Volunteers are the Heart and Soul of Dallas Pets Alive!
Volunteering your time, creativity and skills makes an impact—for you and homeless pets!
- You will make a lasting difference in many animals’ lives
- Volunteering is good for your emotional, physical, and mental health
- You will grow personally and professionally, and learn new skills
- You will make connections with amazing, like-minded people
To volunteer with Dallas Pets Alive! you must:
- Complete our Volunteer Application.
- Review and sign our Volunteer Agreement.
- Attend Orientation and any applicable training requirements.
Check out our current Volunteer opportunities here.
Apply to Become a volunteer today!
Volunteering FAQs
DPA! Offers both virtual and in person opportunities that offer flexibility and a rewarding experience. Whether you prefer working from home or if you are wanting to interact with animals (or both!), we have varying needs across all skill sets. After ten years of hard work serving the animals in need across North Texas, we will be opening our doors to a beautiful new Adoption Container at Community Beer Company in Dallas, TX in the Spring of 2023. Volunteering with DPA! is also a great way to meet people and we love hosting social events to get together – and we cannot wait to utilize our Adoption Container!
To inquire about group volunteering or utilizing our Adoption Container please email volunteer@dallaspetsalive.org for more information.
Below is an alphabetical listing of our teams within the organization:
Adoptions Team
Help our animals get adopted by monitoring the email box for requests for information, adoption applications, follow ups, and other correspondence with prospective adopters, as well as help coordinate adoption meetings. These are virtual roles.
Alumni Team
Ensure the health, safety, and overall well-being of our adopted dogs and cats by maintaining relationships with adoptive families of DPA! pets and helping to provide guidance and assistance on any challenges faced by the new family. These are virtual roles.
Events
Promote DPA’s mission by volunteering at our adoption and fundraising events held throughout the DFW area. Assist with handling dogs as well as talking with potential adopters and others at the event about our adoptable pets and DPA!’s mission. Most adoption events are held on weekends and last from 3-6 hours.
Foster
Provide temporary care for cats or dogs in your home until they can be adopted. Fostering is what allows us to pull animals from the shelter. The more fosters we have, the more animals we can save! You must be the owner/renter of home and fill out a Foster Care Application. See our Foster page for more information.
Foster Support
Foster & Medical Team roles. Help support foster families with behavioral or medical needs and maintain records as a Foster Representative, keep our pets up to date on our website as a Foster Administrator, screen new foster homes as a Foster Application Vetter, write creative biographies for our pets as a Foster Bio Writer, or assist in reviewing and maintaining medical records for our foster pets as a Medical Coordinator! These are virtual roles.
Fundraising team
Help us grow and save more animals by helping plan and execute fundraising events as well as contributing ideas for fundraising.
Marketing/PR/Graphic Design
Help educate the public about DPA and our mission. Seek out public speaking opportunities, presentations at local fairs, farmers’ markets and other events; distribute promotional materials at events and local businesses; help create collateral items like brochures, ads, posters and fliers. Help manage our social media presence. These are primarily virtual roles.
PASS – Positive Alternative to Shelter Surrender
Help keep animals from entering the shelter system by providing support and alternatives to families who are considering taking their pet to the shelter. Roles are both in person at DAS and virtual.
Photography
Help us market our animals and DPA! better by taking digital photos of foster animals and events for marketing materials. Experience and DSLR camera strongly preferred.
Rescue Coordinator
Work to evaluate animals at Dallas Animal Services (DAS) to bring into our program based upon available space; meet foster pickups at DAS or provide for transport to foster home. This requires working at DAS at least once a month.
Transport
Help get our animals where they need to be by transporting them from Dallas Animal Services, boarding facilities, or foster homes to adoption sites, vet visits and similar, and back, using your own vehicle.
Trap, Neuter, Release Cat Program
Help us reduce the feral cat overpopulation by assisting and educating the community about outdoor cats. TNR volunteers provide resources to citizens on the benefits of community cats, how to prevent the overpopulation of outdoor cats, and how to manage colonies. Roles are both in person/hands-on and virtual.
Volunteer Coordination
Help us increase our volunteer numbers and engagement by recruiting volunteers, helping them to find a role within the organization, participating in volunteer orientations, and answering questions about volunteering. These are primarily virtual roles.
Website/Other Tech Support
Design, program and update our website, support our databases, and provide media/tech support. These are primarily virtual roles.
DPA requires that all volunteers are 18 years of age or older to volunteer virtually and/or in person.
If you have a special request or circumstance to be considered for volunteers 17 years of age or younger (examples include school groups/scouts/etc), please email volunteer@dallaspetsalive.org Any volunteer under the age of 17 years old will require a parent/guardian to also complete the volunteer application, attend orientation and supervise all volunteer activities of the minor.
Animals do not discriminate and neither do we. DPA! is committed to creating and maintaining a diverse culture that reflects the uniqueness of the animals and the communities we serve. We embrace challenges and lead with positive intent, welcoming all people who have a caring and compassionate dedication to animal welfare.
Dallas Pets Alive! champions a world where:
Both ends of the leash are respected and honored. All individuals are treated with dignity, compassion, and understanding.
The golden rule is expected: Treat all living beings as you would like to be treated.
DPA! has a zero tolerance discrimination policy. Unfair or prejudicial treatment of people and groups based on characteristics such as race, gender, age, or sexual orientation will not be tolerated.
If you are seeking community service hours for school, an organization, or personal pleasure, please follow the steps above for How do I become an DPA! volunteer?. You will be in charge of any documentation, including tracking your volunteer hours on your own time sheet. You may request than an DPA! supervisor initial your time sheet each time you volunteer. If you require other documentation of your volunteer hours including DPA! letterhead, please contact volunteer@dallaspetsalive.org before beginning your service.
At this time DPA does not offer court ordered community service opportunities.
To become a volunteer, complete the Volunteer Application. Once you complete the volunteer application, we will review the application and be in contact for next steps. Be sure to check your spam filter to make sure you don’t miss our email!
To inquire about group opportunities please email volunteer@dallaspetsalive.org.