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<\/u><\/p>\nThe world of animal welfare has changed a great deal in the past few decades.\u00a0 Unfortunately, \u201cBig Philanthropy\u2019s\u201d view of our work hasn\u2019t changed with it.\u00a0 Despite the fact that animal welfare is now a diverse sector of charitable endeavors which help a broad spectrum of people- not just animals- \u00a0foundations, government, and united funds still have an antiquated perception of what many of us do, how we do it, and for whom we do it.<\/p>\n
Their view is as old timey as the title of this blog.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019d like to take a moment to make a case for why it is time for that view to change.<\/u><\/p>\n
For many years animal welfare has been lumped into a sector of the charitable world referred to as \u201cAnimals\/Environment\u201d.\u00a0 Most funding organizations don\u2019t give to this sector because they consider themselves \u201cHuman Services\u201d funders.\u00a0 The same is true for most government funding.\u00a0 The idea was that taxes and charitable funds were intended for people, not animals.\u00a0 Since animal welfare organizations just helped animals, we couldn\u2019t access the pools of funding out there for people in need.<\/p>\n
That may have been a valid case 30 or 40 years ago, when most animal welfare organizations were primarily or exclusively animal shelters.\u00a0 Saving an animal from homelessness really only saved the animal, the \u201cWho Saved Who? (with paw print)\u201d bumper sticker aside.\u00a0 There has always been a case that animal control work was a human benefit- ask the person who didn\u2019t get rabies from that stray cat or bitten by that stray dog- and we made it strongly for the past 25 years, largely to no avail.\u00a0 Government has always operated under another old timey adage: \u201cWhy buy the cow when you can get the milk for free\u201d?\u00a0 And we\u00a0always<\/em>\u00a0gave away the milk in the name of helping the animals.<\/p>\n But about 15 years ago the role and operations of what would have been formerly known as an animal welfare organization began to change.\u00a0 Humane Society of Berks County, now Humane Pennsylvania, was on the national vanguard of this change.\u00a0 We started to target our services directly at people, not at the animal.\u00a0 We did this as pet \u201cownership\u201d underwent a sea change in the US.\u00a0 Overwhelmingly, the role of animals changed from pet to companion animal to family member.\u00a0 More people and families had pets, but fewer of them at a time and for longer.<\/p>\n Pets were no longer disposable.\u00a0 Euthanasia and pet surrender to shelters plummeted by 80% over 40 years. Like children, people began making sacrifices for them rather than sacrificing them during times of economic turmoil.\u00a0 Even at the cost to themselves and their human families.\u00a0 Humane Pennsylvania recognized that if we wanted to help animals stay in families, we needed to help people.\u00a0 We changed our approach and began offering direct assistance that had a positive financial impact on families, as well as a health benefit for animals.<\/p>\n We were early adopters of the broad pet food pantry model. More profoundly we were leaders in moving to provide universal pet health care to the entire community, not just to those who could afford it.\u00a0 While these things can seem almost uncontroversial now, when we started this work 15 years ago we got hate mail- not just from the community, but from other animal shelters<\/em>.\u00a0 The general argument was that if people were too poor to feed their pets or give them proper medical care, they shouldn\u2019t have them, they should just give them up.<\/p>\n Those were identical arguments made about poor people having children over a century ago.\u00a0 It was elitist and revolting 150 years ago in the age of government run orphanages, just as it was 15 years ago in the age of dog pounds.<\/p>\n And we knew that, just like kids, people would keep having pets.\u00a0 And, just like kids, they\u2019d often do so regardless of the financial risk to their families and themselves, and that many simply did not have access to or experience with the normal healthcare and social services nets that many of us are fortunate enough to have been born into.\u00a0 Humane Pennsylvania knew that if we could help a family in financial crisis save a dollar on pet food or veterinary care, they had an extra dollar to spend on their child, or food, rent or clothing.<\/p>\n Our animal service became a human service.\u00a0 We flipped the model from helping animals in need and making people happy to helping people and making animals happy.\u00a0 We became a family services organization.\u00a0 Only our definition of \u201cfamily\u201d is a little broader. In large part our \u201canimal welfare\u201d sector has come a long way with this change. We no longer get hate mail from other shelters, we get asked to help them develop their own human oriented service models.<\/p>\n During the COVID-19 crisis the wisdom change has never been so readily apparent.\u00a0 Humane Pennsylvania was immediately appointed by the PA State Animal Response Team, which operates under the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency during emergencies, to be the agency in charge of large scale pet food distribution across Eastern PA and beyond.\u00a0 This was not food given directly to individuals.\u00a0 It was major deliveries to human food pantries, to school districts distributing food via Federal lunch programs to students in need, to governmental operations.\u00a0 To agencies and organizations focused on people, and who recognize that people come with furry baggage called pets.\u00a0 When we help carry that furry baggage, families benefit in this crisis.<\/p>\n In the past month of the emergency declaration Humane Pennsylvania has distributed- from our warehouses, with our equipment, with our staff and volunteers- over\u00a050 tons of pet food<\/strong>\u00a0to these human service agencies.\u00a0 From Philadelphia to Pittsburgh to the Northern Tier.\u00a0 On top of being the sole provider of sick veterinary care in Reading, Pennsylvania\u2019s 5th<\/sup>\u00a0largest city.<\/p>\n You might think with all the money flowing from government to support emergency response we received some emergency funds for this work, or an emergency grant from one of our community funding organizations.\u00a0 Care to guess how much we have received?\u00a0\u00a0Not one penny.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0We, and you as a private donor, has subsidized Humane Pennsylvania\u2019s work.\u00a0 After all, we are apparently just an animal organization, right?<\/p>\n This is why it is time for foundations, government, and united funds (including our local United Ways and community foundations) to reconsider how they view some animal welfare organizations in their giving classifications.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Some organizations, like Humane Pennsylvania, are fully invested in and directed toward human services as the central approach to our work.\u00a0 Others have dedicated and highly effective individual programs which help people and deserve equal funding consideration.\u00a0 This is akin to churches, which may not qualify for government or charitable funding as religious entities, but can still access service funding for specific programs and work.<\/p>\n But even during this crisis, when requesting charitable funds from foundations and United Ways, Humane Pennsylvania has been denied, often explicitly because we aren\u2019t a \u201chuman service\u201d organization in their view.\u00a0 Despite the fact that we are providing support and supplies to the\u00a0very same food pantries and school districts as they are<\/em>.\u00a0 There is a logical disconnect, and it\u2019s unfair and is hurting families.<\/p>\n I do not wish to blame or point fingers, but in order to fix a problem, it must be recognized.\u00a0 Sometimes that is uncomfortable, just as it was uncomfortable for animal organizations- for us- to look in the mirror and acknowledge 15 years ago that we were operating under a failing model that hurt animals.<\/p>\n That same self-reflection is needed now in the charitable community funding world.\u00a0 The old category of \u201cAnimals\/Environment\u201d no longer applies.\u00a0 Antiquated views of family and human services no longer fit the times or community need.\u00a0 Berks and Lancaster County should take the lead by re-evaluating the funding barriers put in place two generations ago.<\/p>\n Our counties have proven themselves to be innovators who can see over the horizon, as Humane Pennsylvania has consistently done over the past decade.\u00a0 Family\/Animal organizations- a new category?- deserve a seat at the funding table and major funders can give it to us.\u00a0\u00a0If\u00a0<\/em>they can see where our families are today, as well as where families will be over the horizon.<\/p>\n If they want to.<\/p>\n Your Partner in Family Animal Welfare,<\/p>\n Karel Minor, CEO<\/p>\n Humane Pennsylvania<\/p>\n The world of animal welfare has changed a great deal in the past few decades.\u00a0 Unfortunately, \u201cBig Philanthropy\u2019s\u201d view of our work hasn\u2019t changed with it.\u00a0 Despite the fact that animal welfare is now a diverse sector of charitable endeavors which help a broad spectrum of people- not just animals- \u00a0foundations, government, and united funds …![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.humanepa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Karel_Signature.png\")
<\/p>\nP.S.- Until Humane Pennsylvania has equitable access to community charitable funding, we rely exclusively on your financial support.\u00a0 Please make a gift today to help animals and families in our community<\/a>.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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