What an amazing race!  We are so very grateful to all the wonderful calendar dogs who participated (and of course, their families who did all the vote-raising!). Our grand total of 15,721 votes is a terrific achievement!  Our BIG THREE are: BIRDIE, BAILEY and MARLO who will be raking in prizes and placements in the calendar.

We couldn’t have asked for more photogenic stars!

These three will be interviewed on WFAA’s Daybreak with Kara Sewell (full disclosure, Kara is Bailey’s mom) very soon.

Birdie will grace the cover of the 2021 Tiny Dog Calendar and Bailey and Marlo can choose the month where the portrait will be featured.   A big shout out to PET SUPPLIES PLUS  and ODYSSEY PETS for providing generous gifts for the 1st and 2nd place winners –and to Carrabba’s  Italian Grill for providing the $100 gift certificate for our 3rd place winner.

Please join us in congratulating ALL THE DOGS who participated. The top 13 vote-getters are next year’s calendar dogs, but all 21 contestants worked hard to raise money for animal rescue charities in our DFW area.  They’re all STARS – and we couldn’t be more grateful.  Stay tuned for information about where and when to purchase the calendars!

https://wfaa.com/embeds/video/287-292e6396-7b83-471e-aec0-15d57df614f5/iframe?jwsource=cl

Watch for us on Daybreak with Kara Sewell and her dog, Bailey every Monday during the contest and buy some votes to save some lives!

We’re almost ready to start counting votes!  Don’t be left out — even if your dog isn’t in the race, you can still pick a favorite and watch her win! Last year we raised $20,000 and we hope to beat it by a wide margin for 2020.

We’ll be voting online, here:  https://artists-for-animals.square.site/   and starting August 2nd, we’ll publish the results on Facebook and Instagram.  So tell your friends and let’s get busy and save some lives!

It’s almost time to start the voting in the Tiny Dog Calendar contest for 2021!  Each summer we duck out of the heat and spend some days photographing dogs in the Teresa Berg Photography studio for an annual fundraising event for Artists for Animals. Click to view the organizations we supported with grants last year.

How is it a fundraiser?  We raise money for homeless animals by selling votes online! Each vote costs $1 and all the voting proceeds go to the Artists for Animals Community Grant program.  Local animal rescue groups can fill out a form telling AFA what they need the money for, and the Board votes and sends out checks. This program was born out of the realization that there are many many animal rescue organizations in our area and they all need help.  Most are too small to even have time and volunteers to run effective fundraising programs.  Yet they are all out there every single day saving lives.  The bigger groups like the SPCA and ASPCA have a staff of experts that do nothing but raise money — but it takes more than one or two organizations to save all the homeless pets in our area.

So we started selling votes!  Only 13 dogs can win, so we take the top 13 vote-getters  and publish our calendar every fall.  Last year we raised a hair short of $20,000.  This year, the need is even greater as so many of the other fundraising activities that normally take place have been canceled due to the Corona virus.  So AFA is stepping up it’s game.

Watch for instructions on voting which begins August 1st!

We are slow in posting our thanks. Because of the Covid19 quarantine and all the surrounding scheduling upsets we have taken a little extra time to settle all of the finances and do the accounting necessary to finish up our work.

But, thankfully, our 2020 Concert for Kindness was a success and is now one for the history books.  We were fortunate to have secured a date that was just BEFORE the shelter in place mandates and we sincerely appreciate all of the support from the people who bought tickets.

We were happy to report that checks have been sent to the three beneficiaries of this year’s event:  Paws In the City,  The Love Pit and Dallas Cat Lady.  Stay safe in these uncertain times, and know that we are grateful for your support of the homeless pets of Dallas.

This year, Artists for Animals is hosting our annual Concert for Kindness with not one, but THREE beneficiary groups. After interviewing a number potential organizations, we are proud to be working with three local groups that are all doing great work for the homeless pets of north Texas. They will receive all the net proceeds from the upcoming concert and are each playing a role in making it a great night for everyone. So please congratulate Paws In the City, The Love Pit, and Dallas Cat Lady.

Ready to grab your tickets?  You can purchase them online, here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-concert-for-kindness-tickets-86707162457

And if your organization is interested in being a sponsor or making a donation to our event, please email us at artistsforanimalstx@gmail.com.

Thanks to our wonderful donors and Tiny Dog Calendar participants, our 2019 Community Grant program is now OPEN FOR BUSINESS.  This means that if your north Texas area animal rescue non-profit  (501c3) needs funds, it’s time to apply!

The application process is simple.

1. Email us for the form at: artistsforanimalstx@gmail.com  and put the words “Community Grants” in the subject line.  We’ll email you the one page form with the instructions on where and how to send it in.
2. Fill it out and make sure it is submitted by December 1, 2019 so that our Board Members can vote at the December meeting.
3. Checks will be mailed out by December 31, 2019 to the chosen groups.

Thank you for all the hard work that you do to support the homeless animals of Texas. We look forward to learning more about your programs.