Veterinary Care Foundation (VCF) ─ The Gift That Keeps on Giving, by Kathy Wilson

Imagine you’re 80 years old and on a fixed income. You’re able to live comfortably and pay all your bills unless something extraordinary comes along. And then your beloved pet is injured or becomes seriously ill and everything changes. What do you do?

Now imagine you’re a house call vet working tirelessly to keep your patients healthy from “kitten and puppy hood” to their elder years. You know your clients’ circumstances and there are times when you want to provide compassionate care for hardship cases just like this one at little or no cost, but you just don’t have the means to do so. Is there any way to help when costly interventions are needed or do you just have to walk away?

Veterinary Care Foundation to the Rescue

Veterinary Care Foundation (VCF) puts these two problems together with a simple and ingenious solution. It is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charitable foundation created for the specific purpose of helping veterinary practices fund the discounted and no charge care their patients need, putting generous donors together with hardworking vets to extend their services and impact. Unlike other veterinary charities, 100% of every contribution to the Veterinary Care Foundation and its member practices goes directly to improving and extending the quality of life of pets and their people, and 100% is tax deductible for donors.

How VCF Works

• Vets establish a membership with VCF.

• Donors contribute to their vet’s VCF account.

• All donations are tax deductible and go directly to members’ practices.

• All Foundation operating expenses are met by nominal membership dues paid by vets.

• VCF provides a website portal and takes care of all paperwork and accounting related to these donations.

Foundation funds are intended for the following use:

• Funding Good Samaritan cases.

• Assisting pet owners in crisis.

• Caring for police/fire and service animals.

• Helping pets harmed or displaced due to disasters like floods or fire.

• Other charitable purposes at the practice’s discretion.

Give To Get So Much More

Very few of us look forward to the dreaded vet visit. It can be nerve-wracking, even frightening, for both pets and pet owners … and with good reason.

• What’s going to need to be done?

• How miserable is my cat or dog going to be before it’s over?

• And how much is it going to cost?

On the one hand, you love your pet and want only the best for them. On the other hand, you don’t have hundreds, even thousands of dollars, to spend on their care.

Offering the ability to make tax deductible donations encourages giving from generous individuals who can help others with their vet bills. I have done this for my vet, Dr. Emilie Ravn DVM, and she has been able to help several clients as a result. Seriously decayed teeth have been pulled, broken bones set, spay/neuter services provided, and infections dealt with. It’s a wonderful partnership of people helping animals and their people where everybody wins.

So let’s give a shout out to all of the hardworking vets in our community and consider giving them a hand whenever we can.

If you would like to participate in this very special program, ask your vet to sign up with VCF so generous pet owners like you can help support their practice.

You can learn more about Veterinary Care Foundation here.