Choosing Your Charity
We are constantly besieged by charities asking for money so make sure you choose the right one for you and for the type of animals you wish to help. You don’t have to give your money to them, you may be happy to give your time, or possibly give an animal a loving home for the remainder of its life. One thing I would recommend however is to do your research on them as best you can.
Check the Charity
First off, make sure they are a legitimate charity by checking with The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. If they are, and they are a medium sized charity or above, they sometimes make their basic financial information available to the public on their websites. I find it interesting to type the name of the charity then add the word ‘financial’, or ‘annual report’ followed by the year. From that you can decide if your chosen charity actually looks like a charity and is in need of more funding, or looks more like a business that is very well funded. You can sometimes see the funding amount they receive, and from whom they receive it. Another thing to check is whether they get large amounts of funding from Government and Councils, if they do, that’s taxpayers money so you’ve already donated and it will help in your decision to give more, or not. It can help you decide if they really need your money and are doing some good with it, or if you should instead choose someone else. Having to pay tax is something we cant avoid for most of our lives, but it is something a charity can avoid.
“Don’t forget to ask if they are a ‘no kill’ shelter – its an important part of choosing who to support.”
Same Values as Yours
Look at who is connected to the charity you wish to help and what their policies actually are. Does it appear to have political connections, or seem to have more power than it should? Is it able to place you under surveillance? Can they access your meta-data information? A simple method is to email them some questions and review any publications they release. An important policy often overlooked is: Are they a ‘no kill’ shelter? If not, what are their annual Euthanasia statistics for birds, dogs, cats, and other animals? How long do they hold animals for before they are destroyed? There are many things you should ask charities about, and if they cant answer to your satisfaction then you should probably choose one that can.
General Or Focused
Find out if they are focused on a certain type of animal, or if they look after a general range of pets. You could look at helping a charity that specialises, or at least has a strong interest, in the type of animal you want to help. You can often find this on their website, or failing that give them a call and ask if they rescue birds (or the animal you are interested in).
Money Well Spent?
Is the Charitable organisation one that pays top dollar to their executives, gives them fancy vehicles to drive, but has mostly unpaid volunteers? I’m always interested to hear these executives reasons as to why we should have to volunteer, but not them. If you are ever interviewed for a position and it turns out to be unpaid, ask them: Do you have a house? Do you have a car? Did you get them working for free? Now I’m not saying never volunteer if that’s what you wish to do, just make sure its not to your detriment.
Hopefully these simple checks should help in narrowing down your search for an animal related charity that fits with your ideals, and is connected more to the animals you wish to help. Good luck.
