About Wildlife Support Fund

The Wildlife Support Fund, WSF, is a 501(c)3 corporation organized exclusively for charitable, scientific and educational purposes.  Our mission, as stated in our charter, is to financially support such organizations as wildlife animal clinics, veterinary centers, student veterinary programs, rescue programs and other organizations that care for animals, with a focus on the care of wild animals and the goal of housing, treating, rehabilitating and, when possible, releasing them back into the wild.

The Wildlife Support Fund, WSF, was created in August 2018 out of a recognized need to directly connect a donor with a project, streamline the donor process for organizations that do not have the resources to fund raise on their own, and to avoid the cumbersome processes from larger development groups.  The Wildlife Support Fund is strictly a volunteer organization with no paid employees.  No part of any donation sent to the Wildlife Support Fund will benefit any of the Directors or Officers.  The Board of Directors is comprised of six people each from diverse backgrounds and professions each bringing experience and perspective from serving with other animal welfare organizations.

Gina Clapper

Treasurer

Gina Clapper has always loved animals and started her college career in Veterinary Medicine. She graduated from the University of Illinois with a BS degree in Animal Science and an MS degree in Nutrition and has extensive research background in animal science nutrition. She is a member of the American Society of Animal Science and the University of Illinois Wildlife Medical Clinic Advisory Board. She volunteers at the Wildlife Clinic and serves on the Board of the Wildlife Support Fund. Gina’s family farms in the Champaign area.

Karen Koenig

Secretary

Karen Koenig has been involved with animal welfare since 1992 as an events volunteer, foster family, and past Board President for the Champaign County Humane Society. She has been volunteering at Raptor Rehab of Kentucky since 2009 caring for birds of prey. She has been a volunteer at the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital for 16 years and has been a member of it’s Wildlife Clinic Advisory Board since 2014. Karen also volunteers at the Champaign Public Library Friend’s Bookstore and Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority. While she loves all animals, Karen is especially interested in those without a voice-our wildlife. Karen is a retired airline pilot and now serves on the Parkland College Institute of Aviation Advisory Board.

Nina French

Director

Nina French trained hunter jumper horses professionally for 10 years before she met her Veterinarian husband in 1980 and he disrupted the family flow by moving them south to Louisiana. She served as a veterinary assistant in an equine parasitology laboratory, a lead technician in small animal clinic, and the lead technician in small animal rehabilitation at LSU. Nina, her husband and daughter were involved from the outset of the rescue operations involved with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. She is a Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor by the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International and as a Chief Horse Management Judge by the United States Pony Club. Nina moved back to Illinois with her husband where she currently manages a flock of sheep and goats, two horses, a donkey, a llama, some chickens, numerous cats, three dogs and a goldfish.