Meet David Crawford | Animal Rights Spokesperson and Nonprofit Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with David Crawford and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi David, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
I think our mission provides a good starting point here: Animal Help Now (AHNow) creates innovative apps that empower the public to save wildlife and companion animals and organizes a diverse community focused on keeping these animals safe from human threats.

AHNow’s namesake product – the Animal Help Now app and website (www.AHNow.org) – leverages digital technologies to immediately connect people involved with wildlife emergencies and conflicts with the most appropriate time- and location-specific resources and services, 24/7, nationwide.

AHNow advocates on behalf of wildlife and educates the public about minimizing the everyday threats to wild animals that result in emergencies (such as vehicle strikes, window strikes and cat and dog attacks). AHNow also provides guidance on finding assistance for emergencies involving domestic animals, including lost and found companion animals, animal abuse/neglect, etc.

AHNow not only serves compassionate humans who are trying to help animals – and of course by extension the animals themselves – it also serves animal emergency professionals by providing them with an effective referral tool they and their clients can use to quickly find help for wildlife emergencies.

The organization recently launched Pet Help & Rescue, an app people can use to quickly and effectively communicate with their neighbors when disasters threaten and strike. It is our neighbors, after all, who offer our pets their best chance of rescue if disaster strikes and we aren’t home. Pet Help & Rescue (see www.PHaR.org) provides a dedicated communications channel specifically for pet rescue for people who are not home or otherwise need help evacuating animals. It cuts through all the frantic communications that occur during disasters and lets the user focus on what is paramount – ensuring our dependent loved ones are evacuated to safety. The app does also feature a non-emergency mode, so if you get stuck at work or at the airport, you can quickly and easily ask your trusted contacts to feed the cats or let the dogs out.

I think one thing that motivates the team here is that our work helps elevate the status of animals in society in that it demonstrates by its very existence that animal emergencies deserve immediate and effective attention.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve been an animal advocate since my late twenties. I was fortunate to choose (and have available to me) the right education, studying both mass communication and computer science. Both of these fields informed my advocacy. I’ve done a lot of writing and speaking on animal issues, and for the past 15 years especially have done a lot of technology development in service to animals and the humans who care about them. I think my interpersonal skills are above average, which is helpful. Most animal-focused nonprofits are based on the East or West Coast; being in the middle of the country creates a challenge for us in terms of networking and raising our profile. Most of our growth has been organic, and we have built our reputation along the way. The good news is that usage of our services increases year over year; in 2023 our wildlife emergency service was accessed more than 125,000 times.

Funding is always a challenge, in no small part because we are innovating in the animal advocacy/human services space, and funders can find it difficult to find a spot for us in their giving priorities. Plus fundraising holds little interest to me, and it’s my job!

Animal Help Now prides itself on being a lean organization, with hefty volunteer contributions, the equivalent of just 2.5 FTE, modest wages and very little overhead (e.g., no formal headquarters), a budget that tends to be less than $200k and programs that belie all of these factors.

We also have a strong desire to expand our free services to other countries and a queue of several app ideas that, like Animal Help Now and Pet Help & Rescue, will be impactful lifesavers. Oh, and I pride myself on being the most accessible founder/executive director in the country. Readers should feel free to email me any time at davidc@AHNow.org or call me on my cell at 303-324-5861 : )

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love this question! A full day on South Broadway in Denver, for sure, on a Friday or Saturday so the evening can include music and dancing at the legendary Lincoln’s Roadhouse. Visits to any of the many wonderful rescues and sanctuaries along the Front Range. An overnight trip to La Veta, for the Spanish Peaks, Mexican cuisine, and the Dog Bar. An afternoon in Lincoln Hills, for the astounding African American history and the legendary backcountry disc golf course. Rafting or kayaking on the Poudre. A train ride from Denver to Glenwood (and back), for the hot springs and the fabulous Denver Hotel. City O’ City for happy hour, even though they erred woefully in removing the seitan wings from the HH menu. A hike up to Saint Mary’s glacier (snowfield). Brewpub tour.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to my mom and dad, to the team at Animal Help Now, most of whom are volunteers, and to all animals who are so unfairly challenged by trying to survive in the Anthropocene.

Website: https://www.AnimalHelpNow.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/animalhelpnowapp/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/3217907

Twitter: https://twitter.com/animalhelpnow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnimalHelpNow/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/animalhelpnow

Image Credits
All selfies : )