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No More Homeless Pets Forum
March 3, 2003 Maddie's Fund |
How can my community get money from Maddie's Fund? Richard Avanzino, president of Maddie's Fund, answers your questions about how your community can set and reach a no-kill goal, and how Maddie's Fund may be able to help.
Introduction from Richard Avanzino:
Despite world events and the downturn in the economy, Maddie's Fund will keep on giving animal welfare organizations more than $10 million each year to help build a no-kill nation.If your community is committed to ending the killing of healthy shelter pets, if no-kill rescue groups, traditional shelters, animal control agencies and private practice veterinarians are working together, and if you can demonstrate that a significant increase in dollars can get you to an adoption guarantee for healthy shelter animals within five years, Maddie's Fund wants to help you.
Questions
Do Maddie's stringent guidelines discourage groups from applying?
What if you don't have a vet association to partner with?
California vet association program for ferals
Getting animal control on board for Maddie's Fund
Requirements for placing numbers of animals and the quality of homes
Restricting spay/neuter grants to Medicaid recipients
Why doesn't Maddie's fund feral cats?
How soon after divesting from AC contracts can a lead agency apply for funding?
Does Maddie's Fund provide funds for sick and injured animals?
Can animal control be the lead agency if it is going no-kill?
Will Maddie's fund a no-kill lead agency with no shelter?
Can a humane society euthanizing animals at owner request qualify for funds?
How does Maddie's ensure groups are not skewing data?
How do you know if you should apply for Maddie's Fund?
Do Maddie's stringent guidelines discourage groups from applying?
Question from Kathy in OH:
Since Maddie's Fund grant guidelines are so stringent, does this discourage groups from applying? If so, could Maddie's Fund better serve groups or communities to reach no-kill by giving more and smaller grants for spay/neuter programs? Requiring animal control to participate is an immediate defeat in some communities such as mine. Wouldn't it be better to allow organizations to spay/neuter, spay/neuter, spay/neuter (my mantra), to reduce the number of animals ever becoming an animal control statistic?Response from Rich:
Wow. You have a lot of great questions in one small paragraph.The answer to your first question is yes, Maddie's guidelines discourage some groups from applying for grants. Not every group believes in the collaboration we require or has the ability to collaborate, as is the case in your community. Not every group believes in our goals of increasing adoptions and spay/neuter concurrently.
Maddie's Fund grants are for organizations that share the Maddie's Fund principles and have a strong commitment to the goals but simply lack the resources to get the job done. That criteria doesn't appeal or apply to everyone. Communities have to decide for themselves whether a Maddie's Fund grant is something they want and whether the rewards and financial assistance are worth all the effort.
Your spay/neuter mantra is widely shared and as our funding indicates, we, too, believe spay/neuter is critically important. We believe adoptions are equally important for several reasons.
First, we believe animals who have already been born deserve a second chance at life and should not be cast aside while we prepare for a better tomorrow.
Second, surveys indicate that only 15% of the public acquires a new pet from an animal shelter. As animal shelters do more to increase adoptions (adoption events, offsite adoptions) and more to advertise and publicize these activities, more people learn about shelters as a great source of pets and turn to them when they're ready to adopt. This increases "market share" for the shelters and decreases "market share" from pet stores, backyard breeders and other sources. Maddie's Fund believes expanding the market for shelter pets is an important strategy for saving lives now and in the future.
Regarding smaller grants for spay/neuter programs: our funding approach is geared to attain the ambitious goal of providing an adoption guarantee for healthy shelter pets within five years on a community-wide basis. In our view this requires a relatively large and multi-year investment of resources that dramatically increases both the number of spay/neuter surgeries and shelter adoptions. And Maddie's Fund believes an adoption guarantee for healthy animals is a necessary first step in achieving the no-kill nation goal.
What if you don't have a vet association to partner with?
Question from a Member in FL:
I am working with other organizations in the county to pursue a grant from Maddie's Fund, which requires a local Veterinary Medical Association (VMA) to partner with the aligned animal welfare organizations in order to get spay/neuter funds.We currently have no local VMA. Each vet clinic seems to have their own ideas as to what constitutes standards of an animal's general health and welfare. Even if our local vets were to form one, we would still be at a disadvantage, as Maddie's wants to see a VMA with a proven track record. There are many wonderful vets in our area that will spay and neuter for a very low fee (and often take a financial loss as well). We are making neuter before adoption work, but just barely. Yet I do not see any particular vet willing to champion this new cause to move towards getting spay/neuter funds from the Maddie's Fund. Any suggestions?
Response from Rich:
In response to your dilemma, here's what I suggest:If all the other necessary elements for a Maddie's Fund grant are in place in your community; that is, if the animal control and traditional shelters are on board, if you have a lead no-kill agency, etc., fill out the Preliminary Application posted on the Maddie's Fund website (www.maddiesfund.org/grant/app_pre.html) and let us assess your situation. Once we've analyzed your Application, we'll set up a Conference Call and go over it with your group. Your community may have strengths that can help offset the lack of VMA organization. Should that be the case, it might be possible for Maddie's Fund to administer the VMA portion of the project working through local private practice veterinarians. We'll look forward to hearing from you!
California vet association program for ferals
Question from Dani in CA:
I was wondering if you could shed any light on the funding from Maddie's Fund to the California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) for the spay/neuter of ferals? How that managed to come about and if there is any chance of this happening again?Response from Rich:
In 1999, Maddie's Fund and the leadership of the California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) came up with a plan to spay or neuter 60,000 feral cats throughout the state of California. Maddie's Fund offered to subsidize the surgeries and CVMA offered to enlist the support of its statewide veterinary membership to perform the operations over a three-year period.CVMA enrolled over 1,100 member doctors, feral cat caregivers mobilized around the state, and 31,000 cats were sterilized in the first year alone. In year two, 66,400 cats were altered for a combined total of 97,400 cats. In year three, 73,000 cats were sterilized. The grand total of feral cats altered: 170,440. The program ended in May 2002.
It is highly unlikely that we'll fund another feral cat program on such a massive scale. However, we have never stopped looking for ways to eliminate the deaths of feral cats at animal shelters or to humanely control feral cat populations. We have consulted with the nation's leading experts in the field, have conducted many meetings in an effort to come up with new ways of attacking this situation, and are currently working on parameters for a new pilot project. We will be testing the new approach where we have a funded community collaborative program. When it's up and running, we'll post information on our website and in our newsletter.
Getting animal control on board for Maddie's Fund
Question from Hanna:
I have 2 questions. The local 'pound' is extremely difficult to deal with under any circumstance. From all I have read concerning the grant, they must be involved in the big picture.How do you create opening (and continuing) dialogue with government-run shelters so that we can work toward qualifying for a grant from Maddie's Fund?
If, after working diligently to form a spay/neuter coalition that involves the pound, we are unsuccessful, are there any other Maddie's Fund grants we can qualify for to help make a dent in the high number of animals needing this service?
Response from Rich:
Maddie's Fund is using its resources to help build a no-kill nation. Our first step in achieving the goal is to invest in projects that can provide community-wide adoption guarantees for all healthy shelter animals within five years.If animal control organizations are unwilling to relinquish their healthy animals to rescue groups able to place them, the goal cannot be achieved. That's why Maddie's Fund insists on collaborative projects that involve animal control groups.
Having said that, participating animal control agencies are only required to do three things: (1) provide annual statistics for the baseline year, (2) allow rescue groups to take healthy animals the agency can't save, and (3) provide monthly statistics on numbers of animals coming in, adopted and euthanized during the grant period. The statistics are needed so the collaboration and Maddie's Fund can determine if shelter deaths are declining at the required rate.
You can try to persuade your animal control agency to get involved by explaining the many benefits it will receive:
- As Maddie's Fund projects perform more spay/neuter surgeries, fewer animals will be born, reducing the number of animals entering shelters. This will lessen the burden shouldered by animal control programs.
- As rescue groups take more animals for placement, animal control organizations will have fewer animals to handle and fewer animals to euthanize.
- Fewer deaths and reduced shelter volume will cut costs, reduce staff stress and boost morale.
- Animal control groups will benefit from the advertising, publicity and goodwill generated by the collaboration.
- A public/private partnership such as this increases community interest, public and political support for the animals.
Requirements for placing numbers of animals and the quality of homes
Question from a Member:
Our community is attempting to qualify for the Maddie's fund. However, it seems that the program is much more concerned with numbers of animals placed and not the quality of the homes the animals are placed in. For example, we have several very strict animal rescue groups who do great jobs of screening adoptive applicants and finding great homes for dogs and cats. However, the lead no-kill in no way even comes close to placing the numbers required by Maddie's fund, and furthermore cannot screen that many applicants due to an extremely limited number of fosters and volunteers. A member of our coalition suggested that in order to meet the number requirement, we, the coalition, would have to lower the coalition standards (our group will not under any circumstances lower standards) in order to get the numbers of people adopting up to the required level. Isn't this counter productive and shouldn't Maddie's fund be as concerned with quality of placements as number of placements?Response from Rich:
Agencies that apply for a Maddie's Fund grant and those that we have funded have committed themselves to placing animals in loving homes for a lifetime. We would expect no less.The fact is, to do otherwise would be counterproductive. If community shelters have a high rate of return and have to spend time and money placing the same animals over and over, it would be almost impossible to achieve the required death reduction goals.
Restricting spay/neuter grants to Medicaid recipients
Question from a Member:
Has the Maddie's Foundation changed its scope of awarding grants only to spay/neuter programs for Medicaid recipients?Response from Rich:
Maddie's Fund does restrict its spay/neuter grants to Medicaid recipients. Here are the reasons why.It is widely believed within our movement that when it comes to spay/neuter surgery, low-income pet owners are the most underserved group for economic reasons.
Maddie's Fund devised a spay/neuter strategy to reach this target audience and to tap into a very underutilized resource--private practice veterinarians.
By devising an alternate system, one focusing on Medicaid clients and private veterinary hospitals, we add to the number of surgeries currently being performed in spay/neuter clinics.
And we get more veterinarians involved in providing a community-wide safety net of care for the animals. Veterinarian buy-in is enhanced because they agree that Medicaid clients probably wouldn't have the surgery done for their pets without this kind of a discount program.
We selected Medicaid as the means of determining income eligibility because it provides us with a national, uniform standard that we can apply in every community. And by using Medicaid, the collaborative projects are spared the cost of devising and implementing their own eligibility tests, allowing more money to go directly to the animals.
Why doesn't Maddie's fund feral cats?
Question from Denise:
I'm curious why Maddie's no longer funds feral cats. People are continuously bringing feral kittens into our shelter for adoption. While we take as many as we can, there is a limit to the number of foster homes for feral kittens. This leaves the residual kittens to a feral life or euthanized by the county facility. Feral cats are a significant contributor to the cat population problem and I wonder if it is possible to have a no-kill community without adequately addressing feral cats.Response from Rich:
We agree that it's important to end the killing of feral cats at animal shelters. Maddie's Fund has already spent in excess of $9 million to help control feral cat populations.We've just recently completed an extensive review of the data, consulted with feral cat experts, and now we're designing parameters for a new feral cat pilot project that is intended to more effectively reduce feral cat deaths at animal control facilities. Once the project is constructed, we'll test it within our funded community collaborative program framework, and then post the information on our website at www.maddiesfund.org.
It's also interesting to look at how some communities have taken on this issue. Maricopa County AC&C in Arizona, for example, has a TNR program where they fix free-roaming cats for $25 or charge $61 to take ferals into the system, which dramatically reduces the numbers entering. The Dane County Humane Society in Madison, Wisconsin has started a feral cat outdoor home adoption program that has so far eliminated the need to euthanize healthy feral cats.
Comment from Jan in AZ:
This subject is of particular interest to me because my organization AzCATs is devoted exclusively to TNR, primarily in Maricopa County. We partner with AC&C on their TNR facilitation program.I applaud Ed Boks and AC&C for their unwavering support of TNR as the humane solution to the feral cat problem within Maricopa County. I would, however, hasten to disabuse you of any notion that what is happening here has become anything close to a solution to the feral cat problem. I am including my organization's efforts in my conclusion that we do not have anything approaching a solution.
AC&C has a few veterinarians who will work with feral cat caregivers spaying or neutering cats for $25. There is very little veterinary participation. Maricopa County discontinued funding any feral cat sterilization in January of 2002. I realize much of the existing literature says they fund quarterly spay days for ferals but that is a thing of the past. In fact, the last feral cat spay day was in July of 2002 when Best Friends Animal Sanctuary funded a day.
I supported and encouraged adoption of the $61 fee for intake of feral cats. It was an important step. However, there are problems with it. First, there is a "one-time free" rule that is often abused by the general public. Second, another humane organization advocates trap and kill. They readily take in feral cats for a suggested donation of $15 and "kill over the counter."
At the same time the $61 fee discourages impoundment of feral cats, there is no money allocated to sterilize those cats that may otherwise have been killed before producing litter after litter of kittens to flood the shelters. I fear that if our government does not fund sterilization of those cats that in a year or two we will hear, "Okay, we tried your TNR method, it didn't work either. Now back to the killing." Which will leave us worse off than before.
AzCATs has over 400 traps in 14 valleywide depots. Last year we TNR'd 2,834 cats and separately sterilized 2,421 cats through another program. We maintain a waiting list of caregivers who want our help that is generally 150 to 200 entries. Each of those entries represents colonies of varying sizes. Generally the size is 10 to 20 but I have seen colonies of 50 to 80 with regularity. The wait for our help can be as long as 6 months. I have never once seen a reduction in the number of people waiting desperately for our help.
Again, I applaud everything AC&C has done. Just please do not believe we have even begun to address the problem in Maricopa County. The need to fund feral cat sterilization is great.
When you state that Maricopa County's program has "dramatically reduced the numbers entering [the shelter]" do not ever forget that those cats are not sterilized and that their offspring die in those shelters, and likely will again in even greater numbers when the public decides that TNR was a failed experiment in Maricopa County. If there was ever a time to fund feral cat sterilization in Maricopa County, it is now - while much of the killing has stopped, but the breeding has not.
Comment from Ed Boks, Director of Maricopa County Animal Care and Control:
I agree with Jan. Maricopa County is just beginning to commence to start inculcating TNR as the only viable humane methodology for feral cats in our communities. We have had some success. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has publicly declared TNR as the method of choice for dealing with ferals. To the best of my knowledge, they are the first duly elected government officials to ever so go on record, and in so doing, established the direction for all 24 cities and towns in our county.Animal Care & Control has put all the cities and towns on notice that as an agency we will never again provide an irresponsible catch and kill program as a solution to feral cats.
Maricopa County is in the process of implementing TNR on all of its campuses and facility grounds throughout its 9200 square miles. We are training an average of 15 new Operation FELIX Feral Cat Colony Managers every month.
The effort continues and we will not capitulate on this issue. This is a battle of ideas as well as lives and it will take time to convince decision makers that this is the only appropriate course of action. We are making progress.
Unfortunately, this is a very difficult budget year for municipalities. The issue, however, is on their radar screens. No city or town in Maricopa County will ever be able to make a rational argument that TNR does not work, until they have first provided sufficient funding for the effort.
How soon after divesting from AC contracts can a lead agency apply for funding?
Question from Mort in NC:
We are currently beginning construction of a new facility that will have a goal of 100% adoption. We expect to be open in January of 2004. Our current shelter has contracts with three municipalities for animal control, but we are developing a business plan with the county for them to operate all animal control by July 1, 2004. Because of our current contracts, we have not been able to consider a Maddie's Fund Grant. Since we now have a target date for separation of those contracts and a progressive new facility on-line in January, can we begin the process for developing a Maddie's Fund proposal?Response from Rich:
Congratulations on the new building! Your plans for the future sound very exciting.As far as applying for a Maddie's Fund grant, yes, I would encourage you to start the process now. Keep in mind that a no-kill lead agency must be in place before we'll invest in a program (I assume that's the role your organization plans to fill). We would also require the organization to be completely out of its animal control contracts. In fact, it's our preference that the lead agency has a track record as a no-kill before we fund the proposal.
Having said that, the Maddie's Fund prep work (gathering statistics, establishing a coalition, devising a business plan) is time consuming. Starting now puts you in a better position to apply once your new program is operational.
Does Maddie's Fund provide funds for sick and injured animals?
Question from Mary in OH:
Our local shelter needs money to treat sick and injured pets. They don't even have the money to treat kennel cough let alone an injured pet that comes in. And there are only a few foster caregivers because they are expected to pay the vet bill for the pets they foster. Will Maddie's Fund give money for this?Response from Rich:
At this time, Maddie's Fund is not providing grants to treat sick and injured pets. Our first objective is to stop the killing of healthy shelter dogs and cats throughout the nation. We want to end the situation described as too many pets, not enough homes. Once communities can provide an adoption guarantee for healthy shelter animals, we will consider using our resources to fund programs that will rehabilitate the sick, injured and poorly behaved, knowing that when these animals are whole again, there will be a home waiting for them.Can animal control be the lead agency if it is going no-kill?
Question from Michelle:
Would an animal care and control organization that has recently decided to go no-kill be the lead agency for Maddie's funding if the organization's plan includes working with a coalition of rescue groups to increase adoptions? For a group like this, what are the requirements for achieving a proven adoption track record that is acceptable to Maddie's Fund?Response from Rich:
The lead agency in a Maddie's Fund project is normally selected by the collaboration, but the lead agency cannot be responsible for animal control activities.The initial responsibilities for a lead agency include scheduling coalition meetings, gathering baseline statistics, developing consensus on goal attainment strategies, formulating a business plan, and preparing a Maddie¹s Fund Application.
Maddie's Fund prefers the lead agency to have at least a year's track record as a no-kill organization. However, we would review a Preliminary Application if that were not the case. A Preliminary Application might allow us to find other strengths in the proposal that would counterbalance the deficit.
Will Maddie's fund a no-kill lead agency with no shelter?
Question from Wendy in WA:
Does Maddie's Fund award grants in situations where the lead agency has a no-kill philosophy and is working toward no-kill but does not have a physical shelter? Also, does the lead agency have to be large; are there size requirements for the board? We have a small group (with a board of three members) and have developed a low-cost spay/neuter program and programs that help increase adoptions of shelter animals and we are working on a TNR program. We would like to apply for a Maddie's Fund grant some time in the future, but I'm not sure if we would qualify.Response from Rich:
It's possible for Maddie's Fund to award a grant to a small, non-sheltered lead agency. One of our star grantees, Maddie's Pet Rescue Project in Lodi, is in that situation. The lead agency, Animal Friends Connection, is basically a foster network although it houses and adopts about 30 cats out of its office space. When we first funded AFC, the group had no paid staff and a small board -- but they were finding homes for about 500 dogs and cats per year (now they're up to 1,000).However, the lead agency can't be working toward no-kill, it must definitely be no-kill, saving all of the healthy and treatable animals it takes into its care.
Keep in mind, too, that the lead agency has more responsibility than the other coalition members, and so it has to be an organization that can perform certain tasks. For example, the lead agency is responsible for all fund administration, including budgeting and monetary distribution to other groups. Therefore, Maddie's Fund carefully scrutinizes the lead agency to make sure it has proven ability in finance, management and operations. The lead agency is also responsible for such things as collecting data, completing monthly forms, and writing progress reports. Finally, the lead agency is accountable for the project reaching its goals. You might want to go to the Maddie's Fund website, www.maddiesfund.org/projects/lodi_proj.html to look at Lodi's application and budget to give you a better idea of what is involved.
Can a humane society euthanizing animals at owner request qualify for funds?
Question from Peter in NY:
Our local humane society has a longstanding policy of providing euthanasia services for owned dogs and cats. This is true euthanasia for infirm and suffering animals (benefits the animal, not just disposing of unwanted pets). Local vets do not seem to mind.Q: Does this policy and practice disqualify the humane society from being the lead organization in a Maddie's Fund grant?
Response from Rich:
To qualify for a Maddie's Fund grant, the lead agency needs to be no-kill, which means it must save the life of every healthy and treatable animal it takes into its care.If only non-rehabilitatable animals (as defined by Maddie's Fund) are being killed at the humane society, it does not matter if the euthanization is done at the owner's request. Therefore, if the humane society does not kill healthy and treatable animals, even when requested by an owner, it would not be disqualified from being the lead agency.
How does Maddie's ensure groups are not skewing data?
Question from Mary:
I think Maddie's is great and agree with the program. However, I'm concerned about some of the methods being used to achieve no-kill of adoptable animals. There is a large organization in this state that may have applied or may be in the process of applying for a Maddie's grant. They have held meetings with local rescues, and have announced they will be no-kill in 5 years.In the past 6 months, their runs are empty. They refused cats for months because of a distemper problem. Dogs are killed at an alarming rate. The dogs are deemed not adoptable or they fail temperament testing. The person doing the testing is very nice, very knowledgeable, very against the no-kill movement. My concern is that this organization is using temperament testing to open space and achieve no-kill status. Is there any monitoring of applicants to make certain they aren't skewing the numbers by bogus testing methods?
Response from Rich:
Thanks for your kind words.Regarding your question about monitoring applicants, Maddie's Fund doesn't have the time, energy or desire to create a Maddie Police. We begin with the assumption that animal welfare organizations are honest, reputable and devoted to the well-being of their animals. Until proven otherwise, we operate with this assumption as an extension of our own core values of honesty, integrity and mutual respect.
The structure of our grant-giving helps eliminate problems. We require collaborations of animal control agencies, no-kill organizations, traditional shelters, rescue groups and veterinarians. This collaborative structure provides some checks and balances because of all the interaction that takes place in the shelters between the various agency staffs and volunteers.
In addition, as the collaboration designs its strategy, develops a business plan and reports the numbers for a Maddie's Fund application, all of the partners have an opportunity to look at the data, providing further peer review.
Sometimes, groups or individuals like you bring issues to our attention, either through the grant application or as outsiders who chose not to participate in the application process. Maddie's Fund looks into each and every allegation.
Finally, we've found that if being used, "fuzzy math" or bad practices generally come to the surface during our review process. With all of the information we've collected from communities throughout the United States, we've developed a good database that gives us an additional analytical tool to help us evaluate proposals and discover shortcomings and potential misrepresentations. The system may not be perfect, but it seems to be working right now.
How do you know if you should apply for Maddie's Fund?
Question from Megan in IN:
Are there seminars on how to apply for and administer Maddie's Fund grants?Response from Rich:
Maddie's Fund does not conduct seminars on how to apply for or administer our grants. But you can get the information you need in many places:There are helpful articles on the Maddie's Fund website in the Grant Guideline section. "Getting Maddie's Money" and "FAQ's" are just two examples.
It's good to look at applications submitted by other funded projects. These can also be found on the Maddie's Fund website under "Funded Projects".
Even if you're not sure you're doing it right, it's wise to fill out and submit a Preliminary Application. Once this step is completed, Maddie's Fund will set up a conference call with you to give you an assessment and further guidance for your project.
Maddie's Fund staff is very accessible to answer specific questions by telephone or email. (You should go through the first two steps first). The direct line of our Grants Specialist, Shelly Thompson is (510) 337-8978. Our email is info@maddiesfund.org.
Maddie's Fund staff attend major conferences and we are available to answer questions at those conferences. If a Preliminary Application has been submitted, we can set up a meeting to discuss it at the conference.
As for administering the grant, Maddie's Fund will try to supply you with expertise in areas where you may need some assistance. We also like to chat informally by phone with our funded projects once a month to see how things are going and to help resolve any administrative problems that may occur.
