A passion for putting pets first — and for staying ahead of the curve — fuels the ASPCA’s innovative strategies, and kept it energized when Katrina-relief efforts, a rebranding campaign and the overhaul of its development department all converged.

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

It’s been a busy couple of years for the ASPCA, which in 2006 is celebrating its 140th anniversary. It started its rebranding effort in February 2005 and launched it last October, in the middle of a major restructuring of its development department — and both came in the throes of its massive Katrina-relief effort, when teams were putting in 18-hour days to raise funds to support shelters and rescue groups in flood-ravaged areas. In the end, the ASPCA brought close to 100,000 new names to file through Katrina messaging, Sullivan says, adding that the overlapping efforts made it difficult to accurately measure the impact of the rebranding. But with that many new names, it was a case of growing now and asking questions later.