The Howard T Petrie Charitable Trust Grant

Overview

The Howard T Petrie Charitable Trust (the Trust) seeks to provide a perpetual gift to a single small-to-medium sized animal welfare organization, with the intent of allowing that organization to plan for the long term with confidence. In return, the Trust seeks an organization that operates in a manner making it likely to survive the long term. The annual gift from the Trust will begin at $5000 and will scale up based on achievement of defined developmental milestones. Ultimately, a fully qualified organization will receive not less than $50,000 annually.

Important Update:16 April 2025. This is a fluid process. We're learning as we go. In order to help you, we've put together a description of the PERFECT organization, an organization that we would envision funding into the long-term. The perfect organization would have the following characteristics:

* it would be a 501(c)(3) public charity in operation for at least five years;
* it would have total annual revenues of less than $100,000;
* it would be staffed exclusively by volunteers;
* it would focus primarily on long-lived species, while serving multiple species;
* it would operate on land that is owned by the organization;
* it would maintain a detailed ledger of income and expenses;
* it would possess an engaged Board of Directors, with minutes of regular BoD meetings;
* it would have a clear plan for succession from its current leadership, especially the founder;
* it would have a website clearly describing its mission and policies regarding exploitation;
* it would submit a complete, concise application for funding.

However, an organization like this wouldn't really need our help: this describes an organization that's already doing what needs to be done. We're looking for an organization that has some of these characteristics, and realizes the importance of the remainder, but is not quite there. An organization that probably wouldn't survive a significant calamity, such as the sudden loss of the founder, a large downturn in donor support, a natural disaster, etc. For such an organization, we hope to provide guidance about what needs to be developed to avoid disaster, and to provide stable funding to allow leadership to move boldly forward with those plans. We can't stop things from happening, but together we can prevent them from being catastrophic for the animals involved.

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

* To become fully qualified, candidate organizations must comply with the following criteria. It is important to note that organizations that do not currently satisfy all these criteria, but are willing to develop them in a timely and stepwise manner, will nonetheless be considered for funding and are encouraged to apply. In such a case, the recipient organization and the Trust would establish mutually agreeable milestones upon which further support would be dependent:
* the recipient organization (RO) must be a small to medium 501(c)(3) public charity.
* Generally, such organizations would file form 990-N or 990-EZ and have zero or a few paid employees.
* RO must have a clear mission statement that is directly focused on hands-on animal care and welfare;
* RO must have a Board of Directors that is actively engaged in oversight and development of the organization.
* As a component of this, minutes of regular (at least quarterly) meetings of the Board of Directors must be maintained;
* RO must establish a written plan for succession for all critical staff, especially the current founder/president/CEO;
* RO must maintain accurate and comprehensive financial records, including a ledger, and must maintain receipts for all transactions;
* RO must express and promote explicit statements regarding their policy on animal breeding, the sale of animals, or any other type of for animal exploitation;
* RO must comply with applicable state, local, and federal guidelines or laws regarding nonprofit businesses and tax exempt organizations;
* RO must be insured against liability;
* RO must operate on property that is owned by the organization or is under a long-term lease.

Ineligibility

* Unfortunately, 501(c)(3) private foundations are not eligible due to restrictions on distributions from the Trust