BANFIELD FOUNDATION RELEASES 2024 IMPACT REPORT CELEBRATING NEARLY $3 MILLION TO HELP CONNECT COMMUNITIES TO CRITICAL VETERINARY CARE

The 2024 report outlines how the Banfield Foundation meaningfully delivered on its mission of making preventive care possible for the pets that need it most. In 2024, the Foundation focused on deploying resources, teams, and dollars to enable free or low-cost preventive care, including spay and neuter surgeries, in under-resourced communities spanning inner cities, rural Appalachia and Native Nations where access to care and transportation are limiting factors.

In addition to its grant programs, the Foundation leveraged its relationship with Banfield Pet Hospital and Associates throughout the Mars Veterinary Health and Mars Petcare ecosystem to deploy teams of veterinarians and credentialed veterinary technicians to underserved and diverse areas across the United States and around the world through the Mars Ambassador Program (MAP) and the Foundation's own Care Knows No Boundaries travel grant program. In 2024 alone, nearly 61 veterinarians and veterinary technicians volunteered 3,055 hours with the Banfield Foundation, caring for vulnerable dogs and cats.

"Increasing access to care through a combination of grants and volunteers is at the heart of what we do," said Kim Van Syoc, Executive Director, Banfield Foundation. "Our work is more than just the dollars we provide to enable that care—what makes our work so impactful is the ability to mobilize people and resources to the communities that are out of reach and the animals that are often overlooked. Knowing we are meeting the unique needs of vulnerable pets and communities makes our work incredibly meaningful and our mission increasingly important."

Highlights from the Foundation's 2024 Impact Report include:

Mobilizing Resources 
Transportation is also one of the largest barriers to veterinary care for families in inner cities as well as rural communities. The inability to transport a pet to a veterinary hospital means more families that are geographically isolated, low-income or have reduced mobility (due to age or other factors) are increasingly at a disadvantage. Banfield Foundation partners with organizations like Michigan Humane Society, LifeLine Animal Project, Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Centers (BARCS) and PAWS Chicago to mobilize care, going door-to-door and/or coordinating pop-up clinics in local parks and community gathering spots.

Mobilizing People 
In addition to the Foundation's own Care Knows No Boundaries travel grant program, the Banfield Foundation hosted Mars Ambassador Program (MAP) assignments deploying Associates to Hawaii, Arizona, and the island of Saipan. In Hawaii, teams worked alongside PetFix (Big Island) and Kauai Humane Society, focusing on reducing the unwanted pet population and making a dent in the more than 4,000 wait list for low-cost services for island residents. Preventive, sick care and spay/neuter services were provided to pets on the remote island of Saipan, becoming life-saving efforts due to no veterinarians or veterinary clinics on the island. And, in partnership with Arizona Humane Society, the Foundation provided preventive, spay/neuter and sick pet care to companion animals living on the Hopi Reservation in Keams Canyon. Over the course of 40 days, 16 Ambassadors helped care for 1,352 pets across communities.

Mobilizing Community Partners 
Saipan is part of the Northern Mariana Islands, which is an unincorporated territory of the United States—an island with zero veterinarians, an estimated 20,000 stray animals and 34 percent of ethnically diverse residents on the island living below the U.S. poverty level. In 2024, the Foundation provided a generous grant to Saipan Humane Society, enabling the opening of the first veterinary clinic in more than a decade. In addition to funding the physical shelter and clinic space, the Foundation also provided medical supplies, equipment and vaccines, and deployed highly skilled volunteer veterinarians and veterinary technicians to train staff as well as animal control officers. Since beginning the partnership, Banfield Foundation has provided 332 days of free veterinary care and enabled more than 1,100 spay/neuters surgeries.

"Preventive care is the way Banfield Foundation and Banfield Pet Hospital fulfill our purpose— A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS—in hospitals and throughout local communities. In 2024, the Foundation continued to break down barriers, whether financial, geographical, or systemic, to ensure pets receive the care they need and deserve," said Jam Stewart, president and chairman of the board for the Banfield Foundation and head of Corporate Affairs for Banfield Pet Hospital.

Banfield Foundation 2024 Impact by the Numbers: 

• 512 grants awarded to partner organizations, institutions or through HOPE Funds
• 135,022 pets help through wellness checks, flea/tick and heartworm preventives, vaccines, spay/neuter surgeries and other medical procedures across 36 states, Puerto Rico and Saipan
• $125,060 in disaster response grants supported efforts across 13 states including 4,334 pets cared for in response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton
• 3,055 Associate volunteer hours through its Care Knows No Boundaries grant program
• 543,212 pets helped through all grant programs
• $2,924,007 awarded in support of our purpose: A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS

To read the Banfield Foundation's 2024 Impact Report, learn about volunteer opportunities or to make a donation, visit BanfieldFoundation.org. 

About the Banfield Foundation^®
Since 2015, Banfield Foundation has been making preventive care possible for the pets that need it most. Through grants and partnerships, we provide medical supplies and resources to nonprofit partners in need; support pets, people and communities in crisis; and enable veterinary professionals to deliver compassionate and inclusive preventive veterinary care in underserved and diverse areas across the United States and around the world. We also leverage the expertise and passion of Banfield Pet Hospital, part of Mars Veterinary Health, and its Associates to care for pets in need. At the Banfield Foundation, we are committed to living our collective purpose: A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS. For more information, visit BanfieldFoundation.org. Press seeking additional information are invited to call the Banfield Media Hotline: (888) 355-0595.

SOURCE Banfield Foundation