The mission of the American Humane Association, as a network of individuals and organizations, is to prevent cruelty, abuse, neglect, and exploitation of children and animals and to assure that their interests and well-being are fully, effectively, and humanely guaranteed by an aware and caring society.

American Humane envisions a nation where no child or animal will ever be a victim of willful abuse or neglect. As a recognized leader in professional education, training and advocacy, research and evaluation, American Humane joins with other similarly missioned individuals and organizations to make this vision a reality.

While the primary mission of shelter & rescue organizations is to care for, and find homes for, stray and surrendered animals, many of these organizations also provide excellent education and support services. Additionally, these groups serve the needs of homeless animals everywhere with low cost spay/neuter programs, free or low cost care and training programs, community education, and more. These organizations have, also, been incubators for some of the most innovative and successful programs to combat overpopulation, abuse/neglect, and other welfare issues.

Founded in 2001, Charity Navigator has become the nation’s largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities. In our quest to help donors, our team of professional analysts has examined tens of thousands of non-profit financial documents. As a result, we know as much about the true fiscal operations of charities as anyone. We’ve used this knowledge to develop an unbiased, objective, numbers-based rating system to assess the financial health of over 5,000 of America’s best-known charities.

View Charity Navigator rating for the American Humane Association