ANIMAL MATTERS: Money is too tight to mention

Whilst it is most certainly true that there is a case to answer that much of the work carried out by animal welfare charities, such as ourselves, should be the responsibility of departments in government, the fact is that we have to carry the brunt of services, and the costs, involved.
By The Newsroom
Published 27th Jul 2016, 15:51 BST
Updated 25th Aug 2016, 19:42 BST
You can increase income for your local animal charity by helping with the fundraising efforts.You can increase income for your local animal charity by helping with the fundraising efforts.
You can increase income for your local animal charity by helping with the fundraising efforts.

I am sure that Borders Pet Rescue is no different to other rescue and rehoming charities in having to fund our operating costs through a combination of fundraising, donations and good will. We receive no centralised funding of any kind and the vast majority of available grants are heavily weighted to people oriented causes.

Of the limited number of grants that we are eligible to apply for the majority have to be used for material improvements to facilities and as such cannot be used to cover regular daily costs. These costs include the same areas that any other business would incur but with the added issue that the re homing fees we can charge in no way cover the costs involved in getting an animal to a rehomeable position. If we charged what it actually cost us to get to this nobody would ever come to us to offer a home to any of our residents.

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Clearly this means that we all have to rely on the help of dedicated volunteers to help raise money through events such as bag packing, awareness days etc; but also to reduce costs such as helping at the centres, becoming foster homes or helping in the charity shops if applicable in order to keep the wage bill down. Fundraising groups, regular donors along with our charity shops are the life blood of our particular charity and most welfare groups will be in the same position. To this end we all rely on the public to give of their time, efforts and/or hard earned cash. If you ask to speak to your local animal charity they, I am sure, would be delighted to run through with you all the ways you could help them.

If we can’t cover our costs we are simply unable to help as many animals as we could.

Related topics:Money