In 2025, Lady Freethinker’s Urgent Need Fund (UNF) helped change the lives of animals worldwide by awarding a record-breaking over $100,000 to 11 extraordinary nonprofit organizations.
Since launching in 2021, the UNF program has distributed more than $360,000 to support projects focused on animal rescue, care, or awareness initiatives aimed at improving the treatment of animals.
This year’s grant recipients include a donkey sanctuary in Arizona adding fencing and shade to a new enclosure, a rescue in Albania leading an anti-poisoning campaign for street animals, and a sanctuary in India expanding its spay/neuter and vaccination services with a new animal ambulance.
We are only able to assist these vital projects thanks to the generosity of our supporters. Thank you for helping make the world a better place for animals!
Click here to learn more about the program.
And now, meet the 2025 Urgent Need Fund grant winners:
1. Animals Need Me
Beba the Dog (Lady Freethinker)
Dedicated to improving the future for animals in Albania, rescue organization Animals Need Me operates a shelter, provides urgent medical care and rehabilitation, conducts sterilization and vaccination campaigns, and facilitates international adoptions. The organization also delivers education programs, advocates for legislative reform, and created Albania’s first companion animal registration app to help support responsible animal guardianship.
Animals Need Me received a $10,000 grant to support a two-month anti-poisoning campaign for stray animals, featuring TV ads, banners, humane education in schools, and workshops with officials that highlight the devastating effects of animal poisoning and promote humane population-management alternatives. With this aid, they’ll advocate for systemic change towards increased compassion for animals in Albania.
2. Misfits of Oz Farm Sanctuary
Olive the Pig (Courtesy of Misfits of Oz)
Misfits of Oz Farm Sanctuary in Oklahoma provides refuge for nearly 60 animals rescued from abandonment and mistreatment, with an emphasis on helping last-chance and special needs animals. The rescue group recently received a flurry of animals in need of urgent care and desperately needed a safe, clean space to allow for their medical treatment and recovery.
The farmed animal sanctuary was awarded a $10,000 grant that supported the construction of a three-building medical campus for the pigs, dogs, cats, goats, and sheep in their care. The expanded facilities are allowing the group to rescue even more animals — thanks to the aid of the Urgent Need Fund.
3. New Leash On Life
Wonder Bread the Cat (Lady Freethinker)
Tennessee-based rescue New Leash on Life operates a shelter, conducts spay/neuter campaigns, maintains a pet food pantry, and provides humane education programs. Supporting the middle Tennessee area, the organization serves over 7,000 animals annually, many through their food and supplies program, which keeps animals in their homes and out of shelters.
New Leash on Life received a $10,000 grant that enabled them to expand their Crisis Paw Pantry, which provides emergency pet food, medical care, essential supplies, and support for families in crisis. Over 500 families will receive aid for their companion animals every month, thanks to this funding.
4. Baw Baw Animal Welfare
Tippy the Dog (Lady Freethinker)
Baw Baw Animal Welfare, an organization working in Sri Lanka, feeds strays, rescues domestic animals, operates a sanctuary for many disabled residents, and conducts ongoing spay/neuter campaigns. In addition, their special farmed animal rescue program saves the lives of those bound for slaughter, placing these animals on farms where they can live the rest of their lives in peace.
The rescue group was awarded a $10,000 grant to provide 300 spay and neuter surgeries, rescue and treat more than 80 homeless animals, and educate hundreds of residents on responsible companion animal guardianship — all in an area with limited access to affordable veterinary care and a significant homeless animal population — to make a long-term difference for Sri Lanka’s animals.
5. Chloe’s Fund
Ripley the Dog (Lady Freethinker)
An all-volunteer group in Alabama, Chloe’s Fund partners with local animal services to help place shelter animals in homes and fund their veterinary care. With capacity at animal shelters overwhelming caregivers, the organization plays a vital role in easing the financial burden of needed veterinary care, aiding over 100 animals annually.
Chloe’s Fund received a $5,000 grant to cover veterinary expenses for approximately 12 shelter animals and companions of low-income families, helping prevent euthanasia and reduce shelter intake. By keeping companion animals with their families and providing crucial care to homeless animals, the funds are truly saving lives.
6. Mission Compassion Paw
Lucy the Dog (Lady Freethinker)
Chicago-based rescue Mission Compassion Paw finds homes for animals, specializing in those who may have more trouble being adopted, such as pit bulls, very large breeds, bonded pairs, seniors, or those with major medical issues or in hospice care. The organization also provides food and supplies and offers low-cost veterinary care and spay/neuter services for animals of struggling families in need of support.
Mission Compassion Paw was awarded a $10,000 grant to host three food and supply clinics and three sterilization and vaccination clinics to help over 150 animals to stay in their loving homes by making care affordable for low-income guardians.
7. Donkey Dreams Sanctuary
Pegasus Herd (Lady Freethinker)
Powered by volunteers, Donkey Dreams in Arizona is a sanctuary offering care to more than 100 wild burros and donkeys rescued from slaughter and roundups, ensuring they have a lifelong home. The rescue focuses specifically on keeping animal families together, understanding that remaining in their herd is of utmost importance to bonded groups.
The sanctuary received a $9,982 grant to provide fencing and shade for an enclosure for 11 donkeys — including five babies — rescued from a California roundup. The donkey family, slated to be divided up after capture, will now live their lives together in peace and comfort at Donkey Dreams.
8. Help in Suffering
Dona the Dog (Lady Freethinker)
How can stray dogs receive care in a rural region of India that lacks access to veterinary facilities? Help in Suffering is aiding these animals with a project funded by a UNF grant from Lady Freethinker.
Help in Suffering operates a sanctuary in Jaipur, providing shelter and veterinary care for companion, farmed, and wild animals as well as a specialized Camel Rescue Center. The organization dispatches animal ambulances, facilitates animal adoptions, and offers humane education programs in local schools.
They were awarded a $10,000 grant for a new animal ambulance that will allow them to sterilize and vaccinate street dogs in a rural area with a large stray dog population and very limited access to veterinary care. As the group responds to over 25,000 rescue calls annually, the new vehicle will allow them to save even more animals needing urgent care.
9. Little Paws Big Hearts
Gingy the Kitten (Lady Freethinker)
As the only veterinary care available within a 48-square-mile radius, Little Paws Big Hearts in South Africa offers vital services for animals in low-income areas. The rescue operates biweekly veterinary clinics and food stations and responds to animal emergencies.
The organization received an $8,522.65 grant to sterilize and vaccinate 350 dogs and cats in impoverished communities, and to educate families there about responsible animal companion care. Thanks to this critical funding, animals in this veterinary desert will receive the care they desperately need.
10. Liberia Animal Welfare and Conservation Society
Stray Cat at Feeding Station (Courtesy of Liberia Animal Welfare and Conservation Society)
West African advocacy organization Liberia Animal Welfare and Conservation Society provides mobile veterinary and spay/neuter services as well as feeding stations, promotes wildlife protection and farmed animal welfare, and offers humane education to the local community.
The rescue group was awarded a $10,000 grant to deliver mobile veterinary care to 1,200 animals in impoverished communities, provide spay and neuter services for 200 animals, feed hungry dogs and cats, offer community education, and train 20 community volunteers. By empowering local citizens, the organization can ensure that animals in the community will have continued monitoring and care for the long-term.
11. Foreverland Farm
Biscuit & Toby the Donkeys (Lady Freethinker)
Foreverland Farm is an Ohio sanctuary providing permanent refuge and rehabilitation for more than 100 discarded, abused, and slaughter-bound farmed animals. By sharing the stories of the incredible perseverance of these survivors of animal cruelty, the organization aims to foster a world of compassion.
When the sanctuary learned of two donkeys with hooves so overgrown that they could hardly walk, the group was compelled to save the animals, despite not having sufficient long-term space. Lady Freethinker’s UNF program provided a $9,500 grant to build a shelter and pasture at Foreverland Farm, ensuring that the sanctuary can provide care to more animals for years to come.
Lady Freethinker is honored to enable these amazing organizations to protect and care for vulnerable animals in communities across the globe — and none of it would be possible without the incredible support of LFT’s community of compassion.
We are deeply grateful to our supporters for making this life-changing work possible!
