RSPCA week isn't a success

To be honest it wasn't a big surprise that my inbox today contained a message from our HQ saying that Tesco are reducing the number of days during RSPCA week 2013 when we can collect donations outside their stores. 

RSPCA week has been incredibly valuable to branches over the years, but we've never been able to realise its full potential because we simply don't have enough volunteers to cover all the major Tesco stores over 7 days. Reasonably-enough Tesco now say it's not fair to say no to other charities who might be able to make full use of the opportunity.

The days we can collect will now be Friday May 3rd, Saturday 4th and Sunday May 5th.

If we make a real effort to achieve total cover in 2013, Tesco may  revise their decision and offer us the full 7 days again in 2014. If we don't ... we could well see our collection permission reduced even further.

Animal welfare is in crisis. Our inspectors are needed as never before and all the while there is the ticking time-bomb of people who have animals and won't be able to cope if they get ill, or injured, or if the price of feed goes up. 

Whether you think the RSPCA is too timid in its campaigns — or much too "activist" — please make a resolution to help us provide the basic welfare services that make animals' lives tolerable.

It would be an enormous help if you could spare just two hours to collect — either during 3-5 May 2013 or during 15-17 February 2013 when we have permission to collect at Pets at Home.

Sheep for live export at Ramsgate port

If you can help collect, please email info@rspca-cambridge.org.uk 

We also need more volunteers to help at our three charity shops and to set up a fundraising group.

Please also consider joining the RSPCA. The more members we have, more likely it is that government will pay attention when we lobby for better treatment of animals. More members also means a larger pool of talent to draw on for local branch committees and stronger democracy.

RSPCA Week: It's all about money...

And, yes, I'm afraid that it is all about money. 

Without funds to pay for veterinary treatment, pet food, boarding of animals we can't place in domestic foster homes, suitable animal housing, petrol costs for volunteers who move animals or pre-visit adopters, we can't help any animals.

We understand that most people are keen to do hands-on volunteering to benefit animals, but, without the financial wherewithal to cover materials and the things that volunteers can't do, there can't be any hands-on work.

Whatever your role in the branch, please look at your diary and work out a way to put in at least 2 hours helping with this year's RSPCA week collection. 

RSPCA week runs from 30th April to 6th May and we have permission to collect outside all the Tesco Superstores in our area (Ely, Newmarket, Royston, Cambridge, Fulbourn, Bar Hill and Milton). Rowena, our new volunteer organiser is working out a rota to cover as much of the available time as possible, so PLEASE email her at volunteering@rspca-cambridge.org.uk to let her know that you will do your bit.

Thank you!

The veterinary treatment crisis goes on...

Wood Green Animal Shelters are trying to publicise the dire situation of animals whose owners have no means of paying for necessary treatment:

Wood Green, The Animals Charity is being forced to turn away more than 14 pets in need of veterinary care every week because their owners have neglected to insure them.

The Charity is receiving daily requests to treat issues including broken legs, jaws, ear infections, skin disorders and dental problems of dogs, cats and rabbits because pet owners cannot afford the treatment.

We had a call this morning from someone in Sawtry (sadly well outside our clinic catchment area) who'd been given our details by Wood Green in the desperate hope that we could do something to help them, and another request via the shelter for help with neutering.

A collie was abandoned at another vet, almost certainly because her owners knew they couldn't possibly pay the cost of her treatment.

Personally I am haunted by some of the calls I've received where owners beg and plead for us to help their pets.

The bottom line is that we can't put the existence of our clinic at risk to help people who could have saved their pets by taking the minimal action of getting them registered and therefore making them eligible for low-cost out of hours treatment from our own veterinary provider.

Our of hours emergency treatment at private vets is now hugely expensive and we simply cannot currently afford even the comparatively small (£100-£150!) cost of emergency euthanasia if we're going to end up paying it two or three times each week.

Before we can consider reinstating help of any kind at private vets we have to raise enough funds to be certain of the clinic's long-term viability, and that means we have to build a proper fundraising team.

If you can help, please email volunteering@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

We're now gearing up for RSPCA week, which is our single biggest fundraising event of the year, when we have permission to collect outside all 7 major Tesco stores in our branch area. Every extra person willing to give a couple of hours to collect means £20-£40 raised to help suffering animals.

Please consider whether you can spare those hours this year.

Why do people hate the RSPCA?

Opening of the Cambridge RSPCA clinic 1936

The Telegraph's Pete Wedderburn has a column with the provocative title, "Why do people hate the RSPCA" to mark RSPCA week. Coming from a country where there is no strong, centralised animal welfare charity, he's clearly baffled by the amount of bile directed at a voluntary organisation which last year:

1. Answered 1,163,240 calls
2. Investigated 159,686 complaints of alleged animal cruelty
3. Issued 86,354 animal owners with welfare improvement advice
4. Rescued and collected 130,033 animals
5. Rehomed 64,086 animals
6. Treated and helped 210,970 animals in its hospitals and clinics
7. Spent almost £4m on veterinary care
8. Microchipped 67,388 animals
9. Admitted 16,429 wildlife casualties into its four wildlife centres

Opening of the Eddington RSPCA Clinic 1955

The number of foaming-at-the-mouth comment posts following the column illustrate what he means. However only a few weeks earlier the RSPCA achieved a pretty respectable 7th place in the Reputation Institute's annual survey of charities; comfortably ahead of household names such as Oxfam, Children in Need and the National Trust.

Why the discrepancy? I think it stems from the distinction between the attitude of the public in general and individuals with passionately-held special interests. Someone who is in favour of wild animals being permitted in circuses and someone else who thinks all kinds of animal keeping or training should be eliminated will be equally fed up about the existence of a large, middle of the road animal protection organisation which the general public likes and looks to for guidance. 


I suspect this also explains why, every year, we have such difficulty making the most of RSPCA week, because the general goodwill that puts two pound coins in tins isn't matched by willingness to go one step forward and volunteer to help us do the collection. 


Maybe there's more to it, though. I wonder if there's a more general problem that's not just confined to animal issues. Because I'm trying to encourage more people to volunteer with our branch, I try to keep up with news about social participation and volunteering initiatives. One thing that's very striking to someone coming from an "old charity" perspective is how very negative much of it is—to the point of being more about destroying community rather than building it. Virtually everything is either about stopping something or about lobbying for someone else to do something and there's almost no sense that a group might decide they need a facility and then just go ahead and set it up. There's also a weird over-complication of some things—for example if our 1930s branch committee had needed to master this diagram before they started they'd never have opened the clinic. I can't help wondering if that's also why there are so many complaints about ordinary people feeling powerless; because they're never really allowed a sense of having achieved anything. There's something very seductive about the bonding effect of being angry together (I think this explains a lot of the "hate the RSPCA" activity), but it doesn't really lead to long-term satisfaction.


If people are encouraged to believe everything is run by some mysterious, elite "them" it does make it more difficult to persuade them that they only have to step forward and they will find most things are actually run by "us".


I think this is the root of the infuriating way in which the instant reaction to a branch which is having to make cuts in order to stay solvent is, not to help, but to waste more of the committee's time and energy by getting up petitions and making personal attacks on individuals. Some of this is pure Alinsky politics (though I bet they've never heard of him) and it doesn't work simply because there's no point flogging a willing horse. 


If you are an RSPCA member, please do consider putting your name forward for election to the branch committee. If you can, please attend your branch AGM to vote for next year's committee of management, and please vote in the forthcoming postal/online elections for the National Society's governing council. If you're not a member, please consider joining the RSPCA or volunteering, or both, and helping to create better services for animal protection.


Susie, over at the RSPCA Manchester and Salford branch explains why it's such a problem if members don't have enough of a feeling of involvement and ownership to motivate them to turn out to vote.

Sunday at 61 Burleigh Street

"Merrythought" toy mouse

30s style dress in primrose

Striking gown (photo doesn't do justice to the details)

Thank you to everyone who dropped off donations today - please keep them flowing in!

Ffiona and Wayne were working hard on more shelving for the books section. Stop by next weekend to see the new selections.

In addition to the mouse, we also have a Merrythought teddy bear in almost perfect new condition, and we're continually moving out more summer frocks, tops, skirts, shorts and trousers.

We need your support throughout the year; not just for RSPCA Week. Please come in and browse. We're now open 7 days a week. 10am - 5pm Monday-Saturday and 11 am to 4 pm on Sundays. Sunday opening may occasionally be a little late as I open up on that day and I may be held up dealing with other  branch activities.

Updates from yesterday's RSPCA_Frontline Tweetathon

Archive of RSPCA_Frontline "Tweetathon" for RSPCA Week

Inspector Tony Woodley, who blogs on Twitter as RSPCA_Frontline, copied a selection of actual incident calls to the National Control Centre today as part of RSPCA Week.

This archive illustrates the huge range of calls to the RSPCA.

Remember that many of them will subsequently mean follow-up actions by local branches, such as providing veterinary treatment or rehoming animals taken into RSPCA care.

Volunteer Recruitment meeting

Just a reminder that the next volunteers meeting will be this Thursday starting at 7.30 pm at the Corner House Pub, Newmarket Road, Cambridge.

All welcome.

Thank you Cambridge United!

Cambridge United kindly gave us the opportunity to do a bucket collection at their home match today. Final total was £188. Many thanks to everyone who either collected or donated.

We usually find that collections like this at events or outside specific stores are much more productive in relation to volunteers' time expended than ordinary street collections. For example the sum raised today was the result of 5 people collecting for 2 hours each. This is a great improvement on the kind of event that leaves me feeling: "Well I could just have donated a tenner myself and saved the effort."

So, PLEASE! If you have not yet put down your name to collect in RSPCA week, and you live in our branch area, email volunteering@rspca-cambridge.org.uk Even one hour after work in the evening will raise valuable funds to keep our services running.

Rather a lot of biscuit-related cats

Bourbon

Flapjack

More to come, unfortunately, when Janine has time to upload the pics.

If you would be interested in adopting a cat from the branch, or becoming a temporary fosterer, please email rehoming@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

We also need to recruit more volunteer collectors for RSPCA week so that we can keep on raising the funds needed to care for these and all the other animals who need our help.

Even a couple of hours after work or at the weekend would be useful: please email volunteering@rspca-cambridge.org.uk if you can help.

McVitie

Hobnob

KitKat

Volunteers Meeting

The next volunteers meeting is this Thursday, March 17th. 7.30-9.30 pm at the Corner House Pub, Newmarket Road, Cambridge. All welcome.

It's that time of year again...

Even a few hours collecting can bring in enough to make a real difference to local animals.

If you live in our branch area and might be able to help, please email volunteering@rspca-cambridge.org.uk

Otherwise, click on the RSPCA Week banner for more information about helping your own local branch.

RSPCA Week 2010

As usual I don't feel we made as much of RSPCA week as we could have done if we'd had more volunteers and hadn't already been maxed out with other things that couldn't be abandoned to make time to organise it properly.

Ideally we need to recruit someone who isn't already doing something else that's "mission-critical" to branch activities who could make it their sole project. Collectors don't just need to be recruited; they need to be contacted with reminders a few weeks beforehand; issued with their tins and badges, then finally thanked and told how much was collected after the event. It just isn't possible for someone to do this effectively on top of other major volunteering commitments. It's also much better for volunteers' morale if the person organising RSPCA week is collecting too, so they don't feel they're being bossed about by someone who's not pulling their weight in the actual work.

RSPCA Week starts today

This year, RSPCA week runs from 26th April to 2nd May and collectors from our branch will be trying to cover all the Tesco stores where we've been given permission to collect.

• Newmarket rd
• Yarrow Road, Fulbourn
• Angel Drove, Ely
• Royston
• Newmarket
• Milton
• Bar Hill

We've not got enough collectors to cover all the stores the whole time and there's still time to join in if you'd like to help. Email treasurer@rspca-cambridge.org.uk for more details, or use the form at www.rspca-cambridge.org.uk/rspcaweek.html

RSPCA Week 2010 26th April to 2nd May

Why isn't RSPCA Week a success?

RSPCA week does raise significant amounts of money for animal welfare, but why isn't it more successful than it is?

Every year we appeal for volunteers to help collect, but very few actually come forward. As a comparision: over four thousand calls were made to the rehoming line, set up when the St Bernards became available for adoption, within the space of a few days.

I think there are several, interconnected reasons for the difference:

• The St Bernards appeal offered a single, heart-tugging story. "Bread and butter" collections to support routine animal welfare work don't have the same immediacy.
• People may genuinely believe that the RSPCA doesn't really have a pressing need to generate funds. I've even had kindly-meant offers of help to take donated sales goods to the Sue Ryder shop to get rid of it so that it doesn't take up storage space.
• Most branch committees are run by very few, over-worked individuals. This means the people organising RSPCA week are generally also trying to do other things. Volunteer collectors may get the impression that things are disorganised and badly-run, and they may feel unappreciated if they don't get their collection results back quickly after they've returned their boxes.
• Most collectors expect to be putting in a few hours as part of a well-organised rota of hundreds of individuals. There seems to be a vicious circle whereby the volunteer who finds she is the only person collecting at a particular store decides the organisers can't have put in very much effort to recruit collectors and that she probably won't bother next year.
• People who are already very involved in caring for animals are often quite dissatisfied with the RSPCA — sometimes because they feel RSPCA campaigns aren't radical enough; sometimes because they think our campaigns go too far, and sometimes because they have unrealistic expectations of what is physically possible for us to do in terms of practical animal welfare. This means our potential volunteers and helpers are probably drawn mainly from a population which is initially less committed (people who might collect for an hour, but wouldn't expect to be asked to put in a whole day, for example).

RSPCA Week 2009 27th April to 3rd May

We need as many collectors as possible to maximise our fundraising from this opportunity kindly provided by Tesco. We have permission to collect during the week outside all the main Tesco stores in our area (Bar Hill, Ely, Newmarket, Fulbourn, Milton, Cambridge and Royston). As in previous years, the Royston collection will be used to help fund rabbit fostering at the Rabbit Residence.

If you could help, even for just a few hours, please email secretary@rspcacambridge.org.uk or rabbit_residence@hotmail.com (Royston only), or leave your name at the Newmarket or Cambridge charity shop.  Tins, badges etc. will be available closer to the actual date.

RSPCA Week 2009

Once again Tesco stores have kindly given us permission to collect outside their main stores during RSPCA week, which this year will run from 27th April to 3rd of May.

We need as many collectors as possible to get maximum benefit from this opportunity, and this year it will be particularly important because of the generally gloomy outlook for fund-raising.

In past years the public have been very generous—this is not one of those events where you go home thinking it would have been quicker and easier to stick a tenner in your own tin and go home to put your feet up. Even a few hours collecting typically raises a useful amount, and is all money we otherwise would not have had.

If you might be able to help, please email rosemary@rspca-cambridge.org.uk 

It would be helpful to know approximate numbers as soon as possible as we need to order tins, badges etc.

The map below shows approximate locations of the stores in our branch area.


View Larger Map