A 501(c)(3) nonprofit
We raise the money. Rescues save the dogs.
Everybody wins, especially the dogs.
Velvet Hippo is a member-funded 501(c)(3) that bankrolls vetted, foster-based rescues saving the dogs the world counts out.
Members are Blockheads, named for the dogs' big blocky heads. Worn proudly.
velvet hippo (n.)
- A pit bull, according to the people who actually know one.
- Any dog the world got wrong.
The rescue world is funded
like a bake sale.
The people doing the hardest work, saving the least-wanted dogs,
spend half their lives begging for the money to do the other half. We fix that.
How it works
You join.
Membership starts at $9 a month. Your money pools with thousands of other members. Cancel anytime, no guilt trip.
We vet.
We pick foster-based rescues we've actually inspected, and we publish every dollar we send.
Dogs go home.
More vets paid, more dogs pulled, more couches occupied. The math is honestly that simple.
Sponsor a Hippo
Meet the long-stayers.
$35/month. 75% goes to the dog's rescue. 25% runs the platform. Always shown.
Ten years inside dog rescue.
Meredith Trout did the 2 a.m. transports and the vet bills that decide who gets to live. The rescue she co-founded placed 700 dogs in its first year, with no building and no budget worth mentioning.
Now she vets every rescue your money touches. She knows which ones photograph well and which ones do the work, because she was the one doing the work.
The Velvet Hippo
One weekly email.
Good dogs only.
No guilt asks. No grim photos. Stories, updates, and the occasional dog in a hat.