A Plea For Help From Animal Sanctuaries and Rescues In a Time of Hardship
- Casey J Farthing
- Oct 24, 2023
- 3 min read
What we're doing isn't sustainable.
Truthfully, we're not alone. Basically all small animal rescues and sanctuaries are bottomless money pits, always on the brink of closing the doors. They're run by people that have way more heart than money, volunteering far more of their time than they could ever be compensated for even in the best of times. We have to use social media to fundraise, and these days, fighting algorithms and multiple social media platforms is a full time job just trying to manage to get our message and needs to the people that already like and follow us, let alone expand our reach, and on a good day we're only reaching less than 5% of those. We have to gather content, be producers, editors and stay "in the know" with current trends. We have to engage, engage, engage to be in a newsfeed or seen by users outside of paying for extended reach. It's not enough that we work endless hours for nothing to save animal's lives and give them a safe home and place to recover from abuse and injury. We also have to figure out how to sing and dance for the algorithms of the social media gods.
And now, Facebook is ending the monthly donor program and has been allocating funds that we have raised elsewhere. FB has been one of our largest donation sources, and those donations have steadily declined to less than half what they used to be. When Facebook donations do come in, due to new policies being implemented, those donations are delayed in an inaccessible limbo for a month or longer - this is not sustainable for non-profits who rely on those donations to keep the lights on, the animals fed, and everything heated as the temperatures drop.
We’re going to raise money less often on Facebook since we're not sure when, or even if, we're going to get it. So we are hoping that you all will switch to other ways of support as well. We have PayPal, Venmo, and MyGivingCircle as alternative options, and we are working on expanding into additional donation and fundraising options as well.
Venmo - @rescuetailsanimalsanctuary
Locally we have resorted to placing cash/change donation boxes at stores that will allow us to, in the hopes of a trickle income.
The reality is everything we're doing still isn't enough. We have to prepare for the coming winter months, and we need to go to the feed store, and not enough money for both. We've liquidated assets and put literally everything we have into this sanctuary. We've robbed Peter to pay Paul so much that both of those poor guys are broke, and here we are at a turning point. Don't get me wrong, the animals that are here are well taken care of and here till the end. One way or another, we will ensure they are given the love, care, and home that they deserve with our sanctuary. What is in question is how we continue to move forward.
We're trying everything we can to continue to be here for these animals. For the rest, we need help from you. We are not the only sanctuary/rescue dealing with this, and have paraphrased some of this message from our friends at Izzie’s Pond with huge thanks.
Operating an animal sanctuary or animal rescue is a job like no other. We work multiple jobs to keep the lights on and go out of pocket for expenses far more often than anyone would realize. Charities - especially animal rescue and animal sanctuary charities - often do not have large endowments or celebrity support. We operate out of the love and kindness of donors and, when possible, volunteers. When those avenues of help are scarce, we operate out of pocket with a small team of hugely dedicated individuals who scrape together everything they can to make ends meet and ensure the animals continue to receive the love and care they deserve as they recover from injury and abuse in a safe environment.
We are asking for any help possible. If you do not have the means financially we completely understand, and we ask that you share our donations links and posts with your friends, family, coworkers, and anyone else who might listen. The more our message gets out, the more people can help out us and our rescue and sanctuary friends.