Organizations Filed Purposes:
FOTAS' mission is to support the Aiken County Animal Shelter by promoting animal welfare, responsible pet ownership, and the elimination of euthanasia of all adoptable animals.
FOTAS supplemented the county's shelter budget by funding numerous items for 4,410 animals received in 2020. These include heartworm medicine for heartworm positive dogs who in earlier years would have been euthanized, flea and tick treatments for dogs and cats, and medicines not provided for in the annual budget. For our Fido Off the Chain program, FOTAS purchased humane runners and dog houses so financially needy pet owners could comply with county laws and prevent the loss of or harm to their pets. In our Home to Home program, FOTAS facilitated household to household adoptions by paying veterinary and food expenses to keep many pets from entering the shelter. FOTAS purchased toys, leashes, collars, and beds for shelter animals, prepared foster kitten nursing kits and arranged for pet food pallet donations from local distributors. We also funded the Dogs Playing for Life Group, a three person 5-day a week program that helps socialize, exercise, train and enrich the lives of shelter dogs which in turn makes them much more appealing to adopters. FOTAS also funds daily web updates to advertise and describe individual animals available for adoption at the shelter, announce special adoption events and champion shelter successes to the community. FOTAS recently added the Doggie Days Out program to allow citizens to take adoptable dogs out of the shelter for a few hours or days to reduce kennel stress.
Due to overcrowding at the county animal shelter, FOTAS worked aggressively to transfer as many adoptable pets as possible to no-kill shelters. The transfer program includes an extensive network of volunteers who foster pets until they are old enough or healthy enough for transfer. In 2020, FOTAS organized transfers for many dogs and cats who could not find homes in the local community. This program is by far the most successful of our initiatives to increase our live release rate from a dismal 9 percent in 2009 when FOTAS was established to almost 96 percent in 2020. We will continue to work hard to keep our save rate over 90 percent so that the county shelter may be classified as a no-kill shelter. In 2020, the shelter and FOTAS saved the lives of 4,151 dogs and cats.
In 2020, FOTAS funded architectural and engineering plans for a new building addition at the Aiken County Animal Shelter. This addition will house adoption rooms so that potential adopters can relate to dogs on an individual basis in a quiet environment to assess whether the animal will be a suitable pet. The addition will also house a cat room for adoptable cats and a meeting room for training staff.
Executives Listed on Filing
Total Salary includes financial earnings, benefits, and all related organization earnings listed on tax filing
| Name | Title | Hours Per Week | Total Salary |
|---|
| Jennifer Miller | President | 40 | $0 |
| Mary Lou Welch | Vice President | 2 | $0 |
| Joanna Dunn Samson | Vice President | 2 | $0 |
| Francis A Townsend | Treasurer | 2 | $0 |
| Eleanor Joos | Secretary | 25 | $0 |
| Edythe Hubler | Board member | 3 | $0 |
| Tom Williams | Board member | 1 | $0 |
| Heather Wiseman | Board member | 8 | $0 |
| Grant Wiseman | Board member | 7 | $0 |
| Allison Tyler | Board member | 1 | $0 |
| Colleen Timmerman | Board member | 7 | $0 |
| Ellen Priest | Board member | 14 | $0 |
| John Hart | Board member | 1 | $0 |
| Jeri Barrett | Board member | 1 | $0 |
Data for this page was sourced from XML published by IRS (
public 990 form dataset) from:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/irs-form-990/202131029349300423_public.xml