BY: SAMANTHA BARTLETT, DVM
The American Veterinary Medical Foundation created the Veterinary Care Charitable Fund to help veterinarians provide care in cases of financial need, abuse or neglect. The Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and is available only to AVMA member veterinarians.
Clinics that enroll in the Fund can make donations that are tax-deductible and can be used when needed at the veterinarian’s discretion and requires no advance approval from the AVMF. AVMF manages the fund and a small portion of the funds is withheld to cover administrative costs. The Fund website is user friendly and clinics can log in at any time to view the status of their account. Clients can search and donate directly to a clinics fund on the AVMF website.
In addition to the funds in the clinic’s account, members can also apply for a grant from the Greatest Needs Fund if the hospital’s account cannot cover costs for a low-income client. Clinics can request grants from this fund once a year. The public can also donate directly to the Greatest Needs Fund.
Currently there are almost 1200 practices enrolled and the VCCF estimates that over 1200 pets have been helped with the fund. The fund is often used to supplement owner incomes during emergency services such a surgery required because of a hit by car or a good Samaritan rescuing a kitten. Many clients that benefit from these funds are elderly clients on fixed incomes. Many times this fund is the difference between treatment or euthanization.
There are other organizations with funds that contribute to pet care costs for owners with financial need. Many state veterinary associations have a list of local organizations. Additonally, AAHA has a Helping Pets Fund that provides grants to AAHA-accredited hospitals towart the treatment of pets whose owners have finanicial need or for abandoned pets. RedRover is another organization that provides grants to supplement owners with financial need. In addition they have a resource list of other sources of funding on their website at https://redrover.org/resources/library/.
