Banfield Charitable Tr
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Pet Peace of Mind
Pet Peace of MindTM enables hospice patients to keep their pets at home with them throughout the end–of-life journey.
Wellness Plans
Pet Wellness Plans provide examinations, vaccination and important lab tests, all free of charge for qualifying families.
HOPE Funds
HOPE Funds help financially challenged people offset veterinary costs in emergency medical situations.
Pet Food Assistance
Our pet food distribution grants and pet food drives help local Meals on Wheels programs and pet related nonprofits distribute pet food to homebound people.
Pet Advocacy Grants
Pet Advocacy Grants help local pet-focused organizations address unique needs facing their communities with innovative solutions to keep pets and their people together.
Where we work
This profile needs more info.
If it is your nonprofit, add geographic service areas to create a map on your profile.
Login and updateExternal reviews
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?
Since 2004, Banfield Charitable Trust (BCT) has been working to keep the most vulnerable populations together with their pet companions. Among the top national animal assistance nonprofits, BCT is the only organization exclusively focused on preventing circumstances leading to surrender or separation. Every year more than 2 million pets are surrendered to local shelters and more than half of all animals in shelters are euthanized. We believe that many of the euthanasia cases could be prevented through our intervention assistance programming. For many in vulnerable populations such as financially-challenged families, elders, terminally ill, homeless, disabled, mentally ill or homebound people, their pets are their only companions. When these groups must surrender their pets it has dramatic, negative effect on both the pets’ and humans’ lives, and burdens public and private shelters. Without a helping hand from Banfield Charitable Trust’s programs, many pet owners would be faced with the prospect of relinquishing a beloved family member to a shelter where they may face an uncertain future. We believe loving families should be kept together, particularly when all they need is a financial bridge during a challenging time.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Banfield Charitable Trust programs work in one of two ways: 1) address individual crises to keep pets in their homes and 2) provide solutions that get at the root causes of pets being separated from their families.
We deliver program services to make a difference on three levels: 1) we help individuals and organizations facing pet care emergencies or urgent needs; 2) we administer programs that offer compassionate assistance to those in need and 3) we help pet-focused nonprofit organizations with programming to address root causes of surrender through our grant making.
Veterinary Assistance and Preventive Care grants help financially challenged pet owners keep pets healthy and offset costs in urgent or emergency medical situations.
Pet Peace of Mind program enables hospice patients to keep their pets at home with them throughout the end–of-life journey.
Pet Food Assistance grants help local Meals on Wheels programs and community pet food pantries provide pet food to hungry pets.
Pet Advocacy grants help local nonprofit organizations address unique needs facing their communities with innovative solutions to keep pets and their people together.
Emergency Hay Bank programs help struggling companion horse owners feed their equine companions.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
BCT’s well-defined mission allows us to direct all of our energies toward developing, providing or funding programs that address the root causes of surrender. Our funding is used to tackle some of the most commonly cited reasons pets are relinquished to shelters, particularly lack of access to veterinary care, pet food, and the occurrence of an unfortunate life-changing circumstance in a pet owner’s life that may lead to relinquishing their pet(s). For the past ten years, BCT has gained broad experience through our grant-making functions allowing us to develop a knowledge base of best practices for effective programs to keep pets in the home.
BCT has a high level of expertise using donor resources wisely. Each year, we are able to raise nearly $3 million and administer seven programs that collectively help 100,000 pet families annually with a staff of six people. BCT also partners with Banfield Pet Hospital, the nation’s largest veterinary practice, to work collaboratively with thousands of Banfield employees who assist with collecting donations of food and cash. BCT’s collaboration with Banfield also enables the delivery free services through BCT’s preventive care program. BCT is guided by a strong board of directors and an experienced executive director who each bring relevant experience to assist with strategic vision and growth initiatives for the organization’s future.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Since its humble beginning, Banfield Charitable Trust has grown from a public charity helping approximately one thousand families each year to helping 100,000 pet families annually. Banfield Charitable Trust began with two small assistance programs and now boasts seven robust programs. In 2004, Banfield Charitable Trust collected $300,000 in donations; today we collect almost $3 million.
BCT is the largest veterinary assistance funder in the country with two avenues for helping those in need. Through our HOPE Funds program, pet families receive assistance directly from Banfield Charitable Trust. Through our Veterinary Assistance grants, other community based nonprofits receive funding to distribute locally to pet owners in need of veterinary assistance. We have carefully honed a process for allocating funding that serves as a model for other veterinary assistance organizations and results in more funding to help more pets. For both programs, Banfield Charitable Trust maintains strict criteria for assistance which helps ensure that donor funds are allocated fairly, consistently and efficiently.
Through our ground breaking Pet Peace of Mind initiative, we’ve been able to initiate important changes in the human hospice community by helping hospice workers understand that the status of many of their patient’s pets is one of family member and sole companion. Through this understanding, hospices see the need for adopting our Pet Peace of Mind program to help their terminally ill patients and their caregivers with pet care during the time when patients need their pets most.
Our Meals on Wheels (MOW) pet food distribution program is the largest supplier and funder of MOW pet food programs in the country and the demand from new MOW program applicants each year continues to grow. Just as Pet Peace of Mind serves the hospice community, BCT’s pet food initiative is serving the elder population to ensure their pets are well fed which eliminates the need for the elder to share his or her own meal with a beloved pet.
BCT has also developed a funding mechanism for several other types of assistance programs offering help with pet food or virtually any program with a well-documented success keeping pets in their homes and out of shelters. In all cases, BCT’s exercises the same strict screening criteria to help ensure that donor funds are allocated fairly, consistently and efficiently.
While we currently help 100,000 people keep their pets each year, we know the need is far greater. At least 2 million pets are relinquished to shelters each year, and while not every one of those was surrendered out of a loving home, many pet families could have been helped with a BCT program. We must raise more money to meet the growing demand for pets in need, especially in the high demand veterinary assistance grant category. Secondarily, we must raise awareness of our ability to help.
Financials
Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our 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.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
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.
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.
Banfield Charitable Tr
Board of directorsas of 06/05/2016
Mair Lewis
No affiliation
Mair Lewis
No affiliation
Jim Cleary
No affiliation
Jeannine Taaffe
No affiliation
Dave Pederson
No affiliation
Keith Levy
No affiliation
Eric Graves
No affiliation
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
-
Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
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 -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes