Public Statement by Ann Dunn, FOAS Executive Director
Through a strong partnership with the City of Oakland, Friends of Oakland Animal Services (FOAS) is determined to maintain and increase the highest save rate at Oakland Animal Services, despite catastrophic cuts to the City budget for Oakland Animal Services (OAS), the animal shelter for the City of Oakland.
The following are a few things about the situation that I would love for everyone who cares about Oakland’s animals to understand, including why I am incredibly hopeful about the opportunity before us to create lasting change.
The incredible impact of support from FOAS: Today, nearly $2 million in annual funding from FOAS supports lifesaving programs at OAS, such as the foster and adoption programs, that have allowed OAS to quickly jump from an 83% animal save rate in 2019 to close to 94% today. Community serving programs, through grant funding, focus on supporting pet guardians who are low-income or unhoused, to provide support to help keep people and pets together.
FOAS is scrappy: FOAS accomplishes a lot with very little. While City budget cuts have created new challenges, FOAS does not fund City services but instead is building lifesaving programs that have not previously existed at OAS.
OAS Budget Cuts: Since 2020, OAS has lost 30% of its staff and 40% of its budget for food and other basic supplies, while animal intake has gone up by over 40%. City and FOAS staff who work at OAS are compassionate and extremely determined to do as much good as they can, but they simply don’t have the resources to care for all the animals who come into OAS in significant numbers every day. They need more help!
The City of Oakland: The City’s budget crisis is severe, impacting services throughout Oakland, including programs that serve incredibly vulnerable people. Given the reality of the City’s financial position, FOAS does not want to compete for precious resources that could provide human services. We have an opportunity as a community to support both people and animals.
FOAS and City Partnership: FOAS has a strong and powerful partnership with the City of Oakland. The people we work with, including City Administrator Jestin Johnson, and Deputy City Administrator Joe DeVries, who now runs OAS, care deeply about animals and want to help build a healthy and sustainable model for animal services. FOAS is working in partnership with the City to build a new model that allows OAS to focus on its core services more effectively, while FOAS builds the infrastructure to sustain and grow programs to support low-income pet guardians, save shelter animals, and assist the animals of Oakland.
We don’t have a battle on our hands. Instead, we have an incredible opportunity to seize this moment to make meaningful and lasting change to help Oakland’s animals and the people who care for them. Join us!
How You Can Help
Donate. A few generous FOAS supporters have pledged to match up to $130,000 for donations made between May 16 to June 15, 2025. Make a one-time or recurring donation today and your contribution will be doubled.
Become a fundraiser. Over 50 individuals and teams are fundraising on behalf of FOAS to help reach new supporters. Please join them and reach out to your network to provide more support. A helpful toolkit and other materials to help you get started can be found here.
Volunteer. Outreach volunteers make a big impact by tabling at events to help increase awareness of FOAS, and the impact that FOAS makes for animals through our partnership with OAS.
Host a house party. If you know people in Oakland who might be interested in learning more about and supporting this work, please consider hosting a low-key gathering at your home and invite us to come by to speak. Meeting animal lovers in small groups has been an effective way to share this message and address common questions. We can also speak at your neighborhood meetings, club meetings, etc.
Put up a yard sign. In the next few weeks, FOAS will have yard signs available for you to show your support. Sign up to receive updates on when the yard signs are available.
Share this message with anyone you think might be interested. As an organization, we have a limited reach. We need to address this moment as a community. Please help us reach people we can’t.
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