VetBilling and Brown Dog Foundation joined forces in 2016 to help bridge the gap between the cost of veterinary care and saving the family pet. Our two organizations have a similar mission: reducing the incidence of “economic euthanasia” when pet owners lack the necessary funds to pay for life-saving treatment.
Brown Dog Foundation is a non-profit, 501(c)3 founded in 2006 that provides charitable grants for veterinary care. By partnering with VetBilling, some of Brown Dog’s grant recipients can now pay the charity back.
Carol Smock, founder of Brown Dog Foundation, with her chocolate lab, Chocolate Chip
According to Carol Smock, Brown Dog’s founder (which was named after her “brown dog,” Chocolate Chip, a chocolate lab), “We found early on that working families don’t want a handout – or charity. They just need a way to pay over time, because most have no way of finding even $400 on short notice.”
Brown Dog Foundation began testing the VetBilling program in late 2016 by extending payment plans to just 3 families. In 2017 and 2018, payment plans were offered to 8 more families, and after seeing satisfactory repayment rates, Brown Dog once again expanded the payment plan program. In 2019, Brown Dog expects to help as many as 20 families by allowing them to re-pay grant money through the VetBilling platform.
Smock is pleased with the results the foundation has seen so far. “If we continue at our current rate, we’ll be able to recapture more than $17,000 of that [grant] money which allows us to help more families in the future. Our Board of Directors feels this is a program worth continuing and we’ve made it our primary focus, by allocating at least half of our budget.”
We are so proud of our collaboration with Brown Dog Foundation, because it allows them to recoup some of their precious resources. All non-profits work with limited resources, and by partnering with VetBilling to get some of those funds repaid, those resources can go even further to help more pets and families in need.
Says Carol, “We encourage non-profits and clinics alike to partner with VetBilling as we believe it’s a win for all involved – the pet, the family, the clinic and the non-profit.”
Contact us if you’d like to learn more about how your non-profit animal welfare organization can benefit from a partnership with VetBilling.
https://vetbilling.com/contact-us/
For more information about Brown Dog Foundation, or to make a donation, visit their website: http://www.browndogfoundation.org