Congratulations to our Newmarket shop team!

Congratulations to our Newmarket shop team for achieving a fantastic 40% of gift aid sales in October. This represents a lot of hard work behind the scenes as gift aid tax relief can only be claimed if there is a paper trail from donated items to the funds they raise.

This means that our sales team must ensure each donated item is labelled with a bar code sticker matching the sticker placed on the gift aid form completed by the donor. When an item is sold this bar code is scanned at the till and the sale amount credited to the donor number. The till uploads sales details overnight and the computer system keeps a running total of the amount raised by each donor. Periodically I print and mail out the "donor letters" thanking donors and letting them know how much they have raised by their generosity. Once donors have been notified we are able to put in a claim to HMRC for the tax equivalent of the funds raised; meaning that we reclaim 25p for every pound of sales. 

That means an extra £500 raised by Newmarket in October—enough to cover the cost of neutering fifteen cats, chipping 70 dogs or providing 150 low-cost consultations at our animal clinic.

Shops, and the volunteers who keep them running, are the life-blood of the branch because they are our only source of regular income which can be increased by working harder.

We need more volunteers to help keep them in action. If you might be able to help, please drop in for a chat or email info@rspca-cambridge.org.uk We also need donations of saleable items and volunteers to help collect donations from people who aren't able to bring them in to the shops.

Pics from the Newmarket shop's 1st anniversary

Unfortunately Chief Inspector Mark Thompson was called away to an incident so was unable to attend the anniversary. However the customers, staff and volunteers thoroughly enjoyed it, including a fantastic cake baked by a local confectioner's shop.

This was the first time I'd had an opportunity to see the shop in action and I was very impressed by the way Lorna and her team have made use of every inch of sales space. This is essential as the Market St. shop has lots of storage in its basement, but a very compact sales area which depends on keeping a constant flow of items to fill up as donations are sold.

The cake!

Knackered...

On reception at the clinic all yesterday morning, with Patch, one of the cats I'm fostering fitted in at the end of the session. The abscess under her eye has healed up nicely, but unfortunately her skin condition is, if anything, worse than ever. She's now on steroids to try to clear up the inflammation and irritation and medicated baths to keep the skin clean and wash off allergens.

This morning I had an anxious call from on of our local "cat ladies", about a probable stray she's been feeding (shown in the picture). We're fairly certain that she's hyperthyroid and that someone has gone to the trouble of getting it diagnosed, because her throat has been shaved at the point where blood would be taken for the test. The major problem is that she doesn't seem to be going home at all, which is very bad news if she ought to be on medication for the condition. The vets were able to feel an enlarged thyroid, and she's got all the symptoms: extreme weight loss while eating ravenously, racing heart, thirst and excessive drinking.

Cycled over at 8 and collected her as the "least worst" option since if we take her in we do at least know for sure what's happening, while if we leave her where she is we've got no way of knowing whether or not she's returning home or getting any treatment at all. Hyperthyroidism is a common problem in elderly cats and is usually treatable with medication, but the longer a cat goes without treatment the greater the strain on her heart and kidneys.

To the charity shop at 11, but not a lot of customers due to the awful weather. This was compensated by lots of incoming donations of items to sell, including two enormous ones including loads of very good crockery, which should go well when the students return. The clothes donations included a bag of towels, which are very welcome with so many foster cats needing washable bedding.

We need to recruit more volunteers to help in the shops. If you are interested, please email camshop@rspca-cambridge.org.uk or newmarket@rspca-cambridge.org.uk (depending on your location).

Gift aid starting to pan out

After some initial teething trouble, I think we've now basically got the hang of running the gift aid system in our charity shops, and the first actual funds should appear in our bank account 6-8 weeks from now.

If you donate any items for sale and you are a UK income tax payer, please do complete a gift aid form, as it means an extra 28 pence for every pound raised when your donation is sold at no extra cost to you.

The process works on a bar code system. We take a sheet of bar code labels, all labels on a sheet having the same unique number. One label is stuck on your form and the others go on the price tags we put on your donations. When a donated item is sold, we scan the price tag at the till and the amount and donor number are recorded. During the night the till "phones home" and uploads details of everything scanned that day.

Once a reasonable sum has been recorded against your donor number, we print out and send you a letter telling you how much has been raised, and checking that you still wish to donate it to the branch. 24 days later (to give you a chance to demand your money!) we can put in a claim to HMRC for an amount equivalent to the tax you paid on that amount of income.

The need for the letters seems quite wasteful, but unfortunately they are a legal requirement if we want to operate the system, and there is a facility to avoid printing any which would cost more to post than the amount we would gain if we put in a claim.

It all sounds very complicated, but the degree of automation means it's actually harder to explain, than to do. Once the system has been running for a reasonable length of time, it should generate a steady amount of additional income as the gift aid forms come in and our claims go out to HMRC.

Explaining finances

Cambridge Evening News came over for a photo-session at the clinic today, with a view to doing a follow-up on the feature they did last month. I think they found my explanation of how our finances work confusing, if not positively evasive, and I'm wondering how it can be made more understandable.

Part of the problem seems to be an assumption that most charities have some kind of regular funding, either from grants or donations, which may dip (if the grant is cut, for example), in which case they then have a fixed sum they need to appeal for in order to fill the gap.

In our case, our regular income is generated by our shops. The good thing about this is that it's possible to increase it by working harder. The downside (and what's confusing) is that shops have running costs, so it's possible to have a very impressive turnover  (money taken) but relatively modest profit (money generated for use by the charity). 

So, for example with our new shop in Newmarket (I've rounded up the figures):

Monthly takings: £6,500

Monthly rent: £2,300

Monthly Wages: £1,000

Rates, heat etc: £300

That still means a net monthly profit over running costs of nearly £3,000 (although you need to bear in mind that we spent money fitting out the shop, so it's not an actual profit until we've fully covered those costs, which we should do in 10 months time). 

This is why the shop takings we need to achieve in order to fund our clinic and the rehoming and emergency veterinary treatment are such a lot larger than the costs of the programs themselves.

Once the shops' fixed running costs have been covered, everything else is a bonus, so if we can generate more sales, increase donations of items we can sell and so on, the percentage profit available to finance animal welfare will increase. More sales mean some extra overheads (for example electricity used to heat water for steam cleaning donations), but they're comparatively minor.

Volunteer opportunity: Donate, Don't Dump Day

Gracie is looking for a home

Could you organise a "Donate, Don't Dump" day at your workplace, school or college?

The idea is that you ask everyone to try to bring in one item that's suitable to be sold in our charity shops.

Almost everyone has something that's too good to throw out but they never use or wear.

You can either bring the collected items to our shop, or we can collect them provided we have enough warning in advance.

This opportunity would be particularly suitable for school pupils who are not old enough to volunteer directly with the branch as it can be done at school (provided your teachers are happy with the idea.)

If you would like to organise a "Donate, Don't Dump" event, please email camshop@rspca-cambridge.org.uk or newmarket@rspca-cambridge.org.uk (depending on whether you are local to Cambridge or Newmarket.

First three weeks results for Newmarket

Lorna's just emailed me the latest results for the Market Street shop which are very encouraging.


w/e   19.02.11: £2,177.06

w/e 26.02.11: £1,438.42

w/e 05.03.11:  £1,606.60

Publicity for the initial opening boosted takings in the first week, so I'm not disappointed that the 2nd and 3rd weeks weren't quite as good, especially considering the cold weather which doesn't encourage browsing at the moment.

Thank you to everyone who's supported us by donating, shopping or volunteering: please keep it up and help us to go on helping local animals. Recently these have included Jake, a small Jack Russell-type terrier who was hit by a car and will need around £500 to pay for surgery to fix his broken pelvis, and several other cats and dogs signed over to our inspectors because their previous owners could not cope.

Pics from the Newmarket Shop opening

 Shopping here benefits the environment as well as helping animals

A smiling Mark Thompson welcomes the customers

Chief Inspector Mark Thompson cuts the ribbon

People were queuing down the street to get in

Volunteers getting a well-deserved cuppa

Slightly alarming severed hands display jewellery!

Shelves packed with something for everyone

We made over £700 on the first day and £329 today.

Please keep the donations coming, as with sales as good as this we need to keep the stock coming in.

Thanks and congratulations to Lorna and her team of volunteers who all worked so hard.

10A Market St. starting to look good

Work in progress 

10A Market St - some work on the exterior still not quite finished

If you would like to help in the shop, or to drop off some donations, please email newmarket@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

Never blog when your temperature is more than 100 degrees

Naturally readers who can do subtraction will have noticed that 14 minus 1 = 13 not 5.

Our new shop at 10A Market Street, Newmarket is opening on Monday, 14th February, 12 days from now.

Five days to go

Only five days now until our shiny new charity shop opens at 10A Market Street, Newmarket.

Many thanks to RSPCA HQ for demonstrating their confidence in us by giving us a loan of £18,000 to fit it out.

Lorna and Val have been working hard putting up the new rails and shelving, and the gift aid tills should be delivered on Friday.