SAVE THE DATE: SECOND ANNUAL PENTHOUSE PAWTY AT THE SALESFORCE TOWER

We are delighted to announce that we are partnering with Salesforce again this year to hold our second annual Penthouse Pawty fundraiser. Salesforce has generously allowed us to host our event on the top floor of the Salesforce Tower on the evening of Friday, November 14th. It will be an evening of old and new friends, delicious food and drinks, amazing views and some surprises.

If you want to support SFAfA or are just curious about what it is like at the top of the tallest building in San Francisco, mark the date on your calendar. Ticket sales will begin in September and will be limited. Due to Salesforce’s security requirements, tickets will not be able to be purchased within 72 hours of the event.

Please watch for details. We will be updating the event page of our website https://www.sfafa.org and sending out lots of announcements as the planning progresses. We hope to see you there!

Sponsorship and Silent Auction

If your you or your hospital are interested in helping to sponsor the Penthouse Pawty or would like to donate to our silent auction, please reach out to us at info@sfafa.org. The more community support we receive, the more funds we will be able to raise and in turn will be able to help you and your hospital help more clients in need.

OUR NEW FISCAL YEAR HAS BEGUN

Our new fiscal year started July 1st and is in full swing. We are delighted that so many participating hospitals are already using their funds to help families in need. If you did not receive your announcement at the beginning of July or have any questions about accessing your funds, please feel free to reach out anytime.

MORE TRAINING FOR OUR MEMBER HOSPITALS

One of our goals this year is to make sure that everyone in our program has more access to all of the information that they may need to utilize their funds. We have started hosting live Virtual Training Webinars. The webinars will teach you about the SFAfA Grant Program and give you the tools that you need to access any information that you might need to navigate our program successfully. If you are new to SFAfA or just want a refresher, you are welcome to join us. If you are interested and not able to attend one of our scheduled webinars, please let us know.

Over the next few months, we will be distributing an SFAfA Toolbox to all of our member hospitals. This toolbox will include information about the program, quick-access guides to using your funds for your doctors and staff, marketing materials for you and your clients and information about the different ways that you can partner with SFAfA.

INGRID TAUBER FUND FOR ANIMALS

Our Tauber Fund is available for any of your higher-cost cases. If your client needs extra help, always check the For Providers page on our website to see if Tauber funds are available. Currently, the fund is well-funded. Please remember the per case maximum is $4,000, and maximum hospital usage is $10,000 per year.

Thank you from all of us at San Francisco Aid for Animals!!!!

TAUBER FUND FOR ANIMALS (TFA)

We are excited to announce that our TFA has been funded again this year. Access to these funds is on a first come, first serve basis and is earmarked for higher-cost cases, with a maximum of $4,000/case and a hospital maximum of $10,000/year. The TFA match requirement is a minimum of 25%. Our case criteria are the same for all SFAfA cases. There must be a likely good prognosis, the client is facing extreme financial hardship, there is a possibility of euthanasia or surrender or there is a severe compromise of quality of life. If you have any questions about whether a case meets our criteria, please feel free to reach out anytime. As the Tauber funds are utilized quickly, please check our website for the fund balance before offering a Tauber grant to a client.

GIA FUND (GIA)

We are more than halfway through our fiscal year. Please don’t forget that any GIA funds awarded to your hospital not used by June 15th are returned to the general fund and will be reallocated for the next grant cycle (starting July 1st) to be split among all of our member hospitals. Our required GIA match is 50%. As with any of our funds, if your hospital would like to match at a higher percentage, that’s great. Higher matches help us to stretch the grant dollars so that we can all help more families and their cherished pets.

GIA+ FUND

If your hospital has utilized all of your allocated GIA funds, you automatically have access to GIA+ funds. This is a first come, first serve basis pooled fund, with access of up to $4,000/case and a hospital maximum of $10,000/fiscal year. The match is a minimum of 50%. Since this is a pooled fund, please check with us to make sure that funds are still available before offering these funds to a client.

Please watch for our Update Emails. We will continue to send one to two emails per quarter to all of our member hospitals and veterinarians, with reminders of your GIA balance, a link to the Tauber Fund and any new program information. If you have questions about your balance or you didn’t receive an email, please let us know. If you have any questions about our different grant programs, our guidelines, fund availability or a specific case eligibility, please reach out to us anytime.

It’s never too early to think about enrollment for next year. Our new fiscal year starts July 1st. If you are already a member, please watch for enrollment information that will be sent to you later this spring. If you would like to discuss your hospital joining our program, please reach out anytime.

Finally, we wanted to introduce you to “Athena”, a 15-year-old DSH who had surgery for a GI foreign body at SFAMC in December. Athena was rescued from a lumber yard as a young kitten and has lived with her forever family for close to 15 years. Her family could not afford the necessary surgery. Without the help of SFAfA and the amazing doctors and staff at SFAMC, Athena would not be with us today. We wish Athena and her family many more happy and healthy years together.

We wanted to give a big shout out and a huge thank you to the SFVMA, all of the hospitals, doctors, staff and friends who attended, supported and spread the word about San Francisco Aid for Animals’ Penthouse Pawty. It was a great success. It was by far our most successful fundraiser ever, raising over $40,000. And the donations are still coming in!

It was truly a special night. Thank you to everyone who purchased tickets. We were sold out days before the event and had 250 attendees. The weather was perfect and the views from the ‘Ohana Floor of the Salesforce Tower were astounding. It was a festive night, filled with lots of music, food and drinks. Thank you all for your generous participation in our Silent Auction and our Fund a Need. We couldn’t be happier. Now, in cooperation with our member hospitals, we will be able to provide even more lifesaving veterinary care to deserving families. We couldn’t have done this without you.

We can’t say it enough. Many thanks to all of you for your efforts and kindness. We are truly grateful.

Best regards,
The Advisory Committee of
San Francisco Aid for Animals

Just a reminder to those using our grants this year. As a way to help you help more pets in need, the GIA match has been lowered to 50% this year. If your hospital would like to continue to match at a higher percentage, that’s great. We are happy to be working with all of you and together the more families we can help the better.

Our Tauber funds (This is the fund for higher-cost cases and the 25% match.) have not yet been replenished. We are hoping that our donor will again make this possible at the beginning of the year. We will let everyone know as soon as we have an update. You can also check the “For Providers” section of our website. It will have the current available Tauber Funds listed.

If you are interested in helping us out in any capacity, we would love your help. We are always looking for people with lots of energy and lots of new ideas. We often need dedicated people who would like to volunteer for specific projects or who would like to join the board. If you are interested, please contact us anytime through the website (www.sfafa.org) or at info@sfafa.org.

Be on the lookout for new signage for your hospitals. We are currently working on new ways for your clients to donate to SFAfA, which will include posters, dog houses and opaque wall-mounted collection boxes, all with QR codes for donations. We are also working on updated signage with information about our program to post in staff areas. Once they are completed, we will reach out to your hospital and tailor a plan that works best for you.

SFAFA’S IN-MEMORIAM PROGRAM

This program is a compassionate way to acknowledge the loss of your client’s beloved pet, while helping SFAfA to continue its mission to provide funds for urgently needed veterinary care. It is simple and easy to do. You provide us with a list of clients and the names of their deceased pets. One of our volunteers sends your client a signed condolence card with a personalized hand written note, acknowledging your generous donation to SFAfA in memory of their pet. We do not specify the actual donation amount to your client. We ask for a donation of at least $10 for each card that we send. This very successful program has been in existence for over ten years and we have sent out more than 15,000 cards on your behalf. If you are interested in more information or would like to join the program, please contact Anne Marie at annemarie@sfafa.org

AND NOW THE REASON THAT WE DO WHAT WE DO:

“Estrella” is a 12 year old f/s toy poodle who went missing from her home. After two days, her frantic owners found her at Animal Care and Control. They were told that she was brought to ACC by a good Samaritan who had seen her thrown from a car. “Estrella” had a problem with her mouth, was barely eating and she needed veterinary care. Her family brought her to Mission Pet Hospital where she was examined and treated by Dr. Claire Blumstein for a fractured jaw. Her family didn’t have the resources to pay for much more than her exam. Between an SFAfA grant and the match by Mission Pet, “Estrella” was treated and is doing great at home today.

Thank you all for all of your dedication and hard work. We wouldn’t be able to help pets like “Estrella” without your compassion, care and support. We are grateful every day to be working with such an amazing group of people. Thank you all!!!!!!

Just a reminder that our fiscal year ends on June 30th. Please check your records to make sure that you have used your grant allotment for the year. We ask that all grant requests be submitted to us by June 15th. Remember that any unused grant funds at the end of the fiscal year go back into the general pool, to be distributed next year. You lose it if you don’t use it. We don’t want any deserving pet missing out on the urgent care that they need.
If you are not sure about your fund balance or have any questions, please feel free to contact us anytime.

Tauber Fund for Animals Update. We have had a very robust utilization of the Tauber Funds this year. They are almost completely depleted and it is only May! We are so happy that so many animals have been helped. But unfortunately, once the funds have been 100% utilized, we won’t know until January of 2024 if our very generous donor will replenish them. Please check our website to make sure that Tauber funds are available before you promise them to a client. If you do have a big case that needs assistance and there are no Tauber funds left, please contact one of us. We can try to help you find a way to help your patient.

We are getting ready to send out our enrollment packets for the upcoming year. Please watch your emails. If you don’t receive your packet by early June, please contact us. Once you received them, please fill out the forms and return them to us by mid-June. We will let everyone know about their grant allotments for FYE24 by the end of June.

After meeting with the Vet Advisory Committee and getting your feedback, we have made some changes to our program for the coming year. We are simplifying the process and making it easier for you to access the funds. Please watch for updates before the end of the enrollment period and at the start of FYE24. We will keep you posted. We want to make it as easy as possible for all of you to use every penny of your funds every year.

Finally, we wanted to meet “Knopa”, a six-year old Maltipoo. Knopa had a very painful abdomen and was urinating frequently around the house. “Knopa’s” mom is elderly, living on a fixed income and is being helped by a caregiver. The caregiver reached out to us and asked for help for the family. We directed her to our list of member hospitals on the SFAfA website. “Knopa” was seen at Peninsula Avenue Veterinary Hospital and was diagnosed with multiple very large bladder stones. “Knopa’s” mom could not afford the surgery that was desperately needed. With the help of an SFAfA grant, Dr. Kelley at Peninsula Avenue performed a cystotomy and removed the stones. On recheck, “Knopa” (and her mom) were happy, doing well and very grateful for the help from Peninsula Avenue Veterinary Clinic and from SFAfA. We are so very proud of our collaboration with all of you. With your help, we hope to be able to share lots more happy-ending stories like this one. Many thanks for all that you do from the board and volunteers at San Francisco Aid for Animals!

Hanna Lee Aurelia Heitz Anne Marie Benfatto, DVM
Hanna@sfafa.org Aurelia@sfafa.org AnneMarie@sfafa.org

We hope that you all had a wonderful summer and that things are settling down to a new and more manageable normal.

Our new fiscal year began on July 1 and by now all SFAFA members should have received their packets and instructions for this year. If you have any questions or want more information about SFAFA please contact either Dr. Anne Marie Benfatto (annemarie@sfafa.org) or Hanna Lee (hanna@sfafa.org).

Our GIA and Tauber programs are fully funded for this year. We are pleased to announce a new fund: the Good Partner Program that will provide you with dollars after you have exhausted all your GIA funds. It will provide you with access up to $5000 in additional funds and requires only a 50% match. The purpose is to allow you more flexibility in how you use your GIA especially towards the end of the fiscal year. If you have any questions please contact either Anne Marie or Hanna.

We are having a FundRaiser and invite you to participate: Please join us on Monday Sept 12 at Gianni’s Italian Bistro in San Ramon. Either dine in or take out and SFAFA will receive 10% of sales and ALL TIPS. Our SFAFA board members and volunteers will be your servers for the night. Reservations can be made on Yelp at the link below:
https://www.yelp.com/reservations/giannis-italian-bistro-san-ramon

Suggestions, comments, helping us out

If you have suggestions or comments about how we can improve the program, we would love to hear from you. We are always trying to tailor the program to make it as seamless as possible for us to provide the needed funds while you to provide needed care.

If you are interested in helping out with our fundraisers, volunteering behind the scenes or even possibly serving on our advisory board, we would love to hear from you. Please feel free to reach out to us anytime.

You can contact us:
info@sfafa.org
annemarie@sfafa.org — Anne Marie Benfatto, DVM
hanna@sfafa.org — Hanna Lee

We are so pleased to announce that as of July 1st, San Francisco Aid for Animals has entered our tenth year of providing grants to Bay Area veterinarians. Despite a very bumpy year for the entire veterinary community, we were able to hold our own with fundraising and have entered our new fiscal year ready to face the challenges ahead. This past year, with your help and support, we were able to provide over $200,000 for life-saving veterinary care for 66 pets. Our continued success has allowed us to expand our service area and we have added new member hospitals in Sonoma County and the East Bay which gives us the ability to reach more deserving families and their beloved pets. Many thanks to all of you for all of your help and support for this amazing program. Many of you have partnered with us since day one. We couldn’t have made it this far without you. Here is to another successful year for all of us! Thank you, thank you, thank you from San Francisco Aid for Animals.

The story of Hank — another success story:
We couldn’t have done it without all of you!

A pit bull puppy was found abandoned and left for dead in an orchard in the East Bay. He was taken to UnderDog Rescue, was named Hank and was placed as a foster with Molly and her family. It didn’t take long before they all fell in love. Hank had found his forever home. Some time later the family noticed some awkwardness in his gait and he was taken to IronHorse VetCare in Dublin where it was discovered that he had ligament tears in both stifles. Underdog Rescue and Hank’s new family were committed to funding Hank’s bilaterial TPLO surgery, but their resources did not completely cover the cost of Hank’s care. Luckily, as an SFAfA member hospital, IronHorse reached out to us and a grant was provided to cover the remainder of Hank’s medical costs. Hank had a successful surgery and is now recovering well at home.

Molly’s family sent us this message:

“We are so beyond grateful that you stepped in to help Hank! He is an absolutely precious boy who loves our family BIG and we love him BIG. It has been love at first cuddle and we can’t wait to have him back adventuring with us. Thank you thank you thank you for all you do and for making this chance for Hank possible! (Here he is wishing that he could jump on the couch again – soon enough buddy soon enough!)”

We want to remind everyone that despite the pandemic SFAFA is still going strong. SFAFA is here to help when you see cases where your clients are unable to afford their pet’s care.

Don’t forget that if you work in a member hospital you have been pre-approved for funds to help your clients. We are very happy to report that Ingrid Tauber has provided us with a very generous grant of $45,000 to refund the Tauber fund for 2021 to help with your larger cases.

Also included in this newsletter are a one-page flow chart to help you navigate our program and a sheet detailing some of the types of cases that we cover. Please download them and post them in your treatment rooms and doctors’ offices. We want you to remember SFAFA when you are working with a client whose pet has an urgent need for care and a good prognosis and the client can’t afford the bill.

As in previous grant cycles you have access to your GIA funds until June 15. Any funds not utilized by that date are returned to the general fund. They do not roll-over. Tauber funds are available on a first come, first served basis for the entire calendar year.

Later this spring we will contact all SFVMA members with enrollment information for our next fiscal year that starts on July 1, 2021.

If you have any questions about whether a case would qualify for our program, how
to submit a request for funds or any other matter please contact us either through our website: www.sfafa.org or directly via the email addresses below.

We are here to help you provide the best possible care for your patients and their families. Thank you for being part of the SFAFA family and for all of the good work you are doing for the Bay Area community. Stay well.

We have started our new fiscal year and are working with nineteen Bay Area Hospitals. Unfortunately the Tauber Fund for Animals has been depleted and is not available at this time. Questions about the program should be directed to Board members via the SFAFA website (www.sfafa.org).

Despite the pandemic, our Board is working hard to strengthen our program and has increased fund raising efforts. If anyone is interested in helping out with our fundraising efforts, or serving as a volunteer or as a Board member, please contact us:    www.sfafa.org/index.php/contact-us

We are so proud of all the essential work being done by Bay Area Veterinary Hospitals.
You are all heroes and we are proud to play a small part in helping to support your efforts.