Meet Our Winners 🎉
This year marks 25 years of the Anthony V. Martin Charitable Foundation supporting animal welfare organisations across the UK and beyond. To mark the occasion, we ran our biggest awards programme to date, and the response was extraordinary. We received a remarkable number of entries, and the standard was exceptionally high, making this one of the hardest judging processes in the Foundation's history.
We're delighted to share the 10 charities awarded grants this year, along with four standout runners-up who also received funding in recognition of their work.
1) Sheep Ahoy Animal Rescue
Sheep Ahoy cares for neglected and abandoned sheep, giving animals that are so often overlooked a second chance. Last year the charity purchased five acres of their own land — a significant step forward — and they also work with Special Educational Needs schools, bringing pupils on-site to volunteer and connect with the animals in their care. They rely entirely on donations to cover significant veterinary and feed costs.
This grant will fund the installation of a mains water supply to their land — a vital piece of infrastructure that will make a real difference to how the charity operates day to day.
2) Maria’s Animal Shelter
Maria's has been rescuing animals near Truro in Cornwall for 26 years. They take in over 300 animals every year — mostly small domestic animals that have been abandoned, relinquished, or abused — and the vast majority arrive needing some form of health care. The shelter has a long relationship with the Foundation: a previous AVM grant in 2019 funded a recovery room that is still in use every single day.
This grant will go towards installing a portacabin on site, providing the indoor space the team so urgently needs to continue caring for animals and supporting the people who bring them in.
3) The Fox Project
The Fox Project is a wildlife rescue charity dedicated entirely to foxes, operating across a vast area of Kent and the surrounding region. They have already rescued over 900 foxes this year, and more than 1,500 last year — taking in sick, injured, and orphaned animals, rehabilitating them, and releasing them back into the wild.
This grant will allow the charity to purchase a climate-controlled ambulance of their own, replacing an expensive lease vehicle and giving the team reliable, year-round transport for the animals in their care.
4) Pawprints Dog Rescue
Based in Warwickshire, Pawprints provides a safe space and a second chance for some of society's most vulnerable dogs — strays, surrenders, and dogs with complex needs that other rescues can't accommodate. The charity has been growing steadily, taking on more dogs each year, while also investing time in educating and supporting local dog owners to help prevent relinquishment in the first place. They are a previous recipient of AVM Foundation funding.
This grant will fund a new estate car fitted with dog crates, expanding the team's capacity to transport dogs safely, respond to emergency vet runs, and reach more people in the community.
5) Blue Acre Horse Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre
Blue Acre rescues and rehabilitates horses, and also cares for dogs, chickens, goats, and pigs. What makes the centre particularly special is its work with young volunteers: the team actively teaches the next generation all aspects of horse and stable management, from first aid and grooming to feeding and riding — giving many young people access to horses they would never otherwise have. Crucially, that hands-on handling also helps the rescued horses themselves learn to trust humans again, making them eligible for rehoming.
This grant will fund the creation of a new hardstanding and covered hay store on the centre's site, giving horses a sheltered space to be fed and groomed in bad weather.
6) Prickles and Paws Hedgehog Rescue
Founded in 2010 by a mother and daughter in Cornwall, Prickles and Paws became a registered charity in 2017 and has gone from strength to strength. In February 2026, the charity moved into a brand new purpose-built hedgehog hospital on the Carnanton Estate near Newquay — a project costing over £300,000, partly funded by a previous AVM grant. They treat, rehabilitate, and release hedgehogs back into the wild, giving a vital lifeline to one of the UK's most beloved but threatened species.
This grant will fund the fit-out of a new isolation unit — Chrissie's Cabin — for hedgehogs with infectious conditions, alongside a dedicated maternity unit for mothers with hoglets, helping the charity make the most of their extraordinary new facility.
7) The Surge Sanctuary
Founded in 2020 and run entirely by volunteers, The Surge Sanctuary provides lifelong care for around 150 rescued farmed animals — including cows, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, and turkeys. Led by founder Abi Crumpton, the sanctuary treats each animal as an individual, giving them the care and dignity they deserve. As well as caring for the animals, the team runs public education events and sanctuary tours, helping people connect with farmed animals in a new way.
This grant will complete the final phase of a winter barn for the animals in their care — covering the electrical connection, internal lighting and power, and the interior fittings that will make the space fully functional.
8) The Southern Thailand Elephant Foundation
Based at a veterinary centre in Khok Kloi, Phang Nga province, the Southern Thailand Elephant Foundation provides free veterinary care for kept elephants across Southern Thailand. Their mobile clinic visits around 300 elephants every year, their education work reaches local communities and students, and their research programme is helping to improve Asian elephant health on a broader scale. The Foundation is chaired by Merry Smith, a specialist veterinary surgeon with an exceptional depth of expertise in elephant medicine.
This grant will fund a 12-month research project into Elephant Endotheliotrophic Herpes Virus (EEHV) — a serious and often fatal disease — supporting surveillance work that could pave the way towards a future vaccination trial.
9) Animal SOS Sri Lanka
Animal SOS Sri Lanka rescues animals from some of the most extreme situations imaginable — road accidents, severe abuse, and devastating injuries including those caused by Hakkapat explosive jaw-bombs. Where other organisations might not be able to help, Animal SOS intervenes: providing surgical care, rehabilitation, and long-term sanctuary for animals that would otherwise be abandoned or euthanised. They also run community neutering programmes in the surrounding area, tackling the root causes of street animal suffering.
This grant will fund an experienced veterinary surgeon for a full year, restoring vital on-site surgical capacity and allowing the charity to restart its life-saving neutering programmes.
10) Brent Lodge Wildlife Hospital
Based at a veterinary centre in Khok Kloi, Phang Nga province, the Southern Thailand Elephant Foundation provides free veterinary care for kept elephants across Southern Thailand. Their mobile clinic visits around 300 elephants every year, their education work reaches local communities and students, and their research programme is helping to improve Asian elephant health on a broader scale. The Foundation is chaired by Merry Smith, a specialist veterinary surgeon with an exceptional depth of expertise in elephant medicine.
This grant will fund a 12-month research project into Elephant Endotheliotrophic Herpes Virus (EEHV) — a serious and often fatal disease — supporting surveillance work that could pave the way towards a future vaccination trial.
Our Runners Up
Each of the following charities has been awarded a runner-up grant of £5,000 in recognition of the quality of their entry and the importance of their work.
11) Diana Brimblecombe Animal Rescue
A small, dedicated rescue centre that accepts and rehomes hundreds of cats and kittens every year. The team deals with strays, hardship surrenders, pregnant cats, and unwell animals in need of urgent veterinary attention, all while navigating significant financial pressure following the Covid period and rising vet fees.
12) Leicestershire Wildlife Hospital Trust
The only wildlife hospital facility in Leicestershire, specialising in the rehabilitation of birds of prey. The Trust works closely with the RSPCA and local vets, relying on dedicated volunteers to provide care and recovery space for wild bird casualties before releasing them back into the wild.
13) Bright Eyes Animal Sanctuary
A dog and cat sanctuary spanning Fermanagh and Tyrone in Northern Ireland, founded in 1989 by Pat Nolan. For decades, the sanctuary has taken in neglected, abused, and unwanted dogs and cats, providing a loving environment until they can be rehomed, continuing the legacy its founder began.
14) Associazione Etica Antispecista Jill Phipps
An Italian, entirely volunteer-run animal sanctuary operating under an anti-speciesist ethical philosophy, named in honour of Jill Phipps, the UK animal rights activist. The sanctuary rescues animals and provides them permanent homes, and is currently working to expand its land to give animals more space and better protection from hunters and local wildlife threats.
Congratulations again to all our winners and runners up. And to everyone who applied, thank you, not just for entering, but for the incredible work you do for animals, day in and day out - we truly appreciate you!