Programs
Millions of unwanted animals enter the shelter system every year, and overcrowding often ends in euthanasia for healthy, adoptable pets. Spay and neuter surgeries address this crisis at its source, preventing the cycle of suffering before it begins. Every procedure performed today spares countless lives tomorrow, making it one of the most effective and compassionate solutions we have.
The Jason Heigl Foundation created the Namaste Spay & Neuter Initiative to confront this crisis directly. Through qualified partners, the program fully funds mass spay and neuter events. These “Namaste Days” provide pet owners with free access to surgeries while easing the burden on shelters. Each event is a step toward a future where prevention replaces euthanasia, and every pet is wanted, cared for, and safe.
Organizations interested in hosting a Namaste Day can learn more below.
The Save a Life program provides hope for the discarded, the sick, the scared, and the hopeless. We rescue, rehabilitate, and train dogs, provide medical care, and find them loving homes.
- Partnering with key non‑profit organizations to help dogs with treatable conditions often overlooked in shelters and automatically euthanized
- Training rescue dogs to serve as mobility animals, service dogs, therapy dogs, and emotional support pets
- Rescuing doomed pets from high‑kill shelters and transporting them to areas where they are more readily adopted
The heart of the Foundation’s rescue work, every dog listed on our adoption pages represents a second chance — a life once at risk, now given the opportunity to heal and thrive in a loving home.
The Jason Heigl Foundation’s Education and Awareness Program is committed to raising public understanding of the urgent challenges facing companion animals—overpopulation, the euthanasia of healthy adoptable pets, shelter overcrowding, cruelty, and neglect.
Katherine Heigl’s voice and visibility extend our reach, carrying urgent animal welfare messages to millions across mainstream media and social platforms.
We connect families with low‑cost spay/neuter and veterinary care, explain the laws that protect companion animals, and speak honestly about the grim reality of relinquishing a pet to a municipal shelter.
Education fosters responsible ownership and lasting bonds that keep pets safe, loved, and out of shelters.
The Jason Heigl Foundation works to ensure that compassion is written into law. By engaging with policymakers, we advocate for legislation that protects animals and promotes humane practices in shelters and communities.
Our priorities include pushing for stronger protections against cruelty, greater accountability in shelter systems, campaigning for all shelters to adopt no‑kill policies so that healthy, treatable animals are never destroyed simply for lack of space, and banning puppy mills that profit from inhumane breeding practices.
We also work to guarantee that if euthanasia is required as a last resort to prevent suffering in sick or injured animals, only humane methods are permitted by law.
Grants
The Jason Heigl Foundation provides financial support to qualified partner organizations across the country, including humane societies, rescue groups, no‑kill shelters, and advocacy organizations.
These non‑profits advance our mission by offering spay and neuter clinics, adoption and foster programs, rescue and transport services, obedience training, and pet care education. They are also on the front lines in the fight against the inhumane treatment of animals.
If you are seeking funding specifically for spay and neuter surgeries, please visit our Namaste Initiative to apply. For all other funding requests, we invite you to complete a Grant Application.