Animal charities in fundraising dogfight
3 Feb 09
A cold climate for giving has dragged two leading animal welfare charities into an unseemly squabble.
The latest issue of CA Magazine includes an article looking at how charities are faring in the credit crunch. The “Third Sector” is facing a triple whammy in the current economic situation: corporate donors and sponsors are short of funds and also don’t wish to be seen flashing their cash at glitzy charity events; individual donors are tightening their belts; and charities’ own invested funds, like everyone else’s investments, are in dire straits.
Just how bad it’s become is well illustrated by an unprecedented public spat between the Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and its equivalent south of the border, the Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The two perform similar functions but are not affiliated, and the SSPCA is hopping mad over the RSPCA’s efforts to raise funds in Scotland.
In an emotive ad appearing in the Scottish press, the SSPCA presents an emaciated and generally sorry-looking mutt with the slogan: “The RSPCA won’t save me.” It goes on to rant: “It’s about the RSPCA stopped stealing food from the mouths of Scotland’s defenceless animals.”
Good causes have always competed with each other but this takes it to a new level. It’s as if the Sick Kids Friends Foundation or Great Ormond Street ran a campaign saying: “Don’t give to the British Heart Foundation, all their patients are just people who ate and smoked too much.”
I do feel sympathy with the SSPCA’s complaint that a bigger “brand” is soaking up funds that should probably go to a Scottish-based animal charity, but I hope this doesn’t set the tone for charity fundraising during the downturn.