Maddie's Fund
78
20
"Up" is the number of experts who agree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in the
field. "Down" is the number of experts who disagree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in field.
Headquarters Location: Alameda, CA
Founded: 1999
Mission: Maddie’s Fund is helping to create a no-kill nation where all healthy and treatable shelter dogs and cats are guaranteed a loving home.
Tags:
animal welfare, companion animals, veterinarians, animal shelters, grantmaking, spay/neuter, pet adoption, no-kill movement
Summary
Stories
Expert Reviews
Leadership
From the Nonprofit
Leadership
Rich Avanzino.
Widely viewed as the father of the no-kill movement, Rich Avanzino has had a major influence on companion animal welfare over his 32 years in the industry. As President of Maddie's Fund®, he focuses the family foundation's $300 million endowment in three major areas: buidling community collaborations where animal welfare organizations work together to create successful models of lifesaving; funding…
See full bio.
Financial Data
Overhead Ratio:
n/a
Total Revenue:
$23,685,425
From the Nonprofit
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Contact Info
Address:
2223 Santa Clara Ave Ste B
Alameda, CA 94501, USA
Twitter:
Story:
Maddie’s Fund was established by Dave and Cheryl Duffield as The Duffield Family Foundation in 1994. In January 1999, the Board of Directors restructured the Foundation, defined its mission, implemented a new operating methodology and adopted the name Maddie’s Fund. Maddie’s Fund is helping to create a no-kill nation where all healthy and treatable shelter dogs and cats are guaranteed a loving home. To achieve this goal, Maddie’s Fund is investing its resources in building community collaborations where animal welfare organizations come together to develop successful models of lifesaving; in veterinary colleges to help shelter medicine become part of the veterinary curriculum; and in the implementation of a national strategy to promote accountability and transparency in animal shelter operations. Maddie’s Fund is named after the family’s beloved Miniature Schnauzer who passed away in 1997.
Expert Reviews of Maddie's Fund
Evidence of Impact Summary:
Maddie's Fund has pioneered the No Kill movement by funding local shelters and programs to help them implement and sustain life saving programs. Maddie's Fund has also funded shelter medicine programs at major vet schools across the country and has made shelter medicine an important part of a veterinary education.See expert comments.
Organization Strengths Summary:
According to experts, Maddie's Fund has clear vision and strong execution. Maddie's Fund also benefits from solid funding, effective leadership and strong operations.See expert comments.
Areas for Improvement Summary:
According to experts, some of the grant processes are more difficult than they need to be. They could also provide more grants focused on low cost spay/neuter programs.See expert comments.
Expert Comments: Evidence of Impact
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Innovation |
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They are pioneering work to inspire and support community partnerships to save lives. | ||
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Innovative idea that has changed the mindset regarding animal shelters. Unfortunately, it has also caused deep schisms between organizations and communities. | ||
Funding |
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They are willing to provide grant funding to try to get animal control to report statistics publicly and in the same format. They provide funding to support local coalitions of animal groups that work to save more lives. | ||
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Considerable financial ability to benefit animals through the grant process. They have been a solid advocate for measurement of outcomes as a condition of grant funding. They have participated professionally and financially in the process of the development of metrics to measure success. | ||
Sound Strategy |
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They have funded multiple efforts to increase lifesaving across the nation. They also call attention to successful efforts and have created educational opportunities for animal welfare managers. | ||
Strong Education Programs |
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Maddie's Fund has pioneered the No Kill movement by funding local shelters and programs to help them implement and sustain life saving programs. Maddie's Fund has also funded shelter medicine programs at major vet schools across the country and has made shelter medicine an important part of a veterinary education. | ||
Focus |
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Maddie's Fund is making significant strides in the area of elevating companion animal status. | ||
Strong Initiatives |
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One of Maddie's Fund's greatest initiatives is their Shelter Medicine Program, which has (and certainly will continue to) improved the lives of many shelter animals, and, consequently, the opportunity for those animals to find adoptive homes. | ||
Wonderful Service |
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They provide a wonderful service to local rescues. | ||
Lifesaving Programs |
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While I believe Maddie's Fund could be more productive and an even firmer advocate for the no-kill philosophy, Maddie's Fund deserves recognition for their work and the assets they have put into lifesaving. They have succeeded in elevating the discussion with a diverse group. | ||
Insistence of Evidence of Impact |
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Their biggest strength is their insistence on evidence of impact, not process measures. This makes it very difficult to obtain funding from Maddie's; however, Maddie's mission is not to be all things to all animal shelters/groups. The more organizations that find success using their model, the less pressure will reside with the shelters not eligible for Maddie's support (in the aggregate). Their recent partnership with HSUS and the Ad Council on the Shelter Pet Project is innovative and inclusive of all organizations. This type of collaboration is the only solution to the overpopulation dilemma. | ||
Expert Comments: Organization Strengths
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Clear Vision |
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Maddie's Fund has clear vision and strong execution. | ||
Financial Stability |
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Maddie's Fund is well funded and their leadership is solid. | ||
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Maddie's Fund is very strong financially. They have also put a focus on data collection and has supported consistent reporting by shelters, thereby effectively creating an industry standard where there was not one. | ||
Strong Leadership |
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Their president Richard Avanzino is articulate and has a demonstrated track record of success. They are very well funded through the generosity of the Duffield Family. | ||
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Maddie's Fund benefits from strong leadership and operations. | ||
Expert Comments: Areas for Improvement
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Broader Scope |
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Their model may be too narrow; a broader approach might make their impact more accessible to shelters not currently participating. | ||
Improved Funding |
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Some of the grant processes are more difficult that needed. Could provide more (and easier) grants focused just on low cost/free spay/neuter. | ||
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They go back and forth in the application processes for funding. They should put increased focus on getting funds into the hands of local groups to enable them to save more lives today. | ||
Strategy |
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The No Kill movement has become unnecessarily contentious and divided; it would be good for Maddie's Fund to persist in funding reasonable steps toward No Kill success, and not ignore the outrageous and misleading sentiments by others. It is my understanding that Maddie's Fund is preparing to build and operate its own shelter in California. I would consider it a weakness if this were to distract in any way from the resources they are putting into shelter medicine and direct shelter support for organizations across the country that want to be No Kill. | ||
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Maddie's Fund, unlike some other animal-welfare organizations, has its heart in the right place. However, it cannot be said that the organization has been effective at achieving its mission of a No Kill nation. It has gone about achieving its goals in exactly the wrong way, relying on giving money and aiding people who have no interest in, knowledge of, or experience in dramatically reducing animal-shelter killing. It should instead focus on implementing the necessary lifesaving programs, like off-site adoptions, foster programs, etc. | ||
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Closely associated with the SFSPCA, Maddie's Fund raises questions both in the value it returns in animal welfare given the extraordinary investments the organization makes, as well as ideological questions. On the one hand, Maddie's Fund spends incredible amounts of resources on few animals to demonstrate the effectiveness of the no-kill movement. On the other hand, many of the no-kill shelters it funds have arrangements with other "kill" shelters that no-kill shelters deem unadoptable. In essence, large amounts of money gets spent on high-graded animals, while unfunded animal shelters are left to deal with the grizzly aftermath of the pet overpopulation and cruelty crisis. | ||
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Maddie's Fund has a reputation for changing their expectations of grantees mid-stream. It gives off the impression that they are not sure how they want groups to get to their desired result. | ||
Too Strict in Funding Guidelines and Reporting |
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It is felt by some to be too strict in its funding guidelines leaving too many dollars not effectively deployed. | ||
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Maddie's Fund sets high standards and takes a hard-nosed approach to their work, funding only what can be proven to be effective. This is both a strength and a challenge because it can make it very difficult for new types of programs to access the resources needed to prove their program can work. The time grantees must commit to data collection and submission is also prohibitive for many organizations. | ||
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This organization has a great deal of paperwork that is a huge obstacle (years) to any group actually spending all their resources making a difference in a community. Their reliance on community collaboration holds them back from true entrepreneurial success. | ||
Expand Services |
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I do wish that their Adoptathon events (where they sponsor adoption fees) would extend a bit further. Currently it is only for rescues who are based in Alameda or Contra Costa counties. We are not based in those counties, but we do have a foster home in Alameda County, and we rescue plenty of dogs from both those counties and feel we should be considered. | ||
Provide Information on How to Become More Eligible for Funding |
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They can provide more information to organizations that are not eligible on how to become eligible--how to create a strategic plan that moves the organization toward Maddie's funding. | ||
Distribute More Money to the Cause |
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Maddie's has exceptional wealth and the ability to command attention of the public but I would like to see them both distribute more of their money to the cause and demonstrate willingness/commitment to strategic collaboration with other large organizations | ||
Utilize Funding More Effectively |
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They have the big bucks and are doing a lot of good with veterinary schools. I feel they have failed miserably to utilize their massive resources to make a difference on the ground. | ||
Leadership
Rich Avanzino
President
President
From the Nonprofit
The nonprofit has not added any comments yet. If you are a representative of this nonprofit and would like to leave a comment, please email us at
feedback@myphilanthropedia.org
with your request.