Nationwide Animal Welfare Reform is a national campaign founded and led by Susan Joseph, who also runs The Hotel for Homeless Dogs. This isn’t about awareness, it’s about action. Susan travels county by county, from communities with failing shelters to those with no shelter at all, to expose cruelty, demand accountability, and push for real reform in America’s most neglected and overlooked animal welfare systems.
Nationwide Animal Welfare Reform (NAWR) is a national campaign under the 501(c)(3) nonprofit umbrella of The Hotel for Homeless Dogs. While The Hotel rescues and rehabilitates individual animals, NAWR exists to overhaul the broken systems that allow them to suffer in the first place, pushing for accountability, transparency, and lasting reform in communities across America.
Susan focuses on publicly funded shelters – city and county-run facilities where animals are dying on the taxpayer’s dime and on communities with no sheltering system at all, where animals are left to suffer on the streets, out of sight and out of mind. These are the places with the least transparency, the lowest standards, and the most cruelty. We go wherever the neglect exists, to uncover the truth and push for change.
Susan uses a mix of direct reports, public records, whistleblower tips, and her own research to determine which counties to prioritize. She looks for patterns of cruelty, mismanagement, retaliation, and neglect—especially where leadership refuses to act.
Yes. Many of the most critical reports come from staff and volunteers afraid to speak out publicly. Susan honors every anonymous submission and never shares identifying details without permission.
Susan reviews every submission. If it connects to an ongoing investigation or exposes new issues, it becomes part of a larger strategy. That could include public exposure, direct outreach to leadership, or legal escalation.
Every dollar supports the work Susan is doing on the ground—traveling into shelters, documenting abuse, engaging legal teams, working with media, and rebuilding shelter systems that are beyond broken. This is reform work, not marketing fluff.
If you’re in a position of leadership and ready to be honest, yes. Susan offers real solutions—but only to shelters willing to confront what’s wrong and commit to change. If not, she’ll bring the truth to light.
This isn’t a volunteer-based effort like traditional rescues. But if you have professional skills—legal, journalistic, investigative, policy-based—reach out. Susan works with serious people ready to create serious change.
Share the evidence. Contact your local officials. Follow the investigations. Speak up. And if you’re in a county that’s hiding cruelty – report it. Susan can’t be everywhere at once, but with your information and your financial support, she can expose what others try to bury and push for the reform animals desperately need. Every donation fuels the mission and takes us one step closer to ending this cruelty for good.