Tough economic times are hitting even the smallest creatures, as animal shelters struggle with rising populations and shrinking contributions. Looking for a creative way to help pets in need, Dogpile.com has launched the Search & Rescue program to raise money for the ASPCA®.

Dogpile, a search engine that pools results from all major search engines, is donating a portion of revenues from searches conducted on the Dogpile Web site to the ASPCA®. And, the giving doesn’t stop there: consumers can continue to give without spending a penny of their own money by using a downloadable Search & Rescue toolbar. Dogpile.com’s Search and Rescue program has a goal of raising $1 million through  2009 by inviting consumers to do what they already do: Search the Web.

A study of current giving trends conducted by Dogpile found that Americans who typically give to charities are cutting back on their donations by nearly half from last year, and they expect that animal charities will suffer among the most compared to other organizations and civic causes. The situation is compounded by the fact that nearly one in five Americans has had to give up a pet – or know someone who has – due to financial hardship.

“We know that like us — most Americans have their hearts in the right place when it comes to animal welfare, but many don’t have the means to give at this time,” said Stacy Ybarra, Senior Director of Corporate Giving. “Programs like Search & Rescue can change the way corporations and consumers approach charitable giving. You search and together, we rescue – it’s as easy as that.”

Dogpile.com has a history of pet philanthropy programs: for example, the company has raised funds for the Humane Society of the United States and is a Petfinder.com partner, integrating their directory of adoptable pets into Dogpile’s widgets, toolbars and website. Its loyal users and employees have also expressed a passion for pets, which ultimately led to the creation of the Search & Rescue program.

“The fact that animal lovers everywhere can help the ASPCA simply by searching the Internet with Dopile.com speaks to the unique and simple ways in which we can all give back,” said ASPCA President & CEO, Ed Sayres. “Through the support from Dogpile.com and consumers everywhere who use the Web site to search, we can continue our mission of helping animals in need.”

This entry was posted on Friday, November 14th, 2008 at 8:19 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.