Debt Collection for donations?

Welshdebtor

tbourner wrote: »

OK, time to come clean, I'm actually the new treasurer of said charity (Huskies in Need), I've been asked by the founder to research chasing people - I think we have 1 or 2 who haven't paid - they'd agreed with the founder to pay £50 a month (£200 minimum donation for puppies under 2 years old is our rule) but so far haven't done that.

We do send out a letter saying "Thanks for adopting etc...... and by the way you still need to pay your donation" But if this doesn't work can we then get a debt collection agency involved? And can we then take them to court if the pre-legal letter doesn't work? There's nothing that they sign that says they'll pay a donation - only that they will have the dog neutered if it isn't already, maintain it healthy, not sell etc., it belongs to the charity in the event of any problems in future etc. etc.

I tried to word this thread as if it could be me trying to wangle out of paying, cos I didn't want biassed replies, but it seems everyone is agreeing that it's pretty rubbish to not pay a donation - especially since these are Huskies and Husky crosses, which from a breeder a pure Husky is up to £1000!

We have given dogs to (homechecked) people without them paying, as we assumed most people would pay up reasonably quickly, it seems there are a lot of people out there who really do want something for nothing and none of our guilting letters make much difference. We put a lot of our time and energy into helping these dogs, we don't get paid, and my new found budgetting skills (thanks MSE ) are being used to try to pay off the debts we owe to vets and kennels - it's really hard when people just don't seem to care.

Huskies are beautiful dogs, plan on haveing a rescue one in the future. Love them and Malamutes, anyway going off topic

Why do you have the policy of rehoming dogs without an upfront payment?

goodgirl80

tbourner wrote: »

OK, time to come clean, I'm actually the new treasurer of said charity (Huskies in Need), I've been asked by the founder to research chasing people - I think we have 1 or 2 who haven't paid - they'd agreed with the founder to pay £50 a month (£200 minimum donation for puppies under 2 years old is our rule) but so far haven't done that.

We do send out a letter saying "Thanks for adopting etc...... and by the way you still need to pay your donation" But if this doesn't work can we then get a debt collection agency involved? And can we then take them to court if the pre-legal letter doesn't work? There's nothing that they sign that says they'll pay a donation - only that they will have the dog neutered if it isn't already, maintain it healthy, not sell etc., it belongs to the charity in the event of any problems in future etc. etc.

I tried to word this thread as if it could be me trying to wangle out of paying, cos I didn't want biassed replies, but it seems everyone is agreeing that it's pretty rubbish to not pay a donation - especially since these are Huskies and Husky crosses, which from a breeder a pure Husky is up to £1000!

We have given dogs to (homechecked) people without them paying, as we assumed most people would pay up reasonably quickly, it seems there are a lot of people out there who really do want something for nothing and none of our guilting letters make much difference. We put a lot of our time and energy into helping these dogs, we don't get paid, and my new found budgetting skills (thanks MSE ) are being used to try to pay off the debts we owe to vets and kennels - it's really hard when people just don't seem to care.

Just can't understand why anyone would do that Makes me wonder if they are responsible owners. You have this 'before you apply' section which : You will need to pay an adoption fee of £150 to £200.
do people read that and think 'we'll tell them that we'll pay but try and wriggle out of it'. How do they think charities like this manage to fund themselves?

tbourner

Welshdebtor wrote: »

Huskies are beautiful dogs, plan on haveing a rescue one in the future. Love them and Malamutes, anyway going off topic

We have 2 Malamutes, one was from Huskies in Need who we fostered and then adopted!

Welshdebtor wrote: »

Why do you have the policy of rehoming dogs without an upfront payment?

goodgirl80 wrote: »

Just can't understand why anyone would do that Makes me wonder if they are responsible owners. You have this 'before you apply' section which : You will need to pay an adoption fee of £150 to £200.
do people read that and think 'we'll tell them that we'll pay but try and wriggle out of it'. How do they think charities like this manage to fund themselves?

It's not so much a policy as just the way it's gone. We're only just a year old so still ironing out issues with paperwork and stuff - still waiting for charity status!!
There's also a FAQ section that details the donations required for different age dogs.
Anyway, as an example one of the adopters who took on a dog we were fostering - they'd been talking in the family about getting a dog for ages, homechecked fine etc. Turns out his daughter (18yo I think) had filled in the form online to get the process moving, I was talking to him and never mentioned the money (maybe I should have) but then the day he was due to come and pick her up, he rang me and said his daughter had just told him he needs to bring £200! And if he didn't he couldn't have the dog. With the usual financial issues he couldn't afford it, so I said you don't have to bring it with you but we will require a donation in the near future.

It's these kinds of things that maybe it's our fault for not stating rules and making everything clear, but we're here to help dogs primarily: If we can send a dog to a properly good home who'll take care of them, and make room to get another dog in need in, then the donation is secondary isn't it?

suicidebob

I think you have to put it down to experience, and ensure you have agreements in place for any future adoptions.

If there's only 1 or 2 who haven't paid, then it's probably best to just move on and make sure you're better placed going forward

Welshdebtor

tbourner wrote: »

We have 2 Malamutes, one was from Huskies in Need who we fostered and then adopted!




It's not so much a policy as just the way it's gone. We're only just a year old so still ironing out issues with paperwork and stuff - still waiting for charity status!!
There's also a FAQ section that details the donations required for different age dogs.
Anyway, as an example one of the adopters who took on a dog we were fostering - they'd been talking in the family about getting a dog for ages, homechecked fine etc. Turns out his daughter (18yo I think) had filled in the form online to get the process moving, I was talking to him and never mentioned the money (maybe I should have) but then the day he was due to come and pick her up, he rang me and said his daughter had just told him he needs to bring £200! And if he didn't he couldn't have the dog. With the usual financial issues he couldn't afford it, so I said you don't have to bring it with you but we will require a donation in the near future.

It's these kinds of things that maybe it's our fault for not stating rules and making everything clear, but we're here to help dogs primarily: If we can send a dog to a properly good home who'll take care of them, and make room to get another dog in need in, then the donation is secondary isn't it?

I agree, but you need to cover your overheads.Even if the £200 asked for does not cover all costs of that dog.

As said maybe put it down to experience and look at changing your future adoptions.

Savvy_Sue

What they all said: but I'm going to back that up and say that as treasurer, your prime responsibility is to leave your "aw aren't they cute" head elsewhere when you are doing your treasuring.

There will always be people who try to wiggle out of making agreed donations, but there will also always be vets bills to be paid! If the charity fails because of poor financial management, it's no benefit to the huskies.

Have you thought of requiring a non-refundable deposit at the time of applying to have a dog? I don't know how your screening works, but you could introduce further 'deposits' into the process, eg £x with the initial application form, £x for the home visit, £x when references are taken up, £x for this that and the other. You MIGHT want to make later ones refundable, but that would depend on how many you weed out through your screening. So if you turn down a lot of applications, don't make those initial costs too high, but at least it would get across the message that this is going to cost money!

mr_knight

I think upfront is much better, avoids people trying to get out of it. I think as well that if you cannot afford to make a donation for a dog then maybe you cannot affort to keep it (food, vet bills etc). Not always the case but it is with some people.

Have you had a look at other Animal rehoming centres to see how they do it? I agree with other posters and maybe you now just need to change your policies.

Fab dogs as well.

heretolearn_2

IF their contract doesn't mention the money, then no, you can't chase them for it through courts or anything. If it's only one or two I'd stop wasting my time on them.

But I've not heard of any rehoming centres that let people walk out with an animal before paying. You need to change your policy. to be honest, if someone struggles to come up with the donation, what are they going to do if there's an emergency with the animal? sure, you get insurance, but there are times when you just need the cash here and now (someone else is posting on here about needing to pay vet up front and then reclaim from the insurers.) You aren't doing the dogs any favours if you a) send them to a home that can't get it's hands on the readies and b) close down because of bad debts.

Money = dog. No money = no dog.

tbourner

OK. You're all probably right. The wife and I have done a lot of hard talking to the founder already as she only has the dogs interest at heart and doesn't really 'get' the business side of things (which is why we have far more dogs in than we can handle as a small outfit, and they're all now in kennels costing us LOADS of money!!). It should be an internal change as the wording of everything is OK I think, just up to us to not let dogs go without payment first.

Savvy_Sue

tbourner wrote: »

OK. You're all probably right. The wife and I have done a lot of hard talking to the founder already as she only has the dogs interest at heart and doesn't really 'get' the business side of things (which is why we have far more dogs in than we can handle as a small outfit, and they're all now in kennels costing us LOADS of money!!). It should be an internal change as the wording of everything is OK I think, just up to us to not let dogs go without payment first.

You are heading in the right direction ...

Just to say it can be tricky when a 'founder' is moving towards a formal set up, which seems to be the case with you. You may need to keep saying "I know you have the dogs' best interests at heart, and so do I, which is why I am saying ... because although in the short term ... appears to be the best thing to do, if don't ... then in the medium to long term .... "

I'll leave you to fill in the gaps!

Also make sure you have others on your management committee / trustees who will listen to both sides, but 'get' the business side of things.