Sarah Barnett

Sarah Barnett is the Executive Director of ACCT Philly, the largest open intake animal shelter in the Philadelphia region, with an intake of nearly 19,000 animals a year. She joined the organization in 2020 as Director, Development and Communications, before becoming the interim Co-Executive Director in 2022 and becoming the Executive Director in January of 2023. As the only open intake shelter in the poorest large city in the country, Barnett has a window into the many challenges facing animals and the people who care for them at a time of economic uncertainty.

With a passion for helping animals and people, Barnett has a unique perspective on animal sheltering (or welfare) and a broad range of experience. She launched and managed social media for the Northern Virginia-based Lost Dog and Cat Rescue for many years while managing their farm animal care and helping to lead their foster program. She worked at the national level in several roles at the Humane Society of the United States, with a focus on public relations, social media and crisis communications. She served as an advisor in the executive office on communications, animal sheltering and equine issues, and deployed to assist in several large-scale animal rescue operations including Hurricane Sandy, the largest cockfighting bust in the country, and what was the second largest dogfighting bust at that time.

Under her management of social media for the HSUS, the organization was recognized as a leader in the use of Twitter for nonprofit engagement, and as “One of the Top 20 Nonprofits on Twitter” by The Huffington Post.

She co-founded and runs the Animal Shelter Social Media Facebook group, a community of more than 1,000 individuals who manage social media at brick and mortar animal shelter or rescue facilities.