The Charitable Aviation Foundation, a non-profit group based in New Orleans will now offer funding support for volunteer pilot organizations (VPOs) engaged in compassionate flights that benefit people, patients, animals, and communities.
Founder Jay Taffet noted he established the foundation to further the efforts of the approximately 100 organizations in the U.S., which fly more than 50,000 charity flights a year, in areas such as disaster relief, patient transport, animal rescue, conservation monitoring, and community support.
The foundation raises money from aviation and nonaviation sources to help VPOs employ staff and recruit pilots as well as purchase the software and administrative systems required to efficiently pursue their missions.
“There are thousands of pilots around the country that volunteer their time and aircraft towards compassionate airlift and public benefit flights, and the organizations that match these volunteer pilots and humanitarian missions are indispensable to the wider nonprofit community,” said Taffet. “Unfortunately, there is very little funding visibility for these VPOs and, thus, a shortage of funds to expand their mission and impact.”
The foundation will award grants to VPOs based on stated needs and will only fund those groups that meet or exceed the standards set by the Air Care Alliance, the industry’s leading promoter of charity flights. “We actively solicit grant applications from the VPOs…towards quick turn funding in support of their mission and services,” Taffet concluded.