The Year in Review
As we look back at yet another year marked by the pandemic we wanted to shine a positive light on the past twelve months, celebrate some of the amazing charities that we have helped fund, and share some of the foundation's highlights.
It’s been a busy year for the foundation;
We celebrated our 20th birthday…
In March 2001, Anthony Martin took the leap of faith and decided to launch the Anthony V Martin Charitable Foundation to donate to animal welfare causes all over the world.
Twenty years on, and the foundation has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable animals and has ensured that the funding received goes directly towards actionable projects so that their is absolute certainty that the funding will improve the lives of the most animals as possible.
You can continue reading about the foundation’s story here.
We raised a virtual toast to Tony, and we weren’t the only ones who agreed that his work was worthy of celebration, as so did the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
An RCVS honour…
Honorary Associateship of the College is a prestigious honour given to a small number of non-members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons each year, in recognition of their special contribution to the veterinary sphere - and this year, Tony was recognised for his tireless support of vets and animals all over the world.
The college produced an amazing video to honour Tony’s work, and if you would like to check it out, along with Tony’s acceptance speech, you can find the full video here.
The foundation moved online…
As a 20th birthday present to ourselves we thought we’d help raise awareness for the tireless work the charities we help support do to help our animal counterparts.
That’s why we now have a brand new home for the foundation, a place where we can share details about the projects we have supported, share news and updates from the foundation, and streamline the grant application process so that we can find more amazing charities to help fund.
We’ve also launched our Instagram account, and quarterly newsletter so that you can follow along as we go.
We are doing all of this so that we can find and fund as many animal welfare projects as possible, helping as many animals as possible.
This is our core goal as a foundation, and 2021 was no different, as we continued to help fund truly important causes.
A dozen amazing projects supported…
The foundation has made twelve grants in as many months in 2021, and shows no sign of slowing down.
In fact, COVID has meant that these charities have needed the support now more than ever, and the foundation has funded all over the world, from Essex to Sri Lanka.
While the foundation primarily funds animal welfare charities, it does make other donations at its discretion, such as donations to Hector’s House and St Francis Hospice.
It really has been a busy year, but we have been blown away by the resilience of the charities we work closely with.
We hope that we can head into the new year with even more supporters championing the cause of our animal friends - and as such, we’d love for you to sign up to our newsletter so that you can keep up to date with all that is to come.
Even more importantly though, if you know of animal welfare charities, projects, or initiatives that you think we should know about, then please let us know, or ask them to fill out our grant funding application form.
We want to continue to find the world's best projects, so that they can help support the world’s most vulnerable animals.
Tony (our founder) puts it best;
“The past year has been a real struggle for many Sanctuaries, to carry on their good work as normal.
Many have had to make efficiencies, in how they provide care to the animals under their care.
So you are not alone, the Foundation stands ready to assist where there are cases of urgent need, or projects that need implementing.
It appears this situation will continue for at least the first six months of the year, so our challenges are not over yet!”
To close, we’d like to leave you with a quote from author and animal rights activist, Matthew Scully:
“Animals are more than ever a test of our character, of mankind’s capacity for empathy and for decent, honorable conduct and faithful stewardship. We are called to treat them with kindness, not because they have rights or power or some claim to equality, but in a sense because they don’t; because they all stand unequal and powerless before us.”
Have a fantastic new year, thanks for following along on our journey, and we look forward to keeping you updated as we continue on our mission to help charities make a difference.