Eligibility and guidelines

Eligibility
To be considered for an AVMF REACH Program™ grant, you must meet the following requirements:

  • All AVMA veterinarian members are eligible. Pet owners* aren’t eligible to apply.
  • Grants are provided as reimbursement for veterinary charitable care provided within the last two months. No pre-approval is required. Please note that estimates will not be considered.
  • Eligible conditions include veterinary care for an animal with an illness or conditions requiring immediate care, where the owner expressed financial hardship.
  • Applicant must be an AVMA member on staff at the practice applying for the grant.

*Pet owners

AVMF does not provide direct support to the public for veterinary care. We are a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization supporting veterinary care teams. If you have a question about the care of your pet, please contact your local veterinarian.

AVMF does not provide direct support to the public for veterinary care. We are a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization supporting veterinary care teams. If you have a question about the care of your pet, please contact your local veterinarian.

Exclusions

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

Grant guidelines

  • Grants are provided as reimbursement for veterinary charitable care services that have already been provided. No pre-approval is required. Estimates will not be considered.
  • Services/treatment must have been rendered within the past two 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.
  • Multiple AVMA members within the same practice can pool funds for a single case. Each veterinarian will need to submit an individual grant application for up to $1,000 per case (up to $5,000 per calendar year).
  • Grant applications are limited to one request (may include up to three patients) 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. Grants may be partially approved or denied based upon available funding.
  • Approval emails are sent to the participating veterinarian’s email address associated with the AVMA member ID.
  • We aim to review and approve all eligible grant applications within seven business days.
  • Please note: If we do not have your clinic’s W9 information on file from a previous grant application, you’ll receive an email from the American Veterinary Medical Foundation (via PaymentWorks) with a link to submit it. Subsequent reminder emails will come from PaymentWorks directly. Be sure to check your spam folder to ensure that you don’t miss the invitation.
    • If you or a veterinarian in your practice received a REACH grant in 2024, you can skip this step.
  • Important: If you don’t set up an account within our payment portal within TWO months, your grant will be cancelled. However, you’ll still be eligible to apply for another grant in the future.
  • Payment will be issued via direct deposit or check, depending on your stated preference.
  • The AVMF REACH Program isn’t intended to offset practice write-offs at the year end.
  • High demand for limited resources may mean that some grants will be funded at a lower amount than requested or may not be funded at all. To ensure fairness, grant requests will be evaluated by a stringent review process.

Application

  • Applications can only be submitted through the AVMF REACH Program application portal.
  • Visit https://vcare.avmf.org. When you click on the login button, you will be taken to your AVMA member login. Once logged in, you will be able to begin filling out the application.
  • First, you will need to select AVMF REACH Program from the dropdown menu to create your application.

  • Verify your prepopulated “AVMA Member Veterinarian Information.” Be sure to
    select your Practice Name from the dropdown menu. If your practice name is not
    listed, select “01. Manual Practice Entry”.

  • If your address pre-populates and it is incorrect, revise the information.
  • Be sure to fill out all required fields.
  • The application must include a detailed description of the case presented, how and
    what medical care was provided, and the outcome. Please provide as much
    information as possible (including photos and/or video if appropriate) to
    demonstrate to the reviewers that immediate veterinary care has been provided as
    per the program guidelines.
  • If the request involves more than one animal in the household, complete the Patient
    Information fields for each animal included in the request (may include multiple
    patients up to three per animal owner/client).
  • If the request includes more than one expense category, enter the respective
    amounts and leave “0” zero in the field as the default for those that do not apply.
  • You can stop and start your application any time. Be sure to save your work
    periodically prior to final submission.
  • When you have completed all fields, click on the Submit as Final button to apply.

Approval

  • You will receive email notification of your application status within 10-15 business days from the date of submission. The email notification will be sent to the email address associated with your AVMA ID membership.
  • If your grant request is approved, your approval email will include a link to important W-9 instructions for securely submitting your practice’s bank account information. To avoid delays, upload your W9 form within 3 months through the secure application site. A link to the form can be found in your approval email. Missing the deadline could cancel the grant, so don’t wait!

Payment

  • We aim to review and approve all eligible grant applications within seven business days.
  • Please note: If we do not have your clinic’s W9 information on file from a previous grant application, you’ll receive an email from the American Veterinary Medical Foundation (via PaymentWorks) with a link to submit it. Subsequent reminder emails will come from PaymentWorks directly. Be sure to check your spam folder to ensure that you don’t miss the invitation.
    • If you or a veterinarian in your practice received a REACH grant in 2024, you can skip this step.
  • Important: If you don’t set up an account within our payment portal within TWO months, your grant will be cancelled. However, you’ll still be eligible to apply for another grant in the future.
  • Payment will be issued via direct deposit or check, depending on your stated preference.
  • The AVMF REACH Program isn’t intended to offset practice write-offs at the year end.

Questions? If your question is not addressed in the guidelines or the FAQs, email
avmfreach@avma.org.


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