Veterinarians Without Borders/Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (VWB/VSF Canada), a Canadian nonprofit based in Ottawa, is expanding its charitable work into the United States with the birthing of an American affiliate of the same name in Watertown, New York. The launch became official with the recent approval of the U.S. affiliate’s 501(c)(3) charity registration.
The two organizations share one executive director and an international staff of 22 mostly full-time, remote employees plus additional volunteers with a common mission under the informal umbrella name Veterinarians Without Borders (VWB) North America. However, the U.S. and Canadian organizations each run separately with separate boards and do their own fundraising.
“From providing emergency response support after the Maui fires to recently offering training services to animal welfare organizations in Vermont and Pennsylvania, we have a strong presence in the United States already and look forward to officially capturing this inspiring work under VWB North America,” said Charmaine Brett, who had been serving as executive director of the Canadian nonprofit for more than two years before assuming the same role with the U.S. affiliate in October. Adding a U.S. affiliate made sense since VWB/VSF Canada already partners with affiliates in a dozen other countries as part of Vétérinaires Sans Frontières international network, she said.
However, there’s a twist in the fact that another organization with the same name in Davis, California has been operating since 2007. Email and phone messages left with that organization by The NonProfit Times were not returned prior to publication of this story, but any thoughts of a partnership between them have apparently been ruled out. “They did not want to be a part of our network. They openly stated that,” Brett said.
Much of VWB/VSF’s work centers around emergency response to natural disasters including last summer’s wildfires across northern Canada and the Turkey/Syria earthquake earlier this year. Its work also includes response to war in places like Ukraine, where the veterinary care and support provided to more than 255,000 animals through rebuilding animal shelters and delivery of food and medical care since February 2022 are now threatened by loss of funds just as winter is setting in. “Ukraine had so much attention at the beginning of this year, but all the funding has now been cut because of what’s happening in Gaza,” Brett said.
VWB/VSF’s mission isn’t just about animal health. It’s also about promoting human health through animal disease prevention, education, and improved agricultural practices worldwide.
The idea of launching a U.S. counterpart to the Canadian organization was partly inspired by the previous work Brett did with Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières, which has no affiliation with the veterinary nonprofit she now heads despite the similarity in names. Prior to joining VWB/VSF Canada as its executive director in July 2021, Brett also oversaw programs for Action Against Hunger in Pakistan, Cambodia and Nigeria and for the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, the latter of which includes a strong animal welfare component as part of its mission.
VWB/VSF Canada, founded in 2005, reported total revenue of $1.96 million for 2022 according to its T3010 charitable filing, which is Canada’s equivalent of the Form 990 required of U.S. charities. Veterinarians Without Borders in Davis, California, founded in 2007, reported total revenue of $510,720 for 2021, the most recent year for which a Form 990 filing is available.
Legal action between the two is apparently not out of the question. “I wouldn’t take that off the table, but that would be the board’s (decision) and also the international network because it’s our branding and our name,” Brett said.
