ELLIES RAINY DAY FUND INC

Ellie's Rainy Day Fund keeps families together by saving their pets' lives.

Our mission is to protect the love shared between Miami Valley families and their beloved pets by funding emergency and specialty veterinary care.

We therefore strive to prevent the lack of financial resources needed to provide emergency/specialty medical care from threatening to separate humans from their companion animals.

Ellie's Rainy Day Fund partners with veterinarians in the Miami Valley area to help offset the cost of providing reduced, low-cost or no-cost services to clients who might otherwise have to surrender or euthanize their animal companions.

We recognize that our member practitioners are best qualified to determine which clients require support, so Ellie's Rainy Day Fund is administered ONLY through our partner veterinary practices.

Our work is a true partnership: the client pays what they are able to; the veterinarian discounts their fees; and Ellie's Rainy Day Fund pays the rest (which has been donated by fellow local animal lovers that want to help their neighbors).

By working with a network of general veterinary practitioners and an emergency/specialty veterinary hospital, the full range of unexpected veterinary needs is covered in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

Because we have organized a strong network of veterinarians at all levels of care who are committed to preventing economic euthanasia in cases where the pet plays a vital role in the family, we are able to keep more families together by saving their pets' lives.

Funding is a joint effort of ERDF and the veterinary practices so that those clients who have the means in the various practices have the opportunity to help support those who temporarily do not.
100% of monies donated are spent on veterinary care. Administrative costs are supported privately.

We have served a larger number of families in each of the seven years of our operation as Ellie's Rainy Day Fund, and have spent greater funds to do so each year. Veterinary grants have increased from: $4,500 (2015) to $30,000 (2016) to $57,000 (2017) to $80,850 (2018), to $117,000 (2019), to $123,000 (2020) with a corresponding increase in number of families served. There was a temporary dip in services of $81,000 (2021) due to veterinarian shortages/covid. After 10 months in 2022, $158,000 has been spent. As of 10/22, Ellie's Rainy Day Fund has spent $673,000 on veterinary services to keep 388 companion animals with the families who need and adore them.

We grow our veterinary network very carefully to ensure that we can cover the needs of our partners. We have added 1-2 practices/ year, bringing our current total to 70 veterinarians in 9 practices at 11 practice locations throughout Montgomery & Greene Counties in Ohio.

As we continue to grow, we plan to expand our service region throughout Ohio. We also hope to serve as a model for the founding of similar programs throughout the country.