fundraising made easy in difficult times

IN
Spring/Summer 2010
The RSPCA newsletter
for animal welfare
organisations overseas
Fundraising is an increasingly
professional and competitive
activity – in the UK alone,
190,000 registered charities
are seeking funds for a variety
of worthy causes. As a result,
funders – whether donors or
trusts – are more professional
in the way they assess requests
for support and expect clear and
specific information about why
you are asking them for funds.
W
hen approaching donors during
these difficult economic times,
it is more important than ever
to do the simple things well. You need to
reassure them that you will make even
the smallest amount of money work as
hard as you can, treat them as individuals
with complete control of their gift levels,
and give a genuine, prompt and personal
‘thank you’. These basic elements of
donor care help build donor loyalty – and
right now charities need donor loyalty
more than ever. Continued on page 2
In this
issue of
IN
RSPCA
International News
The sky’s the limit for two
RSPCA supporters as fundraising
activities become more extreme.
Fundraising made
easy in difficult times
The fundraising cycle
The following process offers an effective framework for fundraising. It begins and ends
with evaluating your funding position and can be thought of as a ‘fundraising cycle’.
Evaluate: Why are the
Research: Have you
Resource: Have you
animal welfare needs you
service important and
urgent? Why do you and
your proposal deserve
generous support?
identified all the possible
sources of funding for
your cause? Do you
understand how the
funding is allocated?
worked out the methods,
staffing, structure,
strategy and investment
you need for fundraising
in your organisation?
Review and evaluate:
Monitor: Are you
Ask: Have you learnt
Identify successes,
learn from failures,
and begin again!
successfully building
relationships with funders
by keeping them up-todate with the progress
and success of the projects
they have supported?
(For example, through
a newsletter.)
effective techniques
for approaching
potential funders?
Have you tried putting
them into practice by
submitting applications?
News
from you
News
from the UK
News
from China
OTOZ Animals
in Poland
RSPCA supports
flood victims
China drafts its first
animal protection
legislation
The RSPCA newsletter for animal welfare
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Continued from page 1
The RSPCA has been actively fundraising for
many years but methods have been reviewed
and evaluated along the way.
Message
RSPCA
from the editor
Top 5 principles of fundraising
1. A ‘case for support’.
Developing a ‘case for support’ is the
most important thing for a fundraiser
to do. It is essential to understand your
organisation’s identity, who it serves and
what it wants to achieve with the funds
you raise. Otherwise, you probably will
not be able to convince anyone else that
your cause is the one they should support.
The strength of a charity’s case for
support relates directly to the level of
personal concern and interest of the
prospective donor. Donating should be
as rewarding to them as the funds you
receive will be to you.
Every charity has its unique selling
points. Do you know yours and how to
communicate them clearly and effectively
to your target audience?
2.If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
Why do donors support your charity?
Because someone asks them to! There
may be many individuals who would
be delighted to support a cause but are
never asked. A fundraiser’s time is limited,
however, so you need to prioritise who
you communicate with and think about
who is most likely to make a donation.
3.Funders give to PEOPLE
not organisations.
You may be applying to a charitable trust
for money for a major project or to an
2
individual for a contribution towards your
day-to-day running costs. In either case,
remember that the decision to award you
a grant will be made by individuals with
similar needs, desires and aspirations as
yourself. By helping the funder to meet
their own objectives, you are more likely
to receive their support.
4. Always say “thank you” and say it
as soon as possible.
The most important way of keeping
people’s support and goodwill is to
thank them and to acknowledge their
contribution. If supporters are not
thanked appropriately, then you cannot
seriously expect their support to continue.
5. Building the relationship.
Eighty per cent of your income comes
from 20 per cent of your supporters.
So, you must keep your existing donors
engaged with what you do and motivated
by your ability to achieve what you set out
to do with their contribution.
Donor development is all about ensuring
that you and your donors get the most you
can from your relationship in ways that are
good for both of you. From first contact
onwards, encourage and enable supporters
to make the maximum contribution they
both desire and are capable of. Remember
that people always expect something in
return for their support. What are you
going to offer them?
Unfortunately, RSPCA International has had to
suspend its small grants programme for 2010
but we hope that the fundraising tips in this
issue are useful. OTOZ in Poland and ROLDA
in Romania share some of their fundraising
ideas in ‘News from you’ and some of you
explain how you have used the power of
the press and media to raise awareness and
appeal for funds.
Following on from last issue’s theme of
driving for change, we also learn how
organisations in the Bahamas have
successfully driven changes to turtle law.
Developing legislation is also the theme on
page 7 as we learn more about China’s drafting
of its first general animal protection law.
Effective legislation is more than a piece of
paper, as two recent RSPCA cases profiled
in ‘News from the UK’ show. Legislation has
to go hand-in-hand with enforcement and
successful prosecution cases often require
the cooperation of various agencies. The
response of the RSPCA’s inspectorate to
severe floods in the UK in November 2009
demonstrates how its work goes beyond law
enforcement. Find out more about recent
international inspectorate training courses in
‘Training and projects’ on page 6.
Please send any feedback to:
kkilving@rspca.org.uk. We would love
to hear your reaction to any of the
stories featured here – or your own
experiences of any of these issues. Has
your inspectorate had much experience
of dog fighting cases or emergency
situations such as floods? Are you
campaigning for legislative change?
IN
News from you
Association
Profile
Pawel Gebert from OTOZ Animals in Poland talks about its work
and particular highlights.
O
TOZ Animals (Ogólnopolskie
Towarzystwo Ochrony Zwierzat̜
“Animals” or the All-Polish Society for
the Protection of Animals) began
operation in October 2001 as a
non-profit benefit organisation
with the aims of:
providing shelter for and rehoming homeless cats and dogs
n
improving farm animal welfare
n
increasing awareness of animal welfare
n
investigating cruelty cases and
developing an inspectorate.
n
Five OTOZ animal shelters can
accommodate up to 710 dogs and 310
cats. Our 2008 ‘By adopting me You
save my life’ campaign resulted in new
homes being found for more than 3,400
dogs and 1,125 cats.
Working to improve farm animal welfare
In 2001 we organised a mobile exhibition
on a lorry, together with Compassion in
World Farming (CIWF). It travelled from
Poland to Italy to highlight the plight of
thousands of live animals that spend at
least 60 hours being transported to Italy
from Poland each year.
In 2003 we worked with CIWF to
uncover illegal breeding and slaughtering
practices. Recently, our inspectors
discovered more than 500 cows
being kept in terrible conditions.
We also work to raise consumer
awareness of the impact of everyday
shopping habits on animal welfare
and to increase the demand for, and
accessibility to, food produced to
higher standards of animal welfare.
OTOZ
We have 55 volunteers and five paid
inspectors who intervened in 852 cases
in 2009. Our inspectors also run school
education programmes and this year
some of our inspectors participated in
RSPCA-led training.
OTOZ has 60 inspectors who deal with a wide range of animals.
Protecting companion animals
In 2007 we closed an illegal shelter that
farmed dogs for lard, believed by some
people to be a good medicine.
In January 2008 we rescued 138 dogs
̜
kept in an illegal shelter in Dabrówka.
The animals were chained to ruined dog
kennels without any roofing and many
were in a terrible physical condition.
We also rescued over 50 ill, starving dogs
from an illegal shelter in Lesna Jania.
Bears in captivity, and fur
For two years, together with scientists
from Wroclaw University and the
RSPCA, we have been evaluating the
condition of captive bears, resulting in
a detailed register of their weight, origin
and physical condition. A report has
been produced describing the problems
and suggesting possible solutions.
This year we took part in demonstrations
in front of shops selling fur and
distributed leaflets about fur farms.
All our work is dependent on having
the funds to do it. The majority of our
funds are raised by private donations and
the ‘One per cent’ campaign, whereby
taxpayers in Poland can devote one per
cent of their tax to non-governmental
organisations. Tax donors often become
regular supporters. We also rely on
grants and subsidies from the city council
for shelters for homeless animals, and
have a special fundraising agreement
with an internet company. We work
closely with international partners such
as the RSPCA and local partners in
Poland to share ideas and resources.
3
The RSPCA newsletter for animal welfare
Campaigning for legislation
to protect turtles
F
ollowing many previous failed
attempts to create comprehensive
law to protect turtles in the Bahamas, an
energetic two-year campaign finally saw
the desired legislation adopted in 2009.
From September 1, it was made illegal,
to catch, kill, sell or possess any turtle,
disturb any turtle nest, or take or be in
possession of any turtle eggs.
Over the years there have been several
complaints to the Bahamian government
and to newspapers about turtles
being caught and killed inhumanely.
Complaints were supported by the
Bahamas Humane Society (BHS),
the Humane Society of Grand Bahama
(HSGB) and smaller action groups.
But some Bahamian fishermen argued
that eating turtles was part of the
culture. Some even argued that children
would starve without turtle meat.
Existing turtle law only protected some
species, while others had no protection
at all. Turtle welfare and conservation
also suffered because not enough people
were concerned about it. As a result
politicians did not want to risk losing votes
by supporting it. However, the image of
turtles turned on their backs in the baking
sun or struggling in vain for hours to
escape their ties upset many tourists and
a growing number of Bahamians.
Different pro-turtle groups organised
themselves into a single, more cohesive
Bahamas Sea Turtle Conservation
Group and set up their own website:
www.saveourseaturtles.com. By reporting
every saved turtle in the press and on
TV a great deal of support emerged
from other Bahamian individuals and
groups, including the government-funded
Bahamas National Trust.
Highlighting that the country was out of
step with its Caribbean neighbours and
the USA, which afford full protection
to turtles, helped gain support for the
lobby. Getting visitors to write letters to
the ministries responsible for tourism and
fisheries was very important too, while
getting Bahamians to join and lead the
campaign was essential.
The campaigners included the relevant
ministries in dialogue and worked with
them rather than against them. The
new law is a credit to the Bahamian
government as well as to the tireless
efforts of the campaigners.
Feedback
from you
In recent issues we asked you whether
you are exploiting electronic forms of
communication and to share fundraising
ideas. From old pots and pans to celebrity
galas, here are some of your ideas…
The press and Facebook help
60 dogs in Malaysia
Animal rescuers and pet owners claimed
60 dogs from the Majlis Perbandaran
Klang pound in one week in December 2009,
thanks to extensive coverage in Sin Chew
Daily, New Straits Times, Malaysia Today,
blogs and on Facebook.
Dogs Deserve Better
Fabulous fundraising events
in Romania
In 2009, National Dog Day and National
Mutt Day were organised for the first time in
Romania, while the year’s biggest fundraising
event for Romanian animals, the Vampire Ball,
was held in California, USA. A number of
events are planned for 2010, such as Have a
Heart for Romanian Animals on Valentine’s Day
and a Christmas celebrity fundraising gala.
We are extremely grateful to the publications
that published articles about our work and
posted appeals, including Dogs Today,
Cat World, Dogs Monthly and Viata Libera.
ROLDA Foundation (Romanian
League in Defense of Animals)
Working with other groups
in Zambia
One of our fundraising ventures consists
of selling donated books and household junk
like old cooking utensils, old curtains, pots,
pans, plates, etc. Also, when we have a sale,
we allow other groups to put up a table
and charge them K50,000 (about £7) for
the facility.
BHS
Chingola SPCA
A turtle being returned to the sea in the Bahamas.
4
IN
News from the UK
RSPCA cracks down on cruel sports
T
The four people were sentenced to
between 18 and 26 weeks in prison and
ordered to pay between £1,500 and
£2,000 costs. The three men were all
banned from keeping animals for life and
the woman, at whose home the fighting
took place, was banned for keeping
animals for ten years.
Searches discovered 35 fighting dogs
across eight different counties. More
than half had sustained fighting injuries
and showed scars from previous fights.
District Judge Richard Blake said:
“Understandably there is widespread
public objection to these events. This
was the sadistic abuse of animals for
entertainment. These offences involve
many years of breeding and training
of the animals.”
RSPCA
hree men and a woman were jailed
in September after a major RSPCA
investigation helped tackle one of the
UK’s biggest dog fighting rings. They
were caught thanks to two investigations
into organised dog fighting by the
RSPCA’s special operations unit and
with the help of film footage taken by
an undercover TV reporter.
The RSPCA helped to break up one of the
UK’s biggest dog fighting rings.
Badger diggers
brought to
justice
wo men were arrested and found guilty
of six charges of badger digging at the
conclusion of a two-day trial brought by
the RSPCA in September 2009. Badger
digging involves finding then usually
killing badgers, often for sport. Diggers
usually use specially trained dogs to
search below ground for the badger.
The RSPCA secured 50 successful
convictions under the Protection of
Badgers Act between 2004 and 2008,
with 22 of those in 2008 alone. Although
badger digging was banned in the UK
in 1973, the statistics and this case show
that legislation has to work hand-in-hand
with enforcement.
RSPCA
T
RSPCA inspectors lead horses through waist-high water after floods in November 2009.
RSPCA supports flood victims
I
n late November 2009, Cumbria and
Wales suffered severe flooding. The
RSPCA deployed more than 60 specially
trained staff, about 20 per cent of its
field staff, to offer rescue assistance to
both people and their animals. More
than 50 emergency calls were received
from people who saw animals becoming
trapped in rising waters.
Among the animals rescued were
a flock of 200 sheep stranded in a
flooded field, eight cats from flooded
homes, a collapsed dog in a flooded
home and a horse that was trapped
in a flooded paddock. In some rescues,
staff waded through freezing waters
up to their waists to help lead animals
to dry land.
5
The RSPCA newsletter for animal welfare
Training and projects
The last year has been a busy one for the RSPCA working
to help develop inspectorates around the world.
Japan, February 2009
Between 2004 and 2006 the Japan Animal Welfare Society (JAWS)
organised three study visits to the UK
for local authority officials. In 2008 the
RSPCA agreed to provide enforcement
training in Japan on a consultancy basis.
a two-day workshop on identifying
common enforcement issues. More
than 20 animal protection inspectors
from 14 cities and counties across
Taiwan attended.
A panel of observing academics selected
by the Council of Agriculture learnt about
some of the practical problems facing
RSPCA Inspector Jackie Hickman
Taiwan’s inspectors in their everyday work,
delivered the course to 28 attendees in
and will use these to identify specific
Tokyo. Sessions on animal welfare
assessment, evidence gathering and four training needs.
RSPCA cruelty cases were presented,
Following the workshop, a one-day
and visits to three pet shops of varying
meeting with the course-design panel was
quality were included in the course.
held to establish a work plan and roles,
Initial feedback from both JAWS and the and work on designing the new course
participants has been very positive.
began. Corina will continue to provide
consultancy support to the panel, with a
Hong Kong, March 2009
visit planned for 2010.
Seventeen senior inspectors,
Poland, October 2009
inspectors and assistant inspectors
attended a two-day course led by
In April 2009, Mateusz Janda from Strȧ z
Superintendent Gary Arnold of the
dla Swierzat̜ and Pawel Gebert from OTOZ
RSPCA’s training department. Hong
Animals visited the UK for four days. They
Kong inspectors are particularly well
participated in training school at RSPCA
trained in rescue techniques using
HQ, spent a day shadowing an inspector
ropes and protective equipment,
especially at height on buildings or
steep slopes. The training focused on
other equally challenging aspects of the
job, especially complaint investigations,
as well as on the importance of
strengthening standards as part of
a uniform methodology.
and visited South Godstone Animal Centre.
During the visit, three main training needs
were identified and then developed for a
training course: assessing the welfare of
animals; communicating with the public;
and gathering evidence.
There were 27 participants on the twoday course, run by Superintendent
John Wilkins. In addition to developing
communicative, investigative and welfare
assessment skills, the course also helped
to build confidence and motivation. As the
inspectors generally work alone and cover
quite a wide geographical area, the course
really helped to address the sense of
isolation that can be experienced on the
job and increased inspectors’ confidence
in correctly assessing situations by
developing investigation standards.
The inspectors ended the course by
completing an action plan with five
time-bound goals developed as a result
of the training; these will be reassessed
in a follow-up visit in 2010.
In 2006/07 six SPCA inspectorate staff
had spent several weeks shadowing
their RSPCA counterparts in the UK.
Superintendent Corina Stables of the
RSPCA’s training department delivered
6
RSPCA
Taiwan, August 2009
Polish inspectors pose for a post-training photo.
IN
The challenge for China:
developing animal protection law
The earliest animal protection law was passed in the UK more than
180 years ago and today many countries are thinking of putting some
basic legislation in place that addresses cruelty towards animals.
Some countries, however, are still in the
very early stages of developing their first
animal protection legislation, including
China. RSPCA International has been
working there for more than 10 years,
gradually building support for animal
welfare among officials and academics.
Over the last few years reports of
deliberate animal cruelty have increased
but so has public anger about it. People
are more aware of cruelty cases because
of the internet, blogs and chat rooms.
There has been a lot of media coverage
of cases, with journalists investigating
and exposing the perpetrators of cruelty.
However, as domestic animals have no
legal protection, none of this abuse can
be punished. Chinese people across the
country feel that such incidents point to
a gap in the legal system and ask: “What
happens in other countries to people who
abuse animals?”.
In 2008, parallel to the rise in public
concern for the treatment of animals, the
RSPCA held a landmark International
Forum on Animal Protection Legislation
in China, co-hosted by the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of
Law. Animal law experts from Europe,
the USA, Australasia and Hong Kong
met with Chinese academics over
two days to discuss the challenge of
developing animal legislation. This was
followed by the establishment of the
country’s first Centre for Animal Law
Studies in Xi’an in December 2008.
Continued on page 8
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
RSPCA International
Currently, only endangered species
are protected by wildlife legislation in
China and there is no punishment for
abusing or killing other animals. This
leads to both systematic abuse of animals
and cases of cruelty carried out by
individuals. In particular, reports often
emerge of large-scale campaigns to kill
dogs using inhumane methods following
rabies outbreaks. Many of the pet dogs
killed are cared for by responsible owners
and are vaccinated against rabies. These
campaigns attract not only international
but also domestic criticism.
The RSPCA’s Senior Manager International Programmes, Paul Littlefair and Professor Chang Jiwen debate the new draft Chinese
animal welfare law on Chinese TV.
7
The RSPCA newsletter for animal welfare
Continued from page 7
Developing law in China
At the same time, the RSPCA began
supporting a committee of experienced
environmental and wildlife law professors,
led by Professor Chang Jiwen, to begin
working on a basic law through a series
of workshops and meetings.
Many emerging animal rescue groups,
as well as individuals from around the
country, wanted to help develop the
legislation and provided feedback to the
drafting committee. Following this period
of consultation, the committee decided to
produce a more focused draft specifically
to address the issues of most concern to
the Chinese public – deliberate cruelty
and abandonment of animals. This is
currently being circulated and will be
further developed during 2010.
Animal protection law can only work if
there is an increased awareness of the
Children in
Nanning look
at rabbits on a
street stall as
the demand for
domestic pets
in China rises.
RSPCA International
In September 2009 the first draft law
was published in Beijing. It was very
ambitious, covering not only pets but
working animals, research animals,
captive wildlife in zoos and circuses, and
farm animals. Separate chapters addressed
animal transport and slaughter. The draft
law captured the attention of the Chinese
public and media and quickly became
a controversial topic debated across the
country. For some people the idea of
applying the same standards of animal
care across such a vast and economically
diverse country seemed unrealistic.
But many Chinese people welcomed
the draft as a progressive move. Paul
Littlefair, Senior Manager International
Programmes says: “If such a law is enacted
it will be the first time the state is sending a
clear message to every citizen, that the way
animals are treated matters.”
needs of animals and an understanding
of our responsibility for their care. In the
long-term a change in attitudes among
the young will be a driving factor. For
this reason, RSPCA International
has also launched a major education
project with the China National
Institute for Educational Research
(CNIER), the country’s leading centre
for implementing educational innovation
and reform. The CNIER’s Moral
Education Research Centre is working
with the RSPCA to deliver teacher
training and to produce teachers’ guides
and textbooks. These aim to promote
animal welfare education values such
as respect, responsibility and kindness.
More than 200 teachers from 15 cities
and provinces are involved in the
project. The RSPCA also funded a
survey into the attitudes of Chinese
secondary school science students
towards animals and the results will
be published in 2010.
The first step for legislation is for the
draft law to secure support at the
National People’s Congress, China’s
RSPCA, Wilberforce Way, Southwater
Horsham, West Sussex RH13 9RS
Tel : (44) 300 123 0373
Fax: (44) 303 123 0059
www.rspca.org.uk
international@rspca.org.uk
A charity registered in England and Wales, no. 219099.
International
parliament. There is no doubt that
political support for progress in animal
protection is growing. However,
the pressures of uneven economic
development and the diversity of
cultural attitudes to animals present
complex challenges ahead. China
not only covers a broad geographical
area but also has more than 50
minority nationalities.
As the cases in ‘News from the UK’
on page 5 show, legislation is only as
effective as its enforcement. In England
and Wales the RSPCA’s inspectors and
animal welfare officers play a unique
role in enforcing animal protection
legislation, through the Animal Welfare
Act of 2006. The skills and experience
of this specially trained body are highly
regarded around the world and our
inspectorate has worked with RSPCA
International to deliver training and
other support in more than 20 countries
over the past decade. The RSPCA
will continue to support China with
the development of legislation and its
eventual enforcement.
Editor: Kasia Kilvington
Production
manager: Debra Austin
Designer:
Simon Lunn
Production:RSPCA publications and brand