One Picture Saves A Life Gives Shelter Animals The Best Chance To Find A Forever Home

Over the past 20 years, GreaterGood has raised $60 million for charity. To celebrate this milestone and the impact we have had on everyone's lives, GreaterGood.com is relaunched with a new image and a renewed purpose.

Previously, each click of the button on GreaterGood.com supported a rotating list of carefully selected programs that changed every few days. Now your clicks will channel support to our 24 Signature Programs, which are the most impactful programs and partnerships we offer.

Your daily clicks change lives and help our world, and we are very grateful for your support. Join us on our renewed commitment to helping people, pets and the planet.

One of GreaterGood's exclusive programs is An Image Saves a Life.

These days, many adoptions start online. When examining shelter sites, a potential family will likely be more interested in a photo of a clean, rested animal with little personality than a blurred photo of a dirty, frightened animal. However, when a dog or cat arrives at an animal shelter, taking a photo of them is often one of the first steps of the admission process, when they are frightened, disoriented, uncertain and une arreglated. They're not exactly ready for a "glamour photo."

When a photo is taken at this point, potential families forever see the poor animal at its worst, which harms their chances of being adopted.

The One Picture program saves a life draws attention to this problem and offers a solution. It provides instructions on how to prepare a shelter animal for photos and also offers photographic tips on proper lighting, location and even technology. The program works with shelters and volunteers to learn how to give their animals the best opportunity for adoption.

For most shelter animals, a photo and a basic description are all they have to present to the world online. That photo becomes a big influence on your future. For any shelter, but especially for shelters that overflow and have limited resources, having access to professional photographers who have the right experience and equipment to showcase their animals can change the rules of the game. But in order to pay professional photographers and get additional resources, a shelter needs to find families to adopt their animals.

Otherwise, for some shelters, the only other option is to leave them.

An estimated 8 million pets enter the U.S. shelter system each year. Unfortunately, about half of these poor animals are never adopted. You can help do your part to be adopted by donating or clicking today.

By making a donation or clicking, you can help shelter staff and volunteers have access to the training, supplies, and technology they need to create compelling photographs of adoptable animals. Shelters increase the adoption of their pets, and animals have the best chance possible to find the perfect home forever.

In this video, we follow Helen Hartel as she photographs animals at her local shelter and explains how rewarding One Picture training saves a life. She now volunteers at her local shelter on a regular basis and takes advantage of her photographic skills, saving the lives of animals.