Which animal charities do you think make a real difference?

[WhenTheresAWill]

I’m going to make a will soon and I’m trying to figure out which charities to donate to once I die. I have a few in mind but I’d appreciate any suggestions too as I’m keen to donate to smaller charities too. Here or abroad, pets or wildlife and any species.

I’ve no children or partner(No desire for a partner either) so I want to leave it to charity.

TIA

Maybe look for small scale ones where they are volunteer run - money goes a lot further in those where wages aren't paid.

Are there any animal types or needs that you'd prefer to support?

I like Street Vet UK - they do brilliant work.

I would go for the Hawk Conservancy Trust.

Very small, local, ones usually. I’m involved with a few local rescue/sanctuary charities that I (and DDs) have volunteered for or worked with in other ways. I now charitably donate, via my business, to them as I have seen up close the work they do and how the money gets spent. I’d advise you to maybe try to do the same before making decisions - get involved in some way so you have a better idea of how your money may help in future.

Thanks all. I appreciate the responses and I am involved with some in some form hence the few that I have in mind but I’d like to find some who are new to me too.

I support a little cat sanctuary called Ty Nant in south wales, they’re wonderful.

I recently needed some help
after finding a bat and was super impressed with the Bat Conservation Trust. They really went above and beyond to help, including a home visit from a local volunteer to collect and look after said bat. I even got a lovely update from them when they were able to release it. I was touched that the people cared so much.

I always say if I came into any money (unlikely though that is) I’d donate a big sum to the fox project. They do fab work in the south east. You have to really like foxes though, and plenty don’t!

I absolutely adore foxes. They’re my favourite animal so they’re already on the list. Glad to see other supporters on here. There aren’t really any animals that I don’t like though so I’m happy to help anything from a bat to a snake to gulls.

Small, local, volunteer led charities is always given as an example on here, and while I don't disagree that there are some brilliant examples of tiny dedicated charities that do incredible work on a shoestring, I am also very much aware of the reverse, where there are small local charities which do less than no good work for animals, e.g. 'rescue' centres that are glorified animal hoarders who do more harm to their animals than the situations they rescue from, or vanity projects for individuals where there is no transparency in how money is spent and very little by way of tangible results. The trouble is that as a member of the public and without any personal knowledge it's not always possible to identify which is which.

To offer a contrary view, there are some very well evaluated and successful animal charities - see this link

https://www.farmkind.giving/about-us/what#recommended-charities

I appreciate these are maybe less immediately attractive options for donations as they (a) largely operate outside the UK as this is where the most opportunity is (b) are larger charities as by the very nature of evaluating effectiveness you need a certain size/ scale (c) they aren't mostly focussed on pet animals, more so on farm and food chain animals, I know a farmed salmon or prawn isn't as appealing to the heartstrings as a bunny or dog but their preventable suffering is just as real and your donated £ will probably go a longer way towards helping than the local cat lady, wonderful and dedicated and heroic though she may be and hence I would say a safer bet...

I give what I can to Egypt Equine Aid, and they're certainly on my list:

egyptequineaid.org/

https://chaldonanimalsanctuary.co.uk/about-us.html they don’t rehome, they give a forever home to animals.

https://tynantcatsanctuary.org/ a few years ago they were broken into at night and a vile young man tortured and murdered some of the cats. They are very good, decent people that run the sanctuary.

https://swwgreyhounds.org.uk/ Greyhound trust south west wales. They work very hard to care for, foster and rehome these beautiful dogs.

I’m very happy to help literally any species so I will definitely consider Farmkind. I am also interested in helping animals on a wider scale so this may be an excellent way to do it.

That's great! You can also consider effective altruism's animal welfare fund

https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/charities/animal-welfare-fund

Guide dogs are a brilliant charity.
Edit to add not only are the dogs getting trained and going to the best use but for the people they go to; it really makes a massive difference to their life.

Thank you so much for helping the bat. I love bats so that’s definitely a charity I’d consider and will be donating to whether or not they go on the final list.

Oh, that’s great! They’ve been out to save one of ‘my’ foxes this year when she had an infected fight wound and she was incredibly difficult to catch but they didn’t give up. She’s back in the family unit now and absolutely thriving. They do amazing work.

Just be aware that some small scale animal sanctuary type charities are not necessarily putting welfare first, some are more animal hoarding, I’ve seen and read about many cases. If it’s not a nationally or regionally well recognised charity do your due diligence, even if there’s a charity number make sure it’s really theirs and if you can visit even better, get personal recommendations etc. some small charities are great but remember that without paid staff (as some here mentioned) care may not be optimal.

Dog assistance charities?

Hearing dogs fur the deaf

Guide dogs

Hypo hounds - train dogs to detect blood sugar in children

mountain rescue dog training charities

I know these aren’t rescue charities, as such , but are worth considering.

i

You’re right and that’s definitely something to consider because I’ve been aware of too many cases like that so I plan to try to visit those that I choose so that I can justify putting them on the list.

What animals do you like?
Where do you live?

There are lots of smaller charities who'd love a legacy that could help them so much.

Charity Commission is there to help you look at financials.

https://sttiggywinkles.org.uk

Another possibility?

I’m in Scotland but I genuinely love all animals and want to help as many species as possible. I’m happy to donate to any charity that helps animals though whether it’s in the UK or abroad.

If you interested wildlife and conservation, I strongly urge you to support your local Wildlife Trust.

The Sheldrick Trust for elephants in Kenya has supported, rescued and rehabilitate generations of elephants and their story is very moving. They provide employment and work with local communities to support the environment and elephants and to manage the effects of climate change.

PETA and Animal Aid have effective campaigns: though you might not agree with their campaigns against greyhound racing and horse racing and against fox hunting and trail riding – I do.

Compassion in world farming has run consistent campaigns with conviction for decades.

Look around for the small charities that support hens being rescued from factory farms. You will find that there are local animal welfare charities all around the country.

The rabbit welfare association and Shrewsbury rabbit rescue, amongst others, work extremely hard to support the welfare of rabbits: you might not think that matters but there are hundreds of thousands of neglected, abused and abandoned rabbits who are basically regarded and discarded as toys.

There are many charities that rescue greyhounds, particularly from Ireland and rehome them. They work really hard and arrange for the dogs to be brought over to this country and they run a system to get them to foster homes throughout the country and then to rehome them.

If you have particular animals or causes in mind, then it’s reasonably easy to find them. There are hundreds of people in small charities throughout the country that work extremely hard and with dedication, sometimes to the point of exhaustion, so it’s a question of identifying your interest and googling. Thank you for thinking about this. I’m doing the same.

Finally, may I bring to your attention the whale and dolphin conservation charity and marine conservation organisations that are working extremely hard to try to preserve these magnificent creatures and their habitats.

I’ve just thought- I’m not in Scotland but a really worthwhile cause is the John Muir trust. The appalling state of the ecology and wildlife crosses all boundaries and this is money well spent if you contribute here.

I’m wary of some small charities due to reasons already mentioned and my own experience.
i personally would give to Dogs Trust.

DOTS.
Street vets.
Redwings.
Sheldrick elephant rescue and rehabilitation