The Clear The Shelters adoption campaign, run by NBC and its parent company Universal, placed 135,000 dogs, cats, and other animals into new homes during August, while raising $480,000 for the more than 1,200 animal shelters that took part.
Over 100 NBC and Telemundo stations participated, covering and highlighting adoption events across 47 states, plus Washington DC, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The scale of the effort made this one of the most geographically broad runs in the campaign’s history.
How the Clear The Shelters adoption campaign was structured this year
The adoption push ran throughout August, but the fundraising window was longer. According to NBC New York, donations were collected from 15 July to 15 September, giving shelters and supporters a two-month window to contribute financially even after the main adoption month had closed.
That structure matters. Many shelters struggle with operating costs long after a high-profile adoption event ends, and the extended fundraising period addresses that gap directly. The $480,000 raised was distributed among the participating shelters and rescue organisations.
Meredith McGinn, NBC Local’s Exec. VP of original production, said in a release: ‘Clear The Shelters demonstrates what’s possible when our communities come together to help pets in need.’ She added: ‘We’re proud of the meaningful impact this campaign continues to have for shelters and pets across the country, and grateful to Hill’s Pet Nutrition and all our partners who help make Clear The Shelters possible.’
Hill’s Pet Nutrition steps up as presenting sponsor
This year brought a change in the sponsorship arrangement. According to NBCUniversal Media, Hill’s Pet Nutrition returned for its ninth consecutive year as a partner of Clear The Shelters, and for the first time took on the role of presenting sponsor. That shift in billing reflects a deepening corporate commitment to the campaign, though it also means the programme’s growth now depends in part on maintaining that relationship year to year.
Corporate backing of this kind has practical consequences. Shelter staff and volunteers do the day-to-day work of preparing animals for adoption events, managing public turnout, and following up on placements. Sponsorship funds the media reach and logistical support that amplifies those efforts nationally, but the work on the ground remains local and largely voluntary.
Twelve years of results, and what they add up to
Since launching in 2015, the Clear The Shelters adoption campaign has, according to a prior NBCUniversal Media campaign summary, helped nearly 1.2 million pets find new homes and raised more than $5 million for shelters and rescues. The current campaign’s running totals, as stated by NBC and Universal, now stand at 1.5 million pets rehomed and over $6 million channelled to shelters across the campaign’s 12 years of operation.
Those numbers are the product of compounding small wins: a family that visits an adoption event out of curiosity and leaves with a dog, a shelter that uses campaign funding to upgrade its intake facilities, a local Telemundo broadcast that reaches a community not typically engaged by English-language pet adoption coverage. None of it is automatic.
The geographic reach this year, spanning 47 states and three additional territories, also points to how the campaign has expanded well beyond its original footprint. Running events coherently across that range, with more than 1,200 individual shelters and over 100 broadcasting stations involved, is a logistical undertaking that grows harder to coordinate as it grows in ambition.
NBC and Universal have not yet announced dates for the next Clear The Shelters campaign, but the programme’s consistent annual cadence since 2015 means shelters across the country are likely already planning for it.
