AVMF REACH Program™

The AVMF REACH Program™ aims to break down barriers to access to immediate veterinary care by offering grants to any of the more than 105,000 AVMA members nationwide, increasing assistance and access to the most vulnerable communities. This program empowers AVMF to bring our “Helping Veterinarians Help Animals” motto to fruition on a much greater national and regional scale, potentially assisting thousands more animals in need every year, including those owned by veterans. For details, see frequently asked questions.

Important: Due to the overwhelming response to the AVMF REACH Program, we are lowering the amount offered to each AVMA member to $1,000 to allow us to accommodate more applications. This will allow us to support more of you, our AVMA members during the holidays, when need is often greater, and into 2025.

If you already have a grant submitted as final by Nov 26, 2024, you will be contacted about the status of your grant. All new submissions moving forward from Nov 27, 2024, and into 2025 will have a cap at $1,000.

This year we are on record to provide more than $1.5M to 1400 clients with the average grant size being $1,100. We are currently averaging over 20 REACH grant requests a day – or over 100 a week. We want to support as many AVMA members as possible and rather than pause the program as originally stated, chose this route. We hope you understand.

We need your support. Please consider making a gift to the REACH program in 2025 and encourage your colleagues, clients, and friends to do the same. Thank you!

Give now

To be considered for a AVMF REACH Program grant you must meet the following requirements:

• Be a veterinarian who is a current AVMA member* – pet owners are not eligible to apply.
• Have already provided veterinary medical care to an animal for an illness and/or condition requiring immediate care and whose owners are experiencing financial hardship.

*Not an AVMA member? Find out why more than 105,000 veterinarians call AVMA their professional home. Visit the AVMA website.

Exclusions

Grant requests will not be considered for:

• Elective surgery (e.g., spays and neuters)
• Routine preventative care

Grant Guidelines

For more information, read the complete Guidelines and FAQs.

• Grants are provided as reimbursement for veterinary charitable care services that have already been provided. No pre-approval is required.
• Services/treatment must have been rendered within the past 2 months to qualify for grant funding.
• Each charitable care grant request may be funded for up to $1,000 per case as determined by reviewers, for a total not to exceed $1,000 per applicant per calendar year (January through December). These caps allow us to help as many animals and veterinary practices as possible, nationwide.
• Members within the same practice can pool funds for a single case.
• Grant applications are limited to one request (may include multiple patients up to three) per animal owner/client.
• Grant application guidelines must be met for funding to be considered.
• Submission of a ‘Final’ application is not a guarantee of approval/funding.
• Approval emails are sent to the participating veterinarian’s email address associated with the AVMA member ID.
• Important: Payments will be issued to the name provided on your W-9 form. Please submit your W-9 and any other required documentation within 30 days of your grant submission. Failure to do so will result in forfeiture of payment.

*Pet owners: AVMF does not provide direct support to the public for veterinary care. We are a 501c3 tax-exempt charitable organization supporting veterinary care teams. If you have a question about the care of your pet, please contact your local veterinarian.

“The REACH program lived up to everything it had in its mission. An owner who was facing euthanasia for their cat because of financial hardship was able to take their friend home because of the help of REACH. For a hospital/veterinary perspective, the application was seamless and required only a very small amount of time and paperwork. The program WORKS and is not in any way taxing on the veterinarian or hospital.”

“As an urgent care practice, we often see pets with immediate medical needs whose owners have financial limitations. REACH has helped us provide care to pets that would otherwise have been euthanized.”

“It took me just a few minutes to provide some basic information on behalf of clients that would benefit from some financial assistance – it took just a few minutes out of my day, but will make such an enormous difference to these clients /patients in need.”