Twin Cities region, Minnesota

The Animal Humane Society (AHS) in Minnesota sent a team to Houston for five days to help with Hurricane Ike recovery efforts—a trip that occurred three years to the week after animal welfare groups from Minnesota sent staffers to respond to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which helped spur a merger among the organizations. Here, a bird gets a healing touch from Kathie Johnson, left, the AHS’ director of animal services, and animal care technician Jose Nieto. ANIMAL HUMANE SOCIETY

The organization: Animal Humane Society

Year established: In 2007, three Twin Cities area organizations—the Animal Humane Society (established 1891), the Greater West Metro Humane Society (established 1980), and the Humane Society for Companion Animals (established 1878)—merged to form a new Animal Humane Society.

Website: animalhumanesociety.org

Resources: Annual budget of $11 million; operates five facilities (in Buffalo, Coon Rapids, Golden Valley, St. Paul, and Woodbury); 255 employees (157 full time, 98 part time); more than 1,500 volunteers contributed more than 100,000 hours in 2007

A more perfect union: In the animal welfare field, where passions run high and there are “a thousand different ways to do something,” you don’t see a lot of mergers, says Janelle Dixon, president and CEO of the Animal Humane Society (AHS) in Minnesota. Often, if people don’t like the way things are getting done by one group, they go off and start their own. “There has been this tendency to separate and divide,” she says, “versus coming together to be stronger.”

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