Rural Representation on National Boards Disturbingly Lacking

Last year I analyzed grant data and found that rural areas only receive a small fraction of animal welfare grants compared to their population (10% of the population received 2% of grant funds). Last month, I called for national organizations to make a concerted effort to correct this injustice. One reason for the undeniable under-focus on rural issues may be the lack of rural representation on boards and executive staff. I analyzed the boards of directors of seven national animal welfare agencies ( The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement , ASPCA , Humane World for Animals , Petco Love , PetSmart Charities , and Best Friends Animal Society ) to gauge rural representation at the top of the national animal welfare policy and funding infrastructure. While the results may not be surprising, that does not mean they are any less distressing.

Determining if a name on a list was a “rural voice” wasn't clear-cut and was a subjective determination on my part. When profiles were listed on the organizational website, I used that information and dug deeper if I felt it was warranted. When profiles were unavailable, I used LinkedIn and other search tools to make a determination. When deciding to count someone as a rural voice, I primarily evaluated professional experience but would have counted anyone that mentioned “rural” as a personal focus or passion. Again, this is all subjective using limited information. If I am wrong or someone considers themselves a “rural voice” and I don’t, I’ll gladly defer to them and correct the numbers. I generally tried to give as much leeway as possible when making the determination.

So, all of that said. Let’s see how animal welfare is doing with rural representation (hint: not good):

Out of the 87 board members analyzed, I could only find one that could be reasonably considered a “rural voice”* (That’s a representation factor of barely 1%).

The boards and leadership of our national organizations must reflect the populations they seek to serve. Building boards with diverse leadership should be a priority of every organization, and that diversity should include those from varied economic and domestic backgrounds.

The pets and people of the rural United States continue to suffer from chronic, systemic, and prolonged underinvestment by the major animal welfare players. While support may be increasing, rural areas still receive significantly fewer dollars in proportion to their population. We need immediate and substantial changes to the way our sector allocates funds and develops programs and we must make sure there are rural voices in the room.

*This was Julie Castle from BFAS, which is based in the primarily rural state of Utah. I didn’t count work at the sanctuary as a determining factor, it’s an outlier, but I did count Julie because of her Utah roots and her work with No Kill Utah.