5% that receive almost all the money, that leaves:

23,750–28,500 organizations sharing only $1.8 billion total.

That breaks down to roughly:
$63,000–$75,000 per organization per year.

For tens of thousands of small rescues… that amount is simply impossible.

Giving Data Source

To understand the financial imbalance in the animal welfare sector, I rely on national charitable giving data published annually by Giving USA.
You can view the 2024 report here:

View Giving USA 2024 Data

The Part No One Talks About

There are thousands of credible, sustainable small organizations doing the hardest work in animal welfare.
Real work. Unseen work. The work that keeps this entire system standing.

These organizations are:

• pulling animals from cruelty
• stopping backyard breeding
• running trap-neuter-return programs
• rehabilitating the neglected
• responding to emergencies
• feeding the hungry
• bottle-feeding abandoned babies
• comforting the traumatized
• taking in the elderly, the broken, and the unwanted

Manpower is not the issue.
There are people everywhere — in every town, in every rural pocket of America — doing the work with their own hands,
trying to stop dogs and cats from reproducing (which is the #2 cause of abuse).

And yet…

Unless a rescue is operated by a city or county government, it receives no government funding.
Independent rescues — the overwhelming majority — survive entirely on private donations.

They are the backbone of animal welfare.
And they are the most underfunded.

Without them, all the funding in the world wouldn’t matter — because there would be no one doing the work.

Why I Created Animal Victory

I founded Animal Victory with three clear purposes:

• To create awareness about abuse.
• To help solve the problem long-term.
• To fund the small, credible, sustainable organizations doing the heavy work.

And I founded it with full intention:
I wanted to build something that made money so I could give it away to those who need it most.

My turning point came in July 2015, when Cecil the Lion was killed.
I wanted to donate $5 to someone helping, but I couldn’t find a place to give.
The small rescues and conservation groups doing the real work were invisible online.

Then Jimmy Kimmel raised $750,000 overnight for a major institution.
And I realized:

Small organizations weren’t lacking passion. They were lacking visibility.

That realization lit a fire in me.
The years that followed were filled with trial, error, financial losses, and relentless determination.
And then something changed — something that shifted the entire trajectory of Animal Victory.

When Penny and I Joined Forces

Eventually, I reached out to my close friend Penny, a talented journalist, researcher, and writer with a long-standing reputation
for truthful, compassionate reporting in the animal welfare space.

We realized something important:

We each had a unique set of skills — and strong reputations — that, when combined, could finally make the Animal Victory model work.

• Penny brought credibility, storytelling power, investigative detail, and media experience.
• I brought business strategy, operational strength, fundraising vision, and the big-picture mission.

Separately, we were each making small ripples.
Together, we could create a movement.

Animal Victory is what it is today because we combined our strengths, our voices, our experience, and our reputations —
all in service of the animals and the smaller rescues who desperately needed a platform.

What I Believe

Animal Victory exists because of one unwavering belief:

If we give small rescues a voice, animals get justice.
If we give small rescue funding, animals get saved.
If we give small rescues visibility, the entire system changes.

My mission is simple:

To lift up the thousands of underfunded organizations that are the true heroes of animal welfare,
and ensure they finally receive the support, stability, and respect they deserve.

This is why I do this work.
This is why Animal Victory exists.
And this is the world I’m fighting to build —
a world where animals are respected, protected, and valued.