Nittany Greyhounds is a greyhound adoption organization. Our mission is two-fold: To place retired racing greyhounds into permanent residential homes, and to promote better relationships between people and their dogs (of any breed) through educational programs and community events.

Every greyhound "retired" from racing, either domestic or international, will be cared for, rehabilitated (if injured), assessed, then successfully placed in a forever home.

Source: Nonprofit submitted responses

Goal One: Place all retired racing greyhounds into loving forever homes.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Goal Two: Raise awareness about adopting retired racing greyhounds, and educate adopters and the public about greyhounds: their situation, their needs, and their requirements for homes.

Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.

Goal Three: Raise funding to continue our mission of placing retired racing greyhounds into forever homes, including funding for care, transportation, spaying, neutering, and veterinary treatment as needed.

Goal Type: Invest in the capacity of our organization (financial, management, technical, etc.).

Describe an investment in leadership

We invest in leadership development by identifying who has leadership potential. Then we mentor them through positions of increasing responsibility within Nittany Greyhounds: volunteering, joining committees, becoming a board member, then an officer. For example, one of our volunteers started out as a participant in our Meet and Greet events, then became a foster home for our adoptable greyhounds. She worked with our behaviorist and board members to learn to address and correct behavior issues so foster dogs could become wonderful pets. She volunteered to help with different jobs at Greyhounds in Gettysburg, learned more, and was invited to join committees with added responsibility. Then she was invited to become a board member, and served well in that role. This month, she was elected Treasurer for Nittany Greyhounds, and she is being mentored for the specific requirements of that position to ensure her contining success. She is contributing ideas for her new role, too.

This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:

• Strategic Partnerships

• Networks of Collective Impact Efforts

• Thought Leadership

• Raising Awareness

What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?

We partner with racetracks, trainers, veterinarians and the Irish Greyhound Trust to obtain greyhounds and address any medical needs. We are a member organization for the International Greyhound Movement to bring adoptable Irish greyhounds to the USA. As coordinator of Greyhounds in Gettysburg (GiG), we partner with and have built a network with other dog adoption nonprofits, vendors, veterinarians, and the other experts attending, including speakers we invite to present at GiG to share the latest research and best practices. We've built a network with them and with other groups and experts to promote and increase greyhound adoptions. We've spoken to classes, attend campus "de-stress" events with our greyhounds, and provide volunteer opportunities at the kennel for adults and a dozen university student groups. We educate and raise awareness about greyhounds through GiG, community and college events, our Meet and Greets, our website and social media, and by answering public inquiries.

Our primary supply of adoptable retired racing greyhounds ended with the 12/2020 closure of the Florida tracks. We recognized the pressing need for facilitating medical treatments and adoptions of injured racing greyhounds, and for adoptions of surplus Irish greyhounds. We deepened our relationship with a West Virginia track to obtain injured racers for our new Injured Dogs Program, and worked with the Irish Greyhound Trust to become an International Greyhound Movement partner so we could receive adoptable Irish dogs. We now recieve 1-2 shipments of Irish greyhounds per month, and injured American greyhounds as the need arises. To support the increased transportation and medical expenses of these new programs, we are expanding our fundraising, education, community-building, and outreach, including a more active social media program. Due to the pandemic, we had to temporarily halt our Meet and Greet community outreach events at local pet stores, and our participation in other community events until 2022. After cancelling the April 2020 Greyhounds in Gettysburg event (which we coordinate) due to Covid, we polled our community of attendees and vendors about when to hold it in 2021. They voted to postpone it until September 2021, and we had a well-attended and safe event. We had to reduce and then halt most in-person volunteer activities at our kennel temporarily due to Covid-19, and will resume when it's safer to do so. We've continued with adoptions of greyhounds since we can do this outdoors at our kennel. We've increased our publicity and outreach on social media, and have had record numbers of greyhound adoptions in 2020 and 2021. We continue to educate the public, our adopters and potential adopters to keep building awareness about greyhounds and help ensure successful adoptions into forever homes. During the pandemic, some of our funding sources decreased so we are actively developing additional funding sources for our programs.