by
Eve Lloyd Thompson
Treasurer & Secretary of the Bernice Barbour Foundation
Text of talk given at the National Animal Welfare Education Workshop “Animal Research: Where Does the Buck Stop? Ethics, Economics, and Responsibility,” Lake Tahoe, California, October 2-5,1999
As you may have guessed from the faculty list, I#146;m not here today because of my earth- shattering intellect or outstanding educational credentials, but I am a trustee of a foundation which funds refinement, reduction, and replacement of research animals. Barbara Orlans has asked me to talk about foundation funding for refinements, which is almost as scarce as funding for conferences on the subject.
One of the reasons there is so little funding by foundations is because no researchers ask us for money. There are a few exceptions, but my colleagues at other funding organizations tell me they rarely see a grant request which even mentions the words.
So ..... how do you find us? How do you get to the people with the money?
It’s time consuming, but simple .... research! There is help out there which can put you in touch with the funders. For example:
AWIC, the Animal Welfare Information Center, located at the National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, Maryland, is charged by Congress with the responsibility of helping those involved with animal welfare to achieve their goals. They are tuned in to funding for animal welfare, including research utilizing animals. The staff is very knowledgeable, and helpful, and you can reach them by e-mail at Contact us: http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/contact.php.
They publish a fine newsletter, the most recent of which lists an offer of research animal refinement funding by the Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust in Ohio and the Doerenkamp- Zbinden Foundation in Erlangen, Germany. The newsletter is free; just ask to be put on the mailing list.
The Foundation Center headquartered in New York with branches in Atlanta, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Washington, maintains lists of foundations by category of giving. I recently saw the list of those giving more $100,000 a year for animal welfare which had 277 foundations listed.
It would be interesting to know how many of them received requests for funding any of the 3R’s. The Foundation Center’s web site is: http://www.fdncenter.org.
There are often local guides to foundations in many locales, such as the Mitchell Guide to New Jersey Foundations. The Council on Foundations is located in Washington, D.C., with the mission to promote and strengthen organized philanthropy. They too can help seekers of funding.
There are all kinds of web sites which list foundations funding animal welfare. A caution here: many of them do not have accurate information on their site, but usually the name, address and phone number are correct. Armed with that information you can easily find out if the foundation might consider your proposal.
Now, some specifics of which I am aware.
The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation along with the Bernice Barbour Foundation, the Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust, the Marilyn Simpson Charitable Trust, the Humane Society of the United States, and the Massachusetts SPCA annually fund 50 $5,000 summer grants for veterinary students. The program is called “Frontiers in Veterinary Medicine.” The project selected by the students must advance the humane treatment of animals, and each year at least one of the Dodge fellows selects some type of laboratory animal refinement as their summer research project.
The Parks Foundation funds grants of up to $30,000 for stipend and expenses for a 1-year veterinary internship in animal welfare. The Parks Foundation also funds a fellowship for graduate veterinary students already enrolled in a Ph.D. program concentrating on animal welfare.
The Bernice Barbour Foundation funds a Ph.D. intensive training program with an emphasis on rodent behavior research for 4 years at $35,000 per year. This is to improve the welfare of laboratory rodents and to fulfill the need for behavioral phenotyping of genetically altered mice. This program is at the University of California Davis Center for Comparative Medicine. Dr. Stephen Barthold heads the Center.
Many university departments which use animals in teaching have received foundation support for alternatives. There are many such programs in veterinary and medical schools, and the Dodge, Parks, Barbour, and Simpson Foundations have funded them regularly. Interestingly, many liberal arts colleges are now asking for such funding for their psychology departments.
Frankly, it’s sparse. But, the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ACLAM) makes grants in the $10,000-$12,000 per year range. In 1999 they funded “Effects of social environment on behavioral and psychological indices of surgical stress” at Johns Hopkins, and “Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of intrathecal morphine in calves undergoing thoracotomy for ventricular assist device placement” at Texas A&M. To reach ACLAM, contact Dr. Martin Morin at morinasc@skip-jack.bluecrab.org.
Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing primarily gives grants for replacements, but on at least one occasion with which I am familiar they did fund a refinement project. Remember, it never hurts to ask. Their web site is http://caat.jhsph.edu
An interesting refinement project is the development of an Internet training module for animal handling by Ken Boschert, D.V.M., at Washington University. This is currently being funded by the Bosack-Kruger Foundation. Funding for pain and distress, not only for laboratory animals, but for animals having routine surgeries such as dehorning, castration, spay/neuter of companion animals, etc., is just now coming to the forefront and certainly qualifies as refinement. The Tompkins Trust in Boston gives about $50,000 yearly for humane research in Massachusetts and has, for the past few years, granted $12,000 annually for a pain and distress project at Tufts University. The Barbour Foundation is funding a similar project for animals at the University of Tennessee.
Establishment of the first center for the management of animal pain at the University of Tennessee, College of Veterinary Medicine (headed by Cornell’s well-known expert, anesthesiologist Charles Short, D.V.M.) should help give this important area of animal welfare a big push and a lot more visibility.
A few organizations offer awards to individuals. Some have not yet been awarded for refinements, but I am told should such a candidate be nominated for the award, they would be considered.
The $10,000 Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation “Ethics in Action Award” and the Humane Society of the United States “Russell and Burch Award” with a $5,000 prize are just two.
Awards from WARDS, which stands for “Working for Animals used in Research, Drugs, and Surgery,” started in 1996. They specifically recognize individuals and institutions that have excelled in eliminating animal pain and discomfort, both physical and psychological. It is interesting to note their awards to date have gone to individuals. In 1999, the first place award of $6,000 went to Paul Flecknell of the University of Newcastle, UK, for his work “Refinement of rodent and rabbit anesthesia and analgesia.” The second place award of $2,000 was given to Peggy Danneman of the University of Tennessee for “Assessment of various anesthesia regimens, including profound hypothermia, in neonatal rats.” Third place awards of $1,000 were shared by Cory Brayton of the Hospital for Special Surgery (New York) for “Refinement of drug administration studies of the effects of bisphosphonates in mice with osteogenesis imperfecta” and Stephen Dubin of Drexell University for “Non-invasive measurement of body fat percentage as a refinement alternative.”
You can contact WARDS at 8150 Leesburg Pike, Suite 512, Vienna, Virginia 22182-2714, phone (703) 442-4511, fax: (703) 442-4729, e-mail: oawards@erols.com, http://users.erols.com/oawards.
Some quick tips from a veteran reader of grant proposals. I feel qualified to say this because for this year’s grant cycle, I just finished reading 297 grant applications.
When you write or telephone, first ask for a foundation’s guidelines. This way you will learn exactly what they fund. If you have a question regarding the compatibility of your work after you get their criteria, ask the grants’ administrator if your program fits. One call can save you hours!
Writing the proposal to a foundation: No matter how complex or technical your project, write a short, one or two paragraph abstract or introduction that can be understood by a reasonably intelligent liberal arts college graduate. Almost all foundations funding your kind of work have scientific advisors, but when the trustees or directors sit down to discuss the merits of grant A over grants B and C, they often refer back to their own notes on the original proposal.
Case in point. Last week we reviewed three grants for genetic research. One dealing with immunogenetics of disease in the horse, one a study of a screening panel for chromosome assignment of genetic traits in dogs, and a third which was so complicated our distinguished scientific advisor was unable to unscramble exactly how or what was to be accomplished. When trustees reviewed these, the president said “I hate the one for traits in dogs” and others were equally luke warm. The researcher never made the point in his very long introduction that the traits he wished to uncover facilitate the breeding of healthy dogs, and those without inherited soundness problems. The president thought the purpose of the research was to find sites for traits such as coat color. End result, the horses got the dollars. I also find grant committee members like pictures, drawings, cartoons, any tool which makes the complex scientific project unique, and memorable when they are reading a lot of applications.
Please remember also that not all foundation trustees are dyed-in-the-wool anti-vivisectionists or opposed to research using animals.
To be applauded, the Humane Society of the United States is currently championing the cause of laboratory animals and their replacement where possible. I would encourage HSUS to target foundation boards throughout the United States to make the folks with the money aware of the need for refinements.
Speaking in marketing terms, the plight of laboratory mice and rats is not such an easy sell to the public as warm, fuzzy kittens and puppies in distress, creatures with which they can easily empathize.
It is a simple fact that research animals which are healthy, physically and mentally, provide researchers with better data. There are valuable research projects and programs using animals which could be happier, less stressed, and less painful for which you need money, but if you never tell the foundation administrators of your need, they will never know. There are many foundations out there with billions of dollars to give away. That is our raison d’etre and why the Internal Revenue Service treats foundations specially.
Bill Gates is the world’s best known billionaire, and his foundation’s corpus is growing as his own wealth increases daily. For all we know, Mr. Gates may be interested in biomedical research which uses large animals, or he may be fascinated by nonhuman primates or mice. Funding for refinements could be right up his alley, but if you don’t ask, you’ll never know!
Follow that money!
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Contents, Animal Welfare Information Center Bulletin
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The Animal Welfare Information Center
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Agricultural Research Service
National Agricultural Library
10301 Baltimore Ave.
Beltsville, MD 20705-2351
Phone: (301) 504-6212
FAX: (301) 504-7125
Contact us: http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/contact.php
