Philanthropy tends to follow familiar channels. Business leaders fund business schools, athletes fund athletics, and the pattern rarely surprises anyone. Todd B. Richter stepped outside that pattern when he established the Bideawee Todd B. Richter Foster Program, an initiative devoted to rescue animals waiting for permanent homes. The program addresses a practical problem. Shelters operate under constant strain, and animals who wait too long face diminishing odds. Foster placement relieves that pressure by moving animals into temporary homes where they receive individual attention, veterinary treatment, and the socialization that makes eventual adoption far more likely. Funding covers the care and placement services that keep this system functioning. Volunteers supply the homes; the program supplies the resources that make volunteering feasible. There is a community dimension here that goes past the animals themselves. Fostering draws neighbors into shared responsibility, connec...