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Louisiana
Pet Overpopulation Council - Awareness Grants
Louisiana's 'Animal Friendly'
license plate was created to help local
charities, animal shelters and veterinarians
provide urgently needed pet sterilization
programs for Louisiana residents on public
assistance. Under state law, proceeds from
sale of these plates are to be used to fund
low-cost spay and neuter programs. The funds
are distributed by the Louisiana Pet
Overpopulation Council, a state board
comprised of representatives of humane organizations,
animal shelters, elected officials, veterinarians
and concerned citizens.
For the license plate program to be as
successful as it has been in other states—raising
hundreds of thousands of dollars for pet
sterilizations and significantly cutting
shelter euthanasia rates—animal lovers
across Louisiana must be encouraged to purchase
their own 'Animal Friendly' plates!
To help spread the word, the Louisiana
Pet Overpopulation Council has designed
an initial grant program to increase public
awareness of the 'Animal Friendly' license
plate. The Outreach Grants for low-cost
pet sterilizations will be awarded to the
qualified Louisiana non-profit which best
promotes the 'Animal Friendly' license plate,
between November 1, 2009 and January
31, 2010.
Through our collective promotional efforts,
more plates will be sold across Louisiana,
making more funds available for future grant
distributions.
The grant funds awarded from the competition
must specifically be used for providing
low-cost pet sterilizations. Applicants
must describe their existing and proposed
sterilization program. All applicants are
responsible for any costs associated with
their outreach and marketing initiatives.
As such, applicants are encouraged to take
advantage of no or low cost mediums for
increasing public awareness, such as existing
newsletters, web sites, letters to the editor,
PSAs, press interviews and more. Applicants
are also encouraged to use creative new
methods for getting the word out about the
'Animal Friendly' plates. Documentation
of the applicant's outreach activities is
required.
RESOURCES
The Pet Overpopulation Council is
developing tools to aid applicants in their
efforts, which will be available beginning
November 1, 2009 on our web site, www.lapetplate.org.
Visit our website starting November 1,
2009 to see how you can create a great
awareness program. You will be able to download
fliers and brochures from the site and customize
them, for your own organization. Additionally,
we will record a professional public service
announcement, that you can distribute to
radio stations in your community.
Please don't hesitate to create your own
in-house documents, educational materials,
t-shirts or any other tools you might find
beneficial for promoting the 'Animal Friendly'
plate!
Applicants wishing to share their materials
available to others at the conclusion of
the competition are encouraged to submit
them to us. It is our hope that applicants
will collectively help to create effective
new tools for promoting the 'Animal Friendly'
plate, which we'll be able to make easily
available online.
COMPETITION
RULES
To enter the competition, applicants must
complete, sign and return the application
form to us, along with required supporting
materials. The supporting materials required
are listed at the end of the application
form.
All applications must be postmarked no
later than January 31, 2010.
Awards will be announced on March 31,
2010.
Winners will be confirmed by a majority
vote of the full Council.
Applicants will be scored on three criteria:
1) Overall effectiveness of promotional
campaign
2) Diversity of methods used to promote
the plate
3) Creativity
The publicity or outreach efforts undertaken
will be considered in light of the resources
available to the individual applicant.
Finally, we realize that all of our potential
applicants are busy aiding animals in need,
so we intend to keep grant guidelines and
reporting requirements as simple as possible!
If you have any questions, please contact
us at 1-888-6-HUMANE or info@lapetplate.org.
No agencies, shelters or individuals serving
on the Pet Overpopulation Council
shall be eligible to participate in the
competition.
GRANT AWARDS
Utilizing those funds, the Council will
award two initial grants.
The awards will be as follows:
First Place -
$1,500
Second Place - $1,000
GRANT
DOCUMENTATION
Any funds awarded must be used for direct
costs associated with new pet sterilization
programs for qualified Louisiana residents.
Winners must submit documentation of the
expenditure of the funds for their qualified
program by May 31, 2010.
Good luck to all applicants and thank
you for your tireless efforts
to fight pet overpopulation in the state
of Louisiana!
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