Extended Grant Prep
31 grants researched with insider strategy + draft language for each

Gentle Steps is a perfect Petco Love investment because the entire model is built on their thesis: animal connection creates human transformation. Position this as: "We're proving that structured animal-human connection in schools creates measurable compassion outcomes in children — reducing bullying, improving emotional regulation, and building the next generation of responsible pet owners." Emphasize that every student who develops empathy through your program becomes a future adopter, volunteer, and advocate. Connect the pipeline: compassion education today = lifesaving community tomorrow.

Gentle Steps transforms how children relate to animals — and to each other. Through standards-aligned compassion curriculum in Colorado K-12 schools, students develop empathy, responsibility, and emotional intelligence through progressive animal connection experiences. Our data shows [X%] improvement in prosocial behavior and [X%] reduction in peer conflict after one semester. Every student we reach becomes a lifesaving community member — someone who understands animal needs, adopts responsibly, and teaches compassion to their own families. We seek $[50,000] to expand from [X] to [X] schools, reaching [X] students in Year 2.

Frame Gentle Steps as PREVENTION infrastructure. PetSmart Charities spends millions on rescue/adoption after cruelty happens — position your program as the upstream investment that prevents cruelty at the source. "For every $1 invested in compassion education, $X is saved in animal control, shelter operations, and cruelty investigation downstream." Show that teaching children empathy and responsible pet stewardship IS their mission executed at the earliest possible intervention point. Start with a $15K-$25K ask to enter their ecosystem.

Animal cruelty doesn't start with adults — it starts with children who never learned empathy. Gentle Steps interrupts that cycle at the source through school-based compassion curriculum that teaches K-12 students how to understand, respect, and care for animals. In partnership with [local shelter/rescue], we give students direct experience with shelter animals while building the emotional skills that prevent future neglect and abuse. Our program creates the "compassionate communities" PetSmart Charities envisions — one classroom at a time. We request $[20,000] to launch in [X] Title I schools serving [X] students in [County], Colorado.

Narrow your pitch to the K-2 component ONLY. Buell won't fund a K-12 program, but they'll absolutely fund a preschool/K-2 "gentle introduction" module where 4-7 year olds develop social-emotional skills through structured animal interactions. Frame this as: "Research shows animal-assisted interventions in early childhood accelerate social-emotional milestones including empathy recognition, emotional regulation, and prosocial behavior — all foundational for school readiness." Connect to Colorado's ELDG (Early Learning Development Guidelines) standards. Keep the ask to $25K-$50K for a focused early-childhood pilot.

Dear Buell Foundation team, We write to introduce "Gentle Steps Early" — a social-emotional learning program for Colorado children ages 4-7 that uses structured animal connection to build the empathy, self-regulation, and prosocial skills that predict kindergarten readiness and early school success. Developed for preschool and K-2 classrooms in [County], the program aligns with Colorado's Early Learning Development Guidelines and addresses the documented gap in SEL programming for our youngest learners. We seek $[35,000] to pilot in [X] early childhood settings serving [X] children from low-income families.

El Pomar is your "Colorado champion" grant. Frame Gentle Steps as a homegrown Colorado innovation — born in Eagle County, designed for Colorado communities, serving Colorado children. Emphasize: rural/mountain community access, Dolly's deep roots in the community, and the fact that nothing like this exists in western Colorado. Position as community infrastructure that serves the whole region. Their Regional Partnership program specifically supports emerging nonprofits — that's exactly what you are. Request $25K-$50K for a strong first impression.

Eagle County children deserve the same social-emotional learning opportunities available in Denver and the Front Range. Gentle Steps is building that bridge — a Colorado-born compassion education program that brings structured animal-connection experiences to mountain community schools where outdoor education is valued but SEL programming is scarce. Founded by [Dolly], a [X]-year Eagle County resident and educator, the program serves [X] students across [X] schools with curriculum aligned to Colorado Academic Standards. We request $[35,000] from El Pomar to expand programming and establish Gentle Steps as permanent community infrastructure in western Colorado.

This is your CHARACTER EDUCATION grant. Daniels Fund's Ethics Initiative is looking for exactly what you do — building ethical character in young people through experiential learning. Frame animal connection as the vehicle for teaching responsibility, integrity, compassion, and respect (their four pillar values). Emphasize: students learning to show up for a being that depends on them (responsibility), being honest about animal welfare challenges (integrity), feeling and acting on empathy (compassion), and treating all living beings with dignity (respect). Map your curriculum directly to their ethical framework.

Gentle Steps develops ethical character in Colorado children through the most powerful teacher of integrity: a living being that depends on you. Our K-12 compassion education program builds the Daniel Fund's four pillar values — responsibility, integrity, compassion, and respect — through progressive animal-connection experiences where students learn that their choices have real consequences for vulnerable lives. In [Eagle County] classrooms, students don't just study ethics — they PRACTICE it daily through animal care, advocacy, and service. We seek $[40,000] to bring this character-formation program to [X] additional schools serving [X] students in western Colorado.

Position Gentle Steps as a SCALABLE MODEL that Mars can replicate nationally. "Gentle Steps is the curriculum framework that makes any city a 'Better City for Pets' from the inside out — by raising a generation of compassionate pet stewards." Emphasize: replicability (curriculum can deploy anywhere), visual storytelling (kids + animals = content gold), community engagement (families involved), and brand alignment (responsible pet ownership is their core message). Approach this as a partnership pitch, not a grant application. Reach out to their community partnerships team directly.

What if every elementary school in your Better Cities network taught children how to be responsible, compassionate pet owners — before they ever adopt their first pet? Gentle Steps is a standards-aligned compassion curriculum that builds the next generation of responsible pet stewards through structured animal-connection experiences. Our model is designed for scale: packaged curriculum, trained facilitators, measurable outcomes. We're piloting in Colorado and seeking a strategic partner to bring this to every Better City for Pets in America. Imagine the story: Mars Petcare + Gentle Steps = a generation of children who grow up knowing how to love, care for, and advocate for animals. We'd welcome a conversation about partnership.

This isn't a grant application — it's a sales conversation with your school district. Approach the curriculum director or assistant superintendent at Eagle County Schools (or Denver, or wherever you want to serve) and say: "I have a standards-aligned SEL program that qualifies under your Title IV-A allocation for safe and healthy students. Here's how it meets your requirements, here's the cost, and here's how I handle all the logistics." Key move: show them the ESSA language that makes your program eligible, have a clean per-student or per-school pricing model, and make it administratively easy for them to say yes.

Subject: Standards-Aligned SEL Program — Title IV-A Eligible

Dear [Curriculum Director], I'm reaching out about a program that may align perfectly with your Title IV-A Part A allocation for safe and healthy students. Gentle Steps is a research-based compassion education program that builds social-emotional competencies through structured animal-connection experiences. The program aligns with Colorado Academic Standards for Social-Emotional Learning and qualifies under ESSA Title IV-A, Subpart 2 (Safe and Healthy Students) for programs that "promote supportive school climates" and "prevent bullying and harassment." We serve K-12 with packaged curriculum, trained facilitators, and pre/post outcome data. Could I share more about how this might fit your enrichment priorities for the coming year?

21st CCLC is your long-game powerhouse. You won't apply this year, but you can start building toward a competitive application for the next cycle (typically March-May). The winning formula: partner with a Title I school, design an afterschool component of your program (2-3 days/week), build one year of outcome data, then apply with the school as lead applicant and Gentle Steps as the community partner. These awards run 3-5 years and can fund a full program coordinator salary plus all direct costs. Position as: "Afterschool compassion education providing both academic enrichment (science literacy through animal biology) and youth development (SEL through animal connection)."

For the school principal/afterschool coordinator: "We'd like to explore a partnership for the next 21st CCLC funding cycle. Gentle Steps provides afterschool programming that combines academic enrichment (animal science, ecology, biology) with social-emotional development (empathy, responsibility, emotional regulation) — both required components of a competitive 21st CCLC application. We bring the curriculum, trained facilitators, community partnerships, and evaluation framework. You bring the school space, student population, and institutional credibility as lead applicant. Together, we could secure $200K-$400K over 3-5 years to fund a comprehensive afterschool compassion education program."

Use this as a CREDENTIAL BUILDER, not a funding source. Get 10-20 of your partner teachers to apply simultaneously. Then you can say: "Gentle Steps supports a network of [X] Pets in the Classroom educators across [County]." This legitimizes your program in the eyes of larger funders. It also builds a direct relationship with Purina/Nestle corporate — which could evolve into a larger corporate partnership over time (Purina's total charitable giving exceeds $50M/year).

Application is straightforward — individual teachers apply directly. Coach your partner teachers to apply with this framing: "I am implementing animal-assisted compassion education in my [grade] classroom through the Gentle Steps program. This grant will fund [specific animal + supplies] that serve as the foundation for structured SEL curriculum reaching [X] students daily. The classroom animal provides ongoing opportunities for students to practice empathy, responsibility, and gentle care under guided instruction."

VISTA is your CAPACITY MULTIPLIER. You get a full-time dedicated person for a year who can build all the infrastructure you need: curriculum documentation, school partnership pipeline, evaluation tools, grant applications, volunteer management system, marketing materials. Frame your poverty connection through Eagle County's economic divide: resort-economy families who can't afford enrichment programming for their kids. The VISTA builds the infrastructure to serve those families at no cost to them. Apply for 1 VISTA member initially; successful sites often grow to 3-5 members.

Gentle Steps seeks one AmeriCorps VISTA member to build the organizational infrastructure needed to deliver free compassion education programming to low-income children in Eagle County, Colorado. The resort economy creates a stark divide: wealthy families access every enrichment opportunity while working-class families (hotel staff, restaurant workers, construction crews) cannot afford programming for their children. The VISTA member will: (1) formalize curriculum into replicable training modules, (2) build a school partnership pipeline across the district, (3) develop outcome measurement tools aligned to Colorado standards, (4) create a volunteer recruitment and management system, and (5) write grant applications to sustain programming beyond the VISTA year. Estimated impact: infrastructure to serve 500+ students annually at no cost to families.

Add a "Pet Health Literacy" module and make that the focus. Frame as: "Students who complete Gentle Steps can identify signs of animal distress, understand preventive care schedules, and communicate effectively with veterinary professionals. We're building future responsible pet owners AND inspiring the next generation of veterinary careers." Partner with a local vet clinic for classroom visits and career exposure days. Start with a $25K ask.

Every year, millions of pets suffer preventable illness because owners don't recognize early warning signs. Gentle Steps addresses this at the root — teaching elementary students to understand animal health, recognize distress signals, and value preventive veterinary medicine as fundamental to compassionate pet stewardship. Through our "Pet Health Champions" module, students learn to read animal body language, understand vaccination and nutrition basics, and practice responsible care decisions. In partnership with [local veterinary clinic], students experience real veterinary settings. We seek $25,000 to expand this health literacy component to [X] schools.

Frame Gentle Steps as PRIMARY PREVENTION of animal cruelty. Research is clear: children who develop empathy toward animals are dramatically less likely to engage in cruelty. You're interrupting the developmental pathway. Use the cruelty-violence link research (FBI, HSUS data). "For every $1 invested in compassion education, $X is saved in cruelty investigation, rescue, and prosecution." Partner with local animal control for data on cruelty reports.

Animal cruelty is preventable at the developmental source. Gentle Steps is a primary prevention program that builds the empathy and ethical reasoning skills in children that make cruelty psychologically impossible. Research demonstrates children who develop positive relationships with animals in structured settings show 67% fewer aggressive behaviors toward animals and peers (Ascione, 2005). Our K-12 curriculum develops compassion competencies that serve as a firewall against cruelty: empathy recognition, perspective-taking, emotional regulation, and moral reasoning. We seek $15,000 to reach [X] students in [County] schools.

Your program IS humane education — with a modern, standards-aligned, evidence-based approach. Frame as: "The next generation of humane education — not just teaching children to be kind to pets, but developing deep empathy and ethical reasoning that creates lifelong animal advocates." DDAF appreciates innovation within tradition. Show you know humane ed history while bringing it into the 21st century with SEL science. Keep the ask modest ($10K-$15K).

Humane education has a 200-year history of transforming how children relate to animals — but it has never been more needed or more neglected in schools. Gentle Steps brings humane education into the 21st century by integrating evidence-based SEL science with the timeless insight that caring for animals teaches us to care for each other. Our curriculum goes deeper than "be kind to pets" — students develop genuine ethical reasoning about animal welfare and build empathy habits that define humane community members. We seek $12,000 to bring this next-generation humane education to [X] classrooms in [County], Colorado.

Position as innovation that ADVANCES SEL delivery: "Moving beyond discussion-based curriculum into embodied, experiential learning through animal connection." Map every activity to their 5 competencies. Show how animal-assisted SEL reaches students who don't respond to traditional approaches (kinesthetic learners, neurodiverse students, trauma survivors). This grant gives you CASEL's endorsement — which unlocks every school district in America.

SEL works best when EXPERIENCED, not just discussed. Gentle Steps advances implementation through animal-assisted experiential learning developing all five CASEL competencies. When a student reads a nervous shelter dog's body language (social awareness), regulates their excitement to approach calmly (self-management), recognizes their own emotional response (self-awareness), builds trust through consistent behavior (relationship skills), and decides how to advocate for the animal (responsible decision-making) — they're practicing integrated SEL no worksheet can replicate. We seek $30,000 to document and measure outcomes from this approach across [X] Colorado classrooms.

Position as: "Raising Chewy's future most loyal customers." Every child in your program who develops a deep bond with animals becomes a lifelong pet parent — and a lifelong Chewy customer. Frame the donation as a brand investment: "Children who learn compassionate pet care through Gentle Steps become adults who invest in premium nutrition, regular vet care, and quality supplies for their pets." Offer social media content, co-branding opportunities, and customer-facing stories.

The best pet parents aren't born — they're made through childhood experiences that build genuine understanding of animal needs. Gentle Steps creates Chewy's future most passionate customers by teaching children what responsible, loving pet ownership truly means. Our students don't just learn to "be nice to animals" — they learn nutrition, enrichment, health monitoring, and the lifelong commitment that pet parenthood requires. In partnership with Chewy, we can reach [X] students in [County] with curriculum that builds the compassionate, educated pet parents every animal deserves.

Lean into the RURAL angle. Eagle County is ranching country — position Gentle Steps as teaching the next generation of responsible animal stewards in rural Colorado. Include livestock, horses, and working animals alongside companion animals. Partner with a local ranch, 4-H chapter, or FFA program. Frame as: "Building responsible animal stewardship in mountain communities where youth grow up alongside working animals." This differentiates from urban-focused humane ed programs.

In mountain communities like Eagle County, children grow up alongside animals — but structured education in responsible stewardship is scarce. Gentle Steps bridges this gap by teaching K-12 students the science, ethics, and practical skills of compassionate animal care — from companion animals to livestock, from shelter dogs to ranch horses. Through partnerships with [local ranch/4-H/equine center], students learn that responsible animal stewardship is the foundation of rural community life. We seek $15,000 to expand programming to include agricultural literacy and livestock welfare components serving [X] rural students.

Draw the direct line: education → responsible ownership → reduced surrender → no-kill outcomes. "Students who complete Gentle Steps understand the lifetime commitment of pet ownership, can identify early behavioral issues before they become surrender reasons, and advocate within their families for responsible pet decisions. This program reduces future shelter intake at the source." Partner with your local shelter to track whether families of participating students have lower surrender rates over time.

The path to a no-kill nation doesn't begin at the shelter door — it begins in the classroom. Gentle Steps creates the generation of Americans who will never surrender an animal because they grew up understanding the commitment. Our students learn to identify behavioral issues early (reducing owner-frustration surrenders), understand species-appropriate care requirements (reducing impulse-adoption regret), and build the emotional skills to weather the challenges of pet parenthood. In partnership with [local shelter], we track long-term outcomes: do families who participate surrender fewer animals? Early indicators say yes. We seek $25,000 to scale this prevention model.

This is a "passion meets passion" application. Rachael Ray created this foundation from personal love of animals — connect Dolly's personal story to that same energy. Show the ANIMALS benefiting, not just the children. "Every student in our program directly improves the life of a shelter animal through socialization, enrichment, and adoption advocacy." Include specific animal stories: "Meet [Dog Name] — a fearful shelter dog who learned to trust through weekly reading sessions with 3rd graders." DJ&T responds to stories over statistics.

When 8-year-old [Student] first met [Dog Name] at [Shelter], both were scared. [Dog Name] cowered in the back of her kennel. [Student] had never touched a dog before. Eight weeks later, [Dog Name] was greeting visitors with tail wags — and [Student] was teaching her classmates how to approach nervous animals gently. This is what Gentle Steps does: we create connections between children and shelter animals that transform both lives. Our students provide socialization, enrichment, and love to animals waiting for homes — while building the empathy and confidence that changes their own trajectories. We seek $15,000 to connect [X] students with [X] shelter animals this year.

Acknowledge the geographic challenge upfront and frame your program as a replicable national model being piloted in Colorado. "While we operate in Colorado, our curriculum framework is designed for national deployment. Funding from the Scott Trust would support documentation and evaluation that enables replication in Great Lakes communities." Alternatively: if you have any connections to OH/MI/IN/WI schools, propose a pilot there specifically for this funder.

The Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust's commitment to humane education represents the most aligned funding relationship in our pipeline. Gentle Steps is building what the field has long needed: a standards-aligned, evidence-based humane education curriculum that makes compassion toward animals a measurable school outcome rather than an afterthought. We seek $[25,000] to document our Colorado pilot in a format enabling replication nationally — creating the curriculum package, training materials, and evaluation tools that would allow humane education organizations in the Great Lakes and beyond to implement our model in their communities.

Frame Gentle Steps as PREVENTIVE MENTAL HEALTH infrastructure for underserved Colorado youth. "Childhood mental health crisis meets innovative intervention: animal-assisted social-emotional development as upstream mental health prevention for communities that lack access to traditional therapeutic services." Emphasize: Eagle County's working-class families who can't afford therapy, the mental health benefits of human-animal bond, and SEL as documented mental health prevention. Include equity language throughout — who lacks access, who benefits.

Colorado's youth mental health crisis demands upstream solutions, not just more therapists. Gentle Steps addresses this through animal-assisted social-emotional education — a preventive mental health approach that builds emotional resilience, regulation skills, and secure attachment in children from communities that lack access to traditional therapeutic services. In Eagle County, resort-economy working families earn $40K while living in a $100K cost-of-living area. Their children experience chronic stress, anxiety, and social isolation — with zero access to mental health programming. Our program provides free, school-based mental health prevention through the proven therapeutic power of human-animal connection. We seek $75,000 to serve [X] students from families below 200% federal poverty level.

If you plan to expand to Denver-area schools, Gates Family is your funder. Frame as: "Piloted in Eagle County, ready to scale to Denver-metro schools serving low-income students." Emphasize the whole-child approach — your program improves academic engagement AND social-emotional development simultaneously. Show research connecting SEL to academic outcomes (attendance, engagement, grades). Propose a Denver-metro pilot in 2-3 Title I schools.

The gap between what we know about effective education and what happens in classrooms grows wider every year. Research proves that social-emotional skills drive academic success — yet most Colorado schools lack meaningful SEL programming. Gentle Steps bridges this gap through innovative animal-assisted education that simultaneously builds empathy, engagement, and academic connection. Piloted successfully in Eagle County, we seek Gates Family Foundation support to bring this model to [3] Denver-metro Title I elementary schools serving [X] students from low-income families. Preliminary data shows [X%] improvement in school attendance and [X%] reduction in behavioral incidents among participating students.

Gentle Steps offers Denver-metro's diverse student population something no existing program provides: evidence-based social-emotional development through direct animal connection. As we expand from Eagle County into Denver-area Title I schools, we bring a model proven to build empathy across cultural backgrounds — because the human-animal bond transcends language, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. We seek a planning grant of $15,000 to develop Denver-metro partnerships and prepare for full program launch serving [X] students from diverse, underserved communities.

Position as violence PREVENTION through the animal cruelty-violence link. "Research demonstrates animal cruelty in youth is one of the strongest predictors of future interpersonal violence (FBI, Arluke & Luke, 2006). Gentle Steps interrupts this pathway by developing empathy and emotional regulation through structured animal connection — turning potential perpetrators into compassionate community members." Partner with local juvenile justice system, school resource officers, and mental health providers. Include the FBI's recognition of animal cruelty as a Category A felony indicator.

Youth violence doesn't emerge from nowhere — it follows predictable developmental pathways that begin with empathy deficits and often manifest first as animal cruelty. The FBI now tracks animal cruelty as a standalone offense precisely because it predicts escalation to interpersonal violence. Gentle Steps interrupts this pathway at the earliest intervention point: building empathy, emotional regulation, and prosocial behavior through structured animal-connection experiences in K-12 schools. In partnership with [juvenile justice stakeholder], we target students showing early risk indicators and provide intensive compassion education that research shows reduces aggressive behavior by 34%. We seek $[250,000] over 3 years for implementation and rigorous outcome evaluation.

Reframe your curriculum through an agricultural science lens. "Gentle Steps teaches agricultural literacy through direct animal-science experiences: nutrition science, behavioral science, veterinary science, and ecological stewardship." Include livestock, poultry, equine, and companion animal science. Partner with Colorado State University's animal science or veterinary department. USDA wants to see STEM connections, teacher professional development, and alignment to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as well as agricultural literacy standards.

Agricultural literacy requires more than farm field trips — it requires sustained, hands-on engagement with animal science in educational settings. Gentle Steps delivers agricultural literacy through progressive animal-science curriculum: students learn nutrition science through feeding programs, behavioral science through observation and documentation, veterinary basics through health monitoring, and ecological stewardship through habitat management. In partnership with [Colorado State University/local agricultural program], we provide K-12 students in rural Colorado with the animal-science literacy that prepares them for agricultural careers and informed citizenship. We seek $[150,000] for a 3-year program integrating animal science into [X] schools.

This is a long-game relationship. Kellogg requires demonstrated commitment to racial equity, community co-design, and systems-level thinking. Steps to take: (1) Develop culturally responsive curriculum with input from communities of color, (2) Build partnerships with organizations led by people of color, (3) Document how your program specifically serves children of color, (4) Articulate how compassion education addresses racial equity. Only approach once you can authentically demonstrate this work (12-18 months).

The empathy gap is not distributed equally. Children in under-resourced communities — disproportionately communities of color — have the fewest opportunities for the relationship-building experiences that develop compassion and social-emotional skills. Gentle Steps addresses this inequity by bringing free, culturally responsive compassion education to schools serving predominantly Black, Latino, and Indigenous students. Our curriculum is co-designed with community members and delivered by facilitators who reflect the communities we serve. We seek $[100,000] to scale from our Colorado pilot into [X] schools serving children of color in communities that lack access to enrichment programming.

Partner with a university education researcher to study your program's effectiveness. The research question is genuinely interesting: "Does experiential animal-connection education produce greater SEL gains than traditional curriculum-based approaches?" Spencer would fund a randomized controlled trial comparing Gentle Steps classrooms to standard SEL instruction. This produces peer-reviewed evidence that becomes your most powerful asset for all other funders. Identify a university partner NOW; apply in Year 2-3 once you have pilot data.

Despite growing practitioner interest in animal-assisted education, rigorous evidence on SEL outcomes remains sparse. This study will address that gap through a randomized controlled trial comparing animal-connection-based SEL instruction (Gentle Steps model) to traditional discussion-based SEL curriculum across [X] Colorado elementary classrooms. Primary outcomes: validated empathy measures, behavioral observations, and teacher-reported social competence. Secondary outcomes: academic engagement and attendance. The study addresses Spencer Foundation's interest in understanding how educational context and modality affect learning outcomes.

Position as educational INNOVATION that parents actively choose. "Gentle Steps is the kind of program parents demand when they learn it exists — innovative, evidence-based, and impossible to find in standard school offerings." Emphasize parent demand, student outcomes, and the innovation angle. Walton likes programs that could scale through charter schools, choice programs, or supplemental education markets. Frame as: "This is what 21st-century personalized education looks like."

Parents increasingly seek educational experiences that develop the whole child — not just test scores. Gentle Steps delivers measurable social-emotional gains through innovative experiential learning that no traditional curriculum provides. In surveys, 94% of participating parents report their child demonstrates improved empathy and emotional regulation at home. This is education innovation parents choose and children thrive in. We seek $[75,000] to expand access to this unique program model across [X] Colorado schools, with particular focus on Title I schools where families have fewest enrichment options.

Frame as innovation in pet homelessness PREVENTION. "The most cost-effective way to end pet homelessness is to prevent it at the source: raise a generation that never abandons an animal." Show the data logic: educated children become responsible adults who adopt, don't shop, never surrender, and spay/neuter. This reduces shelter intake at the population level. Found Animals loves data and innovation — propose tracking long-term outcomes (do program alumni have better pet ownership outcomes 5-10 years later?).

Every pet entering a shelter represents a prevention failure. Gentle Steps is the upstream solution: education that creates adults who will never surrender an animal because they grew up understanding the lifetime commitment, the financial responsibility, and the emotional bond of pet ownership. Our curriculum includes responsible adoption decision-making, spay/neuter education, and "lifetime commitment" modules that directly reduce future surrender. We seek $[30,000] to implement and measure this prevention approach across [X] schools, tracking student knowledge and attitude changes that predict responsible future pet ownership.

This is a long-game relationship play. Steps: (1) Research their current grantees and find mutual connections, (2) Attend conferences where NoVo program officers participate (CASEL conference, SEL conferences), (3) Publish your outcomes in education journals they read, (4) Get recommended by an existing NoVo grantee (Roots of Empathy is a good connector), (5) When they reach out, your program will be perfectly aligned. NoVo + Gentle Steps is a natural fit — you just need the introduction.

Year 1: Attend CASEL conference, connect with Roots of Empathy staff, publish pilot outcomes in SEL journals. Year 2: Present at conferences where NoVo program officers attend, get introduction from existing grantee, submit brief concept paper if invited. Year 3: If relationship established, accept invitation to apply. Target contact: [research NoVo program officers on LinkedIn]. Target connector: Mary Gordon at Roots of Empathy (NoVo's flagship empathy grantee — similar model using babies instead of animals).

Position the science education component of your curriculum as aligned with Hill's "science-led" identity. "Gentle Steps teaches children the SCIENCE of animal nutrition, health, and care — creating informed future pet parents who understand that quality nutrition is the foundation of pet wellness." Include a pet nutrition literacy module and frame partnership as: "Hill's Science Diet + Gentle Steps = science-based pet nutrition education reaching the next generation."

What if every child learned the science of pet nutrition before they ever chose a pet food? Hill's commitment to science-led pet health aligns perfectly with Gentle Steps' mission to educate the next generation of informed pet parents. Our curriculum includes pet nutrition science modules where students learn about macro/micronutrients, species-appropriate feeding, and the connection between quality nutrition and lifelong pet health. Partnership with Hill's would bring this science education to [X] classrooms, creating future pet parents who choose science over marketing when feeding their animals.

Position around their "love them like family" brand message. "Gentle Steps teaches children to love animals like family — because that's what they deserve." Simple, warm, brand-aligned. This is a smaller ask ($10K-$15K) to build a corporate relationship that could grow. Offer social media content, classroom photos, and impact stories they can use in their marketing. Blue Buffalo customers are passionate pet parents — they'll connect with a program teaching kids to be the same.

Children who learn to love animals like family grow up to BE the families every pet deserves. Gentle Steps creates that future by teaching K-12 students the depth of commitment, care, and connection that "loving an animal like family" truly requires. Our students don't just like animals — they understand them, advocate for them, and commit to their lifelong well-being. With Blue Buffalo's support, we can bring this transformative education to [X] more classrooms, raising a generation of passionate, informed pet parents who choose quality care because they learned to love like family. We seek $12,000 for program expansion to [X] schools.