About Us

Supporting animal welfare orgs since 1981

A Message from Mal Schwartz​

Founder, Shelters United
President, Institute for Nonprofit Excellence (INPEx)

In 1978 I was assigned the responsibility for changing the very negative dynamic between pet food manufacturers and animal welfare organizations and attended my first shelter conference. Little did I know that I would meet some of the best people on earth and have so much fun! I looked forward to every HSUS, AH, or SAWA conference because I had become such good friends with some of the great people who have evolved shelter management to a new level of effectiveness and credibility. Playing an active role in growing the professionalism of SAWA, I used the INPEx comprehensive database of shelters and rescues to help create the first SAWA Resource Directory. This helped make the fact-based case for the enormous influence that shelters and rescues have on the pet parenting population. Some programs that I have been instrumental in providing to animal welfare include Homeless Homer® Adoption Kits, PETelethonsTM, Purina Pro Plan Rally to Rescue, Hill’s Food, Shelter & Love, Revolution donation program, and Zoetis for Shelters. Pets are an indispensable part of my life. When my late wife passed away after 33 years together, I truly believe that Bernie, a lab/border collie mix I adopted from the ASPCA in NYC, saved my sanity. I was chair of the Delta Society (Pet Partners) and taking Bernie through the training and volunteering as a therapy team at the New York-Presbyterian Children’s Hospital gave me a purpose and an anchor to hang on to. My wife Laura and I live in Carmel CA with good old Bernie, Zephyr a 12-pound Persian, and Thor a 134-pound Great Pyrenees/Collie mix we adopted from the Monterey  SPCA when he was only 75 pounds (who knew?). The mission of INPEx has always been to help nonprofit animal shelters and rescue groups save money by sourcing manufacturer and distributor discounts on products needed to heal, protect, and adopt out healthy pets. Now with great partners like MWI Animal Health, Virbac and Virox Rescue, we are launching the latest platform to help bring our mission to life. I look forward to continuing working to support you! If we have met, I hope you will send me a note and remind me of when and where we had the pleasure to connect!! For the animals, Mal

Meet the Team Advancing the Animal Welfare Cause

Mal Schwartz

Founder

Amy Pentkowski

Senior Member Consultant

Andy Skibitsky

Director, Membership Services

Anthony Cheski

Program Manager of Strategic Initiative

Bill Bennington

Founder, Institute for Nonprofit Excellence

Brooke Miller

Member Consultant

David Wasserman

Member Consultant

Ed Haddad

Business Development Lead

John Sommer

Finance

Julie Bank

Shelter Consultant

Larry Feldstein

Member Consultant

Marcie Grube

Director, Integrated Sales and Marketing

Mary Beth Hewitt

Director of Membership

Peter Wragg

VP Business Intelligence

Peyton Schreiber

Senior Member Consultant

Shay Atik

Chief Technology Officer

Tali Thomas

Chief Operating Officer

Our Long History of Serving The Animal Welfare Community

The mission of Institute of Nonprofit Excellence (INPEx) is to help nonprofit animal shelters and rescue groups save money by sourcing manufacturer and distributor discounts on products needed to heal, protect, and adopt out healthy pets.

Shelters United is the latest way INPEx is bringing our mission to life.

We’re a dedicated team of animal shelter experts that have been supporting animal welfare organizations like yours since 1981. You might be familiar with some of the programs we’ve taken nationwide, such as award-winning Zoetis For Shelters, Purina Pro Plan Rally to Rescue, and Homeless Homer Adoption Kits.

How much will your organization save?

Share 5 products you normally buy and we’ll see if you can get it cheaper with our pricing and discounts! If the savings make sense, we’ll talk about how easy it is to join and start saving.

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Name*

WAIT!
This is your chance to put those hard earned donor dollars back in your pocket.

Tell us about your organization and name a few products you’d love to find a discount on. We’ll see if we can get it cheaper for you.

"*" indicates required fields

Name*

WAIT!
This is your chance to put those hard earned donor dollars back in your pocket.

Tell us about your organization and name a few products you’d love to find a discount on. We’ll see if we can get it cheaper for you.

"*" indicates required fields

Name*