Ep 674: From One Alley Cat to 700 Spay/Neuter Surgeries a Year with Debra Magaldi, Director of CatPAWS

"People have to feel like they are making a difference, not earning a buck."

This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Neighborhood Cats' TNR Certification Workshop.

Debra Magaldi never set out to run a nonprofit. What began as feeding a neighborhood stray in her alley turned into a chance encounter with Helen Sanders herself, and after Helen's passing in 2005, a small fund to feed her jetty cats grew into CatPAWS, a Long Beach and Orange County organization now operating with an all-volunteer board, paid veterinary contractors, and a growing spay/neuter program. Sixteen years in, Debra brings her business background and MBA to a mission she says still runs on a fundamentally different fuel than any company she's worked for.

Debra and host Stacy LeBaron dig into what it actually takes to build a volunteer-run organization that lasts. Debra pushes back on the advice to "run your nonprofit like a business," arguing that while structure and strategy matter, people show up because they believe in the cause, not because of a bonus or a quota. She's candid about the cost of starting a new program: it takes far more money than founders expect, and grant and donor funding won't arrive until there's a track record to earn it. She also talks through the hard boundary-setting that comes with leadership, including learning to say no to well-meaning ideas that don't fit the organization's priorities.

On the ground, CatPAWS has scaled its spay/neuter access dramatically, moving from a mobile trailer serving only community cats in 2023 to a full surgical suite that opened in 2025 and now serves owned cats as well, with almost 700 cats served since the start of the year and typical wait times of only one to two weeks. Debra also walks through CatPAWS's approach to the question every community cat organization fields constantly: what to do when someone finds a litter of kittens. Her answer starts with checking whether mom is coming back, since kittens who stay with mom have far better survival odds, and points to the organization's "Help, I Found a Cat" guide and DIY kitten kit program as tools that keep vulnerable kittens out of shelters that aren't equipped to bottle-feed around the clock.[/one_second]

[one_second]Press Play Now For:

• How CatPAWS grew from a single alley cat colony into a 16-year-old nonprofit
• Why Debra treats volunteer time as equivalent to a financial donation
• The real difference between running a nonprofit and running a business, and where the "run it like a business" advice breaks down
• What it actually costs to launch a new program, and why grants and donors won't be there on day one
• CatPAWS's mobile trailer-to-surgical-suite spay/neuter expansion and current wait times
• What to actually do when you find a litter of kittens — and why waiting for mom matters

Resources & Links

• Helen Sanders CatPAWS
• CatPAWS Spay/Neuter Assistance
• CatPAWS Who We Are & What We Do