There are many ways for an organisation or an individual to organise a fundraising for a specific cause. The most important thing to keep in mind before you organise a fundraiser or even donate at a fundraiser is to answer a simple question.
Is there legitimacy?
With the answer to this question, you can then make an informed decision on whether to proceed with the organisation or with the donation for a fundraiser.
The responsibility of good practice when it comes to donations falls on both the fundraiser and the donor. The fundraiser should be transparent about where the money is going and how it will be spent. They should also have some form of accountability in place, so that donors can be confident their money is being used in the way it was intended.
Donors also have a responsibility to ensure their donations are going to a legitimate cause. With the increase in social media fundraisers, it has become easier for anyone to set up a fundraiser with no checks and balances in place. This means that there is no guarantee that the money donated will actually go to the intended cause.
Before you donate to any fundraiser, whether it is online or in person, make sure you do your research. Find out as much as you can about the organisation or individual running the fundraiser and where the money will be going. If you can’t find this information easily, it is probably best to not donate.
Donations for Animal Welfare
Donations for animal welfare is a very important cause in our society. Animal welfare centers have many running and medical expenses that need to be covered in order to provide the best care possible for the animals.
As in all things in life, there is a check list factor to have in mind before you willingly give that money out of your account. Below are few of these important factors that need to be checked.
- Make sure that the organization that is requesting funds has the animal in need already in their care. You should ask yourself, if an animal is still stray or is not in their care and an organization is fundraising for that animal what is the purpose of the fundraiser?
- If the organization is fundraising for a specific cause, make sure they are actually involved in that cause and are providing a detailed plan for how they will reach their objective if they manage to raise the funds requested.
- The organization requesting funds or donations should be requesting a “Specific” amount and they should provide a thorough explanation as to why they need the funds and how they will be used. (ie: if they are requesting funds for vaccinations they should state how much the vaccinations cost and where they will be used.)
- The organization should be able to show donators how much funds were raised, both during the fundraising and a total at the end.
- If the funds requested have been raised, then they should state that they have reached the fundraising target or if they have not they should clearly show the total amount raised.
- Make sure you are sending payments to either organization accounts, organization bank accounts or organization PayPal accounts and not individual accounts.
- When donating money for a specific animal or cause, always follow up to see how the animal is and if the funds have been spent as requested. All registered charities and not for profit organizations should be able to provide their donators with RECEIPTS of the bills paid for a fundraising request.
2nd Chance Dogs is a registered Animal Welfare Charity Organisation both in Cyprus and the UK which takes this practice seriously. A full transparency mechanism is in place for every expenditure and a board of trustees oversees all activities to ensure that 100% of all donations go where they are supposed to. We are able to provide proof of funds for the donor to be at peace when it come to helping an animal.
When you make a donation, you can be confident that your money is going to help save the lives of the dogs of Cyprus who are in need.
2nd Chance Dogs rehoming and rehabilitation Centre, has been operational for over 10 years and has helped thousands of dogs. We have a no-kill policy and will never euthanize a unless the dog is in great suffer and advised by a veterinary surgeon for medical reasons, but also if there are no other available options for therapy.
We rely on the kindness of our supporters to keep our dog shelter running. Every donation, no matter how big or small, makes a difference to the lives of the dogs in our care.