FIRST TIME IN FIVE YEARS, THE COMPANION ANIMAL CAPITAL FUND HAS BEEN INCLUDED IN EXECUTIVE BUDGET
Statement from Libby Post, Executive Director of the New York State Animal Protection Federation:
“Governor Hochul’s commitment to New York’s homeless companion animals and the network of shelters that care for them was made abundantly clear when she included $5M in her first executive budget for the Companion Animal Companion Fund. Thank you Governor Hochul.
“Federation members from across the state asked the Governor to take act—and she did. The Governor recognizes the important work animal shelters provide to their animals and their communities. We will now work with CACF champions Assemblymember Deborah Glick and Senator Joseph Addabbo to have the legislature include their $5M appropriation to bring the Fund to a total of $10M.”
Facts about the Companion Animal Capital Fund:
- The Fund has been included in each budget since FY18, except for FY21 (COVID budget) through a legislative appropriation
- The State has now invested $20M in shelter capital projects
- Three rounds of funding have been granted to 38 shelters across New York
- The RFP for FY21 funding cycle is due January 25, 2022
- The Federation’s annual capital needs survey found there are 34 shelters across the state with capital needs of $217,155,634
- The CACF is a matching program—shelters must match either 25% or 50% of project cost based on the number of municipalities the shelter serves
- CACF grants have kick-started multi-million dollar capital campaigns to build new shelters—both Susquehanna SPCA in Cooperstown and the SPCA of Westchester received $500,000 grants which were seen as stamps of approval by their philanthropic communities. Each opened their new shelters in 2021.
- The Federation’s Education Fund provides low-cost grant writers for Federation members.
