GivingTuesday

Nationwide, this year’s annual GivingTuesday is Dec. 2, 2025, and The Heritage Humane Society invites you to help create twice the lifesaving impact! Thanks to a generous $50,000 matching gift from North Carolina Furniture & Mattress and community pet supporters, every donation will be doubled, meaning $25 becomes $50, $100 becomes $200, and so on.

Founded in 2012, GivingTuesday is a day that encourages people to do good. Since then, it has grown into a year-round global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate and celebrate generosity. For The Heritage Humane Society, this is an opportunity for the local community to support a local issue of housing and caring for homeless pets at Greater Williamsburg’s largest animal shelter.  Now known as the “Most Generous Day of the Year,” this year’s GivingTuesday arrives with powerful reminders of why this support matters more than ever.

Donations to be Doubled this GivingTuesday

Thanks to the incredible $50,000 donation match, every gift made today goes twice as far. Every dollar becomes two dollars for twice the medical care, twice the food and shelter, twice the second chances and twice the love. Every gift is more than a donation, it allows for lives to be transformed like the Toy Story puppies and the Charlotte Court House cats.

Inside the General Fund That Keeps the Shelter Running

A common question donors ask is: “What does my money actually support?”

At The Heritage Humane Society, GivingTuesday contributions go directly to the General Fund, the lifeline that sustains nearly every aspect of shelter operations.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look of how the General Fund is vital to sustaining busy shelter, where more than 2,000 pets a year are supported:

• Life-saving medical care including emergency surgeries, diagnostic testing, spay and neuter procedures, vaccinations, and treatment for illness, injury or neglect. For many animals, this care is the difference between their final chapter or their next, much better, chapter in life.
• Daily shelter operations such as safe, clean and climate-controlled facilities; sanitation supplies; bedding, enrichment toys and kennel materials; utilities and maintenance and repairs. These essentials provide pets with comfort and dignity during their stay.
• Food, nutrition and specialized diets especially as many pets arrive malnourished or with medical dietary needs. Donations help the shelter provide high-quality food, prescription diets, kitten and puppy formula, and hydration and supplements.
• Behavioral care and socialization programs that build adoptable, emotionally healthy pets such as behavioral evaluations, training tools, socialization activities and enrichment programs.
• Community outreach and education including the shelter’s camps, humane education programs, and outreach events help create compassionate, responsible future pet owners like the campers who named the Toy Story puppies.

Here are some examples of how The Heritage Humane Society makes every donation count:

• $25 = provides a set of vaccines for one pet upon arrival to the shelter
• $50 = provides 10 enrichment activities for homeless pets for one day
• $100 = covers the spay/neuter cost for one pet before adoption
• $250 = sponsors food for  most sheltered pets for three days
• $500 = sponsors the cost for one pet from intake to adoption

And today, those donations are DOUBLED! Help us meet this match and provide the life-saving support that we provide for the 222 animals that are currently under our care.

Ways to Give:

The shelter continues feeling the stress and pressures of the nationwide pet crisis with an increasing number of stray and surrendered animals arriving multiple times each day, each with heartbreaking stories of their own, and often their human companions. This GivingTuesday is a lifeline for these pets in crisis, for the community that loves them and for the mission at the heart of The Heritage Humane Society.

• In person. 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m. on Dec. 2 at 430 Waller Mill Road, Williamsburg, VA 23185.
• Online. Anytime between now and Dec 2 at https://donate.heritagehumane.org.

Every donation on GivingTuesday is matched dollar-for-dollar up to $50,000.

Special Thank You To Our Sponsors!

We are so grateful for the support of North Carolina Furniture & Mattress and other community sponsors in our gift match challenge! Thank you for your support of our life-saving mission, and for making sure that every dollar is doubled!