Who We Are
Friends of the Animal Community (FOAC) is a small group of dedicated, animal loving volunteers who help our local animal shelter and community, we help unwanted, abused or abandoned animals.
We are a 501c3 non profit. We are located in Sonora California a rural town of approx 5,000 people nestled in the foothills of Sierra Nevada Mountains. Since our formation in 2001 we have helped to re-home over 1000 dogs and 400 cats.
Our primary focus is to help the animals in our local shelter that are often over looked, the senior animals, those requiring expensive surgeries or needing special medical care.
We are the only animal rescue group in Tuolumne County that does this. We do not have paid employees, we operate out of our homes and we do not have buildings or premises to maintain. We rely solely on foster families to help us look after these animals.We keep our overhead costs as low as possible so any money we receive can go towards helping more animals. Our vet bills alone for 2009 were $25,000.
History & Operations
FOAC was established as a 501)(c)(3) non-profit, stand-alone organization in 2001 as a companion organization to Tuolumne County Animal Control and was thus named “Friends of Animal Control”. Initially, our mission was to relieve crowding at the Animal Shelter, expedite movement of homeless pets into permanent, loving homes, and reduce the number of unnecessary euthanizations at the Animal Shelter. At that time, we were staffed by concerned employees and volunteers of Animal Control.
Our initial process, which continues today, is to move pets out of Animal Control into Foster Care or a breed-specific rescue organization with the ultimate goal of finding the best possible home for the pet.We visit Animal Control on a periodic basis to determine which pets are good candidates for FOAC services. Correspondingly, Animal Control will call us when they identify a good candidate and we respond by going to the Animal Shelter for an assessment.
Once a pet is selected for FOAC services, they have a medical screening by a local veterinarian. An assessment is made as to the viability of providing medical care, from two perspectives, the age and condition of the pet and available financial resources. If the pet is a viable candidate for the medical treatment but funds are not available, FOAC conducts pet specific fund-raising events to ensure that medical care is provided.
FOAC does not operate within a facility, but rather as a network of foster homes. This ensures that each pet is socialized within a home environment and we have an opportunity to assess the type of home to which the pet is most likely to adapt.
The foster home model of operation also ensures effective use of FOAC funds which are fully dependent upon the generosity of people and businesses in our community. We receive no financial assistance from any governmental agency.
Recently, we have expanded our services to assist families who can no longer care for their pet due to personal circumstances. We have helped when families have lost their homes or relocated and cannot take their pets with them. We have helped when medical crises arise and caring for a pet is not possible. We have also helped when the death of the owner dictates a new home for a pet.
The expansion of services within the community has prompted us to rename our organization, “Friends of the Animal Community”. Our abbreviated name, FOAC remains unchanged. And our commitment to the pets in our community is unwavering.
2010 FOAC Sources and Uses of Funds
FOAC is committed to using our funds responsibly to ensure the confidence of our donors. We receive funding from 4 major sources:
- from individuals and businesses within the community
- from events planned and conducted by FOAC
- from adoptions
- from reimbursements and refunds.
As you can see from the chart below, 65% of funding comes from within our local community as a direct or indirect result of our fundraising activities. Adoptions account for one-third of our sources of funds, a direct indication of the number of pets we place in loving permanent homes.
Detailed breakdown of the Sources of FOAC Funds are as follows:
Our objective is to provide the finest care possible for as many needy pets as we can within the limitations of our available time and funds. Funds are used to cover all expenses to support our mission. There are two primary categories for our expenses:
- Direct Expenses are costs used to directly impact the health, well-being, and placement of pets in our care
- Indirect Expenses are costs used to support our activities and promote fundraising, both of which improve the quality of care and number of pets FOAC has the ability to assist
Detailed breakdown of the Uses of FOAC Funds are as follows:
