Richard Avanzino is director of Maddie's Fund, a $200 million private foundation dedicated to making the United States a country where no companion animals are killed just because they can't find a home. In the last two years, Maddie's Fund has awarded grants of about $17 million to support the innovative projects of non-profit animal groups.
The Fund is the brainchild of billionaire David Duffield, founder of PeopleSoft Inc., and his wife Cheryl, who established the Fund in memory of their beloved Miniature Schnauzer. The Duffields began by giving the San Francisco SPCA $1 million to build its state-of-the-art Maddie's Pet Adoption Center, and then lured away Avanzino, the SPCA's pioneering leader for 22 years.
For more information, write to Maddie's Fund at 2223 Santa Clara Ave., Suite B, Alameda, CA 94501 or visit www.maddiesfund.org.
Cats: Maddie's grants can't go to government-funded shelters or be used for construction or existing operations. Why are they so restricted?
Avanzino: We have three specific tasks: increasing adoptions, reducing pet deaths and increasing the number of spays/ neuters. My personal opinion is that while many animal shelters would like to see the killing end, they use their dollars in a diffused way. We're trying to correct that by spending millions of dollars on clear objectives that need to be accomplished within five years. We're trying to take the enthusiasm and passion of the animal groups and build a commitment to successful business practices around that. The
goal of Maddie's Fund is to end the euthanasia of all adoptable animals by 2010.
Cats: Is that realistic?
Avanzino: We intend to make it a reality, but to do that we have to remain focused. We see no reason why this job cannot be done, even ahead of schedule. The Duffields are willing to expand to as much as $1 billion if we can prove our hearts and efforts can succeed in meeting the objectives. That's a huge enticement for all of us.
Cats: Where's the money going? Give us some examples.
Avanzino: One of the first grants was to the California Veterinary Medical Association, recruiting about 1,000 vets to spay and neuter feral cats. The goal was to fix 20,000 cats per year for three years with a $3.2 million grant. Instead, in less than a year they did 30,000 surgeries, and we're fully expecting them to do 100,000 surgeries over three years. And we started a new one-year program on August 15 [with CVMA] to spay/neuter all the cats belonging to people on low incomes throughout California. It probably will be extended if it's as successful as the feral cat program. Other states have contacted us and CVMA requesting that we expand the program to various parts of the nation.
Cats: What's the No Homeless Pets in Utah project?
Avanzino: It's the largest grant given by Maddie's—$8 million over five years—and the most ambitious in the number of spay/neuter surgeries to be performed. Goals include reducing the death rate by 33 percent and increasing adoptions by 15,000. The project also guarantees that no animal in a community who is adoptable and healthy will die, guarantees every pet in Utah will find a loving home. (Editor's Note: The statewide coalition of 20 animal shelters and rescue groups, 54 animal control agencies and 52 veterinary hospitals provides a mobile spay/neuter unit, discount pet neutering, a new adoption center, an adoption-information web site and public advertisements.)
Cats: Will that create a no-kill nation?
Avanzino: We mean by "no-kill" saving not only adoptable, but treatable animals—the sick and poorly behaved as well as those who are healthy. That's the next stage and next effort. We look at the world as having adoptable, treatable and "non-rehabilitatable" animals. The tragedy is that today in animal shelters throughout the land, a good number of the animals being killed are healthy, and a fair number are dying because they don't have medical assistance to make their recovery. There's always going to be mercy killing to alleviate pain. Behavior problems, however, are like medical ones—most can be treated—but there are some behavior problems the public is unwilling to accept. First we're trying to attack the problem of animals dying because there's not a home ready and waiting. The next steps are medical attention and behavioral instruction.
Cats: Feral cats are in the treatable category. Do your grants help feral caretakers?
Avanzino: Currently we are not giving grants to any feral cat colony keepers directly— mostly indirectly, by spaying and neutering ferals with a discount coupon. Also, this is an opinion, but as the killing rate goes down, fewer animals will be abandoned and the burden on the feral caretakers will become reduced.
Cats: What about new grants?
Avanzino: The California School of Medicine, probably in the next couple of months, will get money to create a shelter medicine program so we can help animals in shelters who have contagious conditions and have specially trained vets who deal with this as a priority. Also, they're creating a web site so people across the U.S. can see the solutions they're offering regarding cat colonies and group dog housing. There's no limit to the number of proposals, no limit to our spending for the applications that qualify. We are venture philanthropists, which means we're investing in projects funded over several years with a huge amount of dollars but with strict requirements on accountability.
Cats: Won't your goals for treatable and non-rehabilitated pets take more than 10 years?
Avanzino: To be perfectly honest, I don't know if we'll be able to have an adoption guarantee for every community in the U.S. There may be pockets throughout the land that don't have an interest or desire in doing this. I happen to believe there are only a handful of such communities. Obviously, this is crystal ball stuff. If the organizations working together really get energized and creative in their service delivery, which excites the animal lovers to invest greater resources, these goals are not only do-able, they're abundantly easy to do!
Fran Pennock Shaw is an award-winning freelance writer living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
