Carolyn Clark Beedle in just three years tripled the income, budget and education programs of Assistance Dogs of the West, a Santa Fe nonprofit organization.

Take a few minutes to talk to Beedle, a dynamic woman who juggles a dozen thoughts at once, and there's no wonder that she turned ADW around — making things work better is what she does.

"In 2007-8, the unthinkable occurred when (Beedle) handily beat expenses — $540,000 to $470,000," said Melissa Weiner, a local publicist and member of the ADW board. "Most importantly, ADW is now the leading service dog education program in the U.S. There are 95 service dog training programs, but ADW has the most progressive and largest student training program."

ADW teaches students ages 8-18 to train assistance dogs — mostly Labradors and golden retrievers, which have the best temperament for the work — in schools, at after school/summer programs and in "juvenile-detention" centers.

Those dogs are then provided to children and adults with disabilities. There are 30 dogs in the program each year, with an 80 percent success rate. It costs about $15,000 to train each dog.

Beedle, a Santa Fe resident, has been on ADW's board since 2001. She became executive director of the organization in January 2006.

Before taking the top managerial position at ADW, Beedle worked for an international consulting firm as a corporate executive, a position that kept her on the move around the world.

After five years at that high-pressure job, "my brains were dripping out of my ears," said Beedle, who quit the consulting business and retreated to Santa Fe to do pro bono work, read books and write a screenplay before taking over at ADW. "I wanted to do something good outside of the corporate world."

As Beedle analyzed ADW, "the program's strength was there, but the foundation to support it was not," she said.

ADW had been started in 1995 by Jill Felice, a self-proclaimed non-linear, non-businesswoman, Weiner said, who is an "extraordinary" dog trainer. Felice remains the program director.

Before Beedle agreed to take over as executive director, "board members came and went, fundraisers were goodwill events, income was lean and education program development grew in short spurts," Weiner said.

After Beedle started, there were changes, including a large increase in fundraising, a crucial need for every nonprofit that wants to survive.

"There was no annual appeal" at ADW, Beedle said. "If people sent money, that was great. ... That wasn't going to work."

Beedle didn't neglect local fundraising, but she did start making appeals to possible out-of-state donors. "I holed up in my office and put out five e-mails or letters a week. I was online looking for everything."

One possible donor she found was the Soros Foundation's Open Society Institute, which ended up turning down Beedle's request for a donation but did refer her to the Annenberg Foundation.

"We got $100,000 from them," Beedle said. "It was the biggest donation ever. They supported our juvenile-detention center program."

ADW also has an application in to the Reeves Foundation, Beedle said. "There's a good chance we will get something."

After improving its Web site, with the help of Santa Fe Web Design, which is also a supporter, ADW heard from Procter and Gamble, which was interested in the nonprofit's work in training at-risk kids to be dog trainers.

"We put in a request for $50,000 and got $5,000," Beedle said. "It's still a big deal — it was great. And it was all because of our Web site."

Beedle also encourages her staff to attend conferences, which gives them a chance to meet new people and share information.

ADW is also supported by local hotels, such as Hotel Santa Fe, Inn of the Governors, Sage Inn and Courtyard by Marriott, which provide free lodging for dog trainers.

Donations of goods and services also come from local veteranaries and veterinary supply stores.

Support also comes in from several generous individual local donors, including Ann Rutledge and the late Sally Wagner, who died in 2006.

ADW will hold a "flea garage" sale on April 18 and 19 in a vacant store in College Plaza to sell some of some of Wagner's art works and other items.

Santa Fe real-estate executive Eddie Gilbert provides offices for ADW in Plaza del Sol at a discounted rate, a huge improvement over the tight space on Baca Street in which they were based for many years, Beedle said.

"It's all a tribute to communication," she said. "Tell people what's going on and they will help."

In the future, Beedle and ADW's board have hopes and even a rendering — tacked to Beedle's office wall — of a $3.5 million complex that would bring dogs and trainers and dreams together to make ADW even better.

"In today's world, it's not going to happen," Beedle said, quickly qualifying that unlikelihood with "unless some huge angel shows up."

Assistance Dogs of the West will hold its 2009 graduation ceremony from 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 12, at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center. To purchase tickets or for more information, call 988-1234 or visit www.assistancedogsofthewest.org.

Contact Bob Quick at 986-3011 or bobquick@sfnewmexican.com.