TOP DOG FOUNDATION INC
Every dog deserves a great life
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Every day, someone's lifelong, loyal friend is abandoned or left behind. Senior dogs all too often risk euthanasia only because of their age and health conditions, not the quality of life they have left to live and give.
Our goal is to make people see and experience the true value of these ElderPups.
For ElderPups who are abandoned or orphaned, we provide a loving environment to make their last years their best years.
For people concerned about their ElderPups outliving them, or for seniors moving into assisted-living facilities that don't allow pets, we provide a soft landing place for senior dogs when the time comes.
For senior people looking for canine companionship, we improve two lives by matching them with loving ElderPups.
For trust and estate attorneys, we provide the best--and sometimes only--fulfillment option for their clients who create pet trusts.
For family members who inherit ElderPups they don't want, we provide an alternative to neglect, dumping, and euthanasia.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Seniors for Seniors Adoption
We rescue, rehabilitate and place senior dogs in loving, vetted adoptive homes. Our ideal is to match senior dogs with senior people connecting two lives to benefit from the warmth, companionship and bond that enhances each life.
Dogs live in foster homes prior to adoption, never cages or kennels.
We do not charge an adoption fee.
We provide veterinary care for each dog prior to adoption to restore health and provide preventative health care.
Top Dog Sanctuary
We are creating a state-of-the-art facility--not a shelter but a home--for 100-120 senior dogs who have lost all other options.
This extraordinary sanctuary is designed to breathe new quality and love into the lives of senior dogs who would otherwise be euthanized due to age and health issues. The Sanctuary will be staffed with trained professionals who provide nutrition, comfort, companionship, and any range of needed support.
Well-socialized dogs will room together in large suites with 5 or 6 friends who enjoy each other's company. They will have plush beds and doors leading to private patios. Group activities will be planned to keep them engaged, including walking trails and an indoor park for bad weather. Weekly checkups in the onsite veterinary clinic and appropriate therapies will ensure they are healthy and happy.
The onsite veterinary clinic, convalescent care, hydrotherapy/ultrasound therapy, 20,000 square foot outdoor park, indoor park, training center and crematory will also be available for public use. This will provide ongoing financial support for the Sanctuary residents as well as continuing community engagement.
Pet Trusts and Plans
Top Dog offers a unique opportunity for people to safeguard their dog's future if they pre-decease the dog or become unable to provide care.
Working with an estate planner, people can name Top Dog Foundation as the legal, trusted caregiver for their dog. Individuals may designate either a vetted adoptive home or the Sanctuary as a secure and soft landing spot for their dog. In all cases, Top Dog Foundation follows the dog throughout life to ensure quality and the dog's best interests.
Why do people need a pet trust?
Even the most conscientious and loving dog owners sometimes fail to account for every life scenario. The most common mistake is assuming that a friend or relative will take care of a dog, only to discover they won't or cannot afford it. In these cases, senior dogs, or ElderPups, often end up in shelters where they're much more likely to be euthanized.
We offer three specific care plans. We welcome and care for dogs who have no one to financially support their care, but individuals who can specify funds for care help support the Sanctuary even as they provide care for their own dog.
The three care options include:
1. Top Dog Foundation matches a dog with a carefully screened adoptive home. We monitor the dog's quality of life in their new environment. If needed, we welcome the dog to the Sanctuary at the appropriate time. An estate plan specifies payment to Top Dog Foundation.
2. A dog meets the Sanctuary's age and health criteria* and lives there. Enrollment fees are on a sliding scale, based on the age of the youngest owner at the time of enrollment. Payment can be made through a pet trust at the time of death or we offer significant discounts if individuals prepay when the pet trust is created.
3. Individuals choose to have a dog live at Top Dog Country Club, a vacation boarding facility located next door to the Sanctuary's site. An estate provides the annual cost of care plus 5% for a medical fund. When age and health warrant, the dog moves to the Sanctuary.
We also rescue ElderPups and provide care from donations we receive. Individuals may also designate Top Dog Foundation as caregiver in a pet protection plan they create themselves (without a lawyer) but we believe the safest protection for a dog is a legally enforceable pet trust.
We believe pet trusts also help older people feel that they can continue to keep a dog in their life (rather than say, "This is my last dog...") knowing that the dog's future can be assured even if they can no longer care for the dog. This is a win-win for dogs needing a home and seniors who benefit from their companionship.
* 10 or more years adjusted by breed with treatable health issues
Where we work
External reviews
Videos
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our mission includes a push to encourage people to see and experience the true value of senior dogs. We are creating a nationwide movement that chooses to value seniors across species: With our public awareness campaign to value ElderPups, we foresee pulling along a movement to value human seniors as well.
Our 5-Year Vision:
**Our first Sanctuary is full, and we are opening a second sanctuary near a prominent senior living campus.
**We have an active program of bringing senior dogs and senior people together to benefit both.
**The ElderPup movement has "gone viral," as senior dogs have a new cachet, leading the way for ElderPups to be esteemed in all kinds of homes.
**Top Dog Foundation is synonymous with ElderPup advocacy, known as a source for reliable information on all things senior and considered to be THE fulfillment option for people creating pet trusts.
**Millions of people have the attitude that would bring about bumper stickers proclaiming, "I HEART ElderPups."
All of which is to say, our 5 Year Vision is that we are moving markedly forward to the day when no one feels justified to say to a vet, "Look at her. She's old," as a reason to euthanize a dog and no one dumps a dog on a street or in a field because of (treatable) health issues that coincide with older age. We are moving markedly to the day when senior dogs are seen to be just as adoptable as younger dogs, and indeed, when these loyal, loving best friends are cherished in their original homes rather than discarded as a commodity that is no longer convenient.
We look forward to the day when we can abandon the statistic that only 20% of dogs live out their lives in their original homes. We look forward to the day when we can utterly shred the statistic that 56% of dogs who enter a shelter are euthanized.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
In 2018 we will produce three public awareness campaigns. The first focuses on pet trusts, the second is a rebranding of "senior dogs" to "ElderPups" that includes promoting the adoption of senior dogs, and the third is an end-of-year fundraising campaign that focuses on financing construction of the Top Dog Sanctuary.
We are also heading up a growing network of rescues who focus on senior dogs, a collaboration that we intend will help everyone place more senior dogs in more adoptive homes. This collaboration allows us to save senior dogs NOW even as we prioritize raising funds to build a Sanctuary.
TDF also benefits other rescue groups by taking on the seniors who are currently viewed as less adoptable. This allows these rescues to place younger and more adoptable dogs through their programs, so that more dogs can be saved and rehomed.
Each of these strategies is laser-focused on eliminating the unnecessary euthanasia of senior dogs.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Top Dog Foundation is small but mighty. Our Founder, Development Director, and Board of Directors are all entrepreneurs and marketing professionals whose experience includes building some of the biggest consumer and service brands in the country (Kellogg's, McDonald's, Marriott, and more).
Our Advisory Council includes legal experts in pet trusts and financial planning.
We have the additional commitment of a small Chicago-based agency with a proven capacity to raise awareness and promote action among digital audiences.
We have raised $500,000 of the $2 Million goal for construction and first year operating costs of the Sanctuary. We have the property use donated. We have the construction plans and county approvals. The Sanctuary will be located next to its for-profit model, Top Dog Country Club, a wildly successful vacation boarding facility that broke new ground 18 years ago and has not slowed since. Top Dog Country Club donates fully 10% of its profits to the Foundation and will continue to do so.
We are already successfully establishing a local network of rescues and pet trust resources to help us fulfill our promise to save more dogs through multiple methods. We are reaching out to national partners to add to these successes.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Top Dog Foundation is synonymous with quality care of senior dogs in our local region. We look to expand this reputation nationally.
We have rescued more than 150 senior dogs with a very small core of volunteers. The majority of dogs required veterinary care for quality health. We are foster-based, and we have not euthanized any dog prior to it being placed in its forever home because of our commitment and capacity to restore health and well-being. We work with adopters when the quality of life of a dog declines, always holding the dog's best interests as the priority.
The need for a Sanctuary--and our vision to create sanctuaries across the country--is pushing TDF to action with a new momentum.
We have raised 25% of the funds needed to build Top Dog Sanctuary and fund its first year of operation. The Board of Directors identified the Sanctuary as the top priority in early 2018, and invested in hiring its first Development Director shortly thereafter. The awareness, networking, and fundraising campaigns are a direct result of this commitment. The Sanctuary remains at the core of all we do, even as we strive to build our capacity to save senior dogs concurrent with the capital building campaign.
We believe every dog deserves a great life, and that the last chapter of their life can be the best chapter. "Digging the hole" for the Sanctuary will help us write those chapters.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
TOP DOG FOUNDATION INC
Board of directorsas of 10/29/2018
Ms. Jean Stelten
Founder
Term: 2004 -
Jean Stelten
Founder
Caroline Melberg
Small Business Mavericks
Pam Kosanke
Rugby International Marketing
Board leadership practices
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Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes