The Dogs Trust......

leveller2911

We have sponsored a dog with TDT for nearly 18 months now and following the BBC Newsnight investigation into Charities employing professional fundraisers I e-mailed TDT to find out if they employ PFR.
I received an answerphone message from TDT saying thaey do employ PFR ers , blah,blah,blah then saying how PFR companies how they are worth it...blah ,blah, blah ..

Many of these PFR companies employ door to door sellers and whenever they succeed in getting people to take up direct debit contributing to the Charity the company charges the Charity from between £80-175 per time for the privilege.If this is so with the Dogs Trust(not answered in message) then all of our direct debit money for the last 18 months hasn't in fact gone to help the Charity but to line the pockets of the Professional Fundraisers.

I can't seem to get the Dogs Trust to clarify this so I'm looking for advice and also peoples thoughts ...We are pretty fed up with finding this out and its put us off contributing to other Charities....

Do we stop the direct debits now that the money is more than likely going to actually do some good or do we bite the bullet and carry on.........thoughts anyone?

Savvy_Sue

I think it is worth checking what sort of professional fundraisers the charity is employing: we have 3 (and we're not a large charity) but we employ them direct, not via companies. It seems your objection is to those who charge a premium for signing supporters up to a standing order, and TDT may not be using that sort.

You can also look at their accounts, either on their website or on the Charity Commission website, and see what % is going on fundraising.

I have to say it is very difficult to raise funds without using professional help these days.

leveller2911

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I have to say it is very difficult to raise funds without using professional help these days.

Thanks for your reply Sue, the problem I have with this is the fact that if they do pay professional fundraisers for every person they get to sign up we are not told this happens.My question in the e-mail was very direct and to the point but the chap didn't answer it at all, it was a very general answer and not specific....

As far as we are aware all of our direct debit money went to the charity not after 12-18 months of paying out.I think its dis honest at the least.

I wonder how many people actually understand that the money they give doesn't get to where its needed until 12-18 months after they start paying....

I did look for the full accounts on the Dogs Trust website but couldn't find them.......

Would you say that Charities are being dis honest in not telling people they pay between £60-£175 to professional for every direct debit they get?..

Following Newsnights investigation I wonder if the bad press will damage all charities.

Gertie_Walker

While you are looking at their accounts, look at their balance sheet. At Dec 09 they were holding over £93k in free reserves on annual running costs on £49,500. I would question whether they actually need your money.
Fundraising costs are shown in all charity accounts, but I would rather know if they are actually going to spend my money, or keep it in the bank.

leveller2911

Just read the accounts and was stunned to find out that 7 employees earned over £70k a year and of those 2 earned over £100k a year......I'm not naive enough to think people all work for nothing but thats taking the Mick.......

almond

would be interested to know whether i am giving to dogs trust i set up a dd 3 years ago £8 a month
and last xmas got a call from them asking for more money said no but its been causing consern since I heard about the people that collect , please let me know what you find out

Dogs_Trust

Hello everyone,

My name is Laurier and I work for Dogs Trust. I thought I would respond to some of the questions raised in this thread.

Leveller2911, thanks for bringing up the question about fundraisers and fundraising. All fundraising activity has a cost, whether that be placing an advert in a paper, on TV, or even using volunteers, but fundraising is a necessary investment in the future of the organisation. At Dogs Trust all fundraising is closely monitored to ensure it is a cost effective use of our funds. For every £1.00 spent on face-to-face fundraising we currently raise nearly £4.00. Face-to-face fundraising is the single biggest source of new supporters for Dogs Trust and without the money raised in this way, we would not be able to continue our work and care for over 16,000 dogs each year. I hope this helps answer your question. You are more than welcome to call the Sponsor a Dog team on 020 7837 0006 (they handle face to face fundraising) Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm if you have any questions that are not answered; we will be more than happy to help. Also, please feel free to contact me on with any questions.

For a few of the other questions/comments, I hope you don't mind me listing them in bullet points:

- If anyone signs up with a Dogs Trust fundraiser to Sponsor a Dog, the donation comes directly to Dogs Trust, it does not go via a third party.

- The Dogs Trust 2010 Annual Review is available to download on our website (as are those from 2007, 2008 & 2009).

- Our reserves policy is to maintain various funds, all of which are explained in full in our accounts (available via the link above). For example, the reserves included a fund to cover 15 months of operation (not just of our 17 Rehoming Centres, but also all of our campaigns such as our subsidised neutering and microchipping campaigns, and our education campaign). The reserves also include a fund for all associated costs of the first three years of operation of three brand new Rehoming Centres we have planned (including land, planning building), and a fund that represents the land, buildings, motor vehicles and equipment currently owned and used by the Charity to run its Centres and administer the organisation.

Please be assured that we are very conscious that we are funded entirely by the kindness of the public and we always make sure we spend the money as effectively as possible helping as many dogs as we can.

Again, I hope this has helped answer the questions raised. If not, do feel free to contact me with any questions.

Thank you!

(Please excuse the omission of e-mail links and annual review URL. As a new member of the forums, we do not have the ability to place direct links).

Savvy_Sue

Laurier, please would you edit your post to remove your email address, and also email [Removed by Forum Team] to ask permission to post on behalf of Dogs Trust.

If you read the Forum Rules I hope the reasons for this will be clear. If not, the Forum Team are the people to ask, email address as above.

Thank you.

Dogs_Trust

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Laurier, please would you edit your post to remove your email address, and also email [Removed by Forum Team] to ask permission to post on behalf of Dogs Trust.

If you read the Forum Rules I hope the reasons for this will be clear. If not, the Forum Team are the people to ask, email address as above.

Thank you.

Thanks Savvy Sue, I've amended our post as requested. I have also sent an e-mail to ask permission. Apologies! I appreciate you letting us know.

hethmar

Guys, I long stopped donating to the big animal rescues when I did my own research into this. I was also shocked how much some employees were paid when - at that time - I was one of a team of hard working unpaid volunteer fund raisers for Dogs Trust, or NCDL as it was. Ditto with our local RSPCA who I also had an affinity card for - I stopped donating to them when they asked "what do you expect us to do?" when I rang about a "nest" of 4 feral kittens next to a main road. Their only offer was to put them to sleep and they also wanted a donation for each one they did that too :eek: I found a small feral cat rescue who came out, collected the kittens said they would be treated and then rehomed and I had to force them to take some money for their petrol and trouble.

I then turned my attention to the small rescues who are literally working on a shoe string, often volunteers going without basics themselves to keep the animals well and looked after and rehomed wherever possible. I would encourage anyone who wishes to donate to dog/animal rescues to look at the small ones like Many Tears, Hillside Animal Sancuary and google for other local rescues that you can help. Not to put too finer point but some of the big rescues tend to "cherry pick" the animals they will take on, leaving the hard to place ones with the small rescues.

http://www.hillside.org.uk/

http://www.freewebs.com/manytearsrescue/


I am involved in a group (Rochdale Dog Rescue) which is totally self supporting from the unpaid volunteers own efforts and who save hundreds of dogs a year from the local council stray pounds. There are similar groups doing the same thing all over the country, raising money from selling items or having boot fiars, raffles etc and all need helpers.

http://www.rochdale-dog-rescue.com/urgentdogs.html

Google for similar groups near your location.

lisyloo

I prefer to support more "hand to mouth" charities.
I have nothing against the Dogs trust, but their glossy brochures and high salaries demonstrate they don't desperately need my money.

As an exmaple, round the corner from the Dogs trust rather plush premises near Salisbury there is the Wiltshire Wildilfe Hospital. This is a draughty old barn on an old farm with very basic facilities.
I believe they have one employee and the rest are volunteers who give their time and petrol freely.
This isn't an advert for them, but just an example (one of many) of where I'd rather give my money.

If they have glossy magazine, plush premises then they don't need my money.

Of course peopole need to be paid and need somewhere to carry out their work effectively and safely, it's just a question of priorities.

If you want to give then find a charity that you are happy with. There are tons to chose from.