Begging letter - The Alternative Animal Sanctuary

My mother got a begging letter from The Alternative Animal Sanctuary this morning asking her to send 3 pound coins in a card to this charity which claims to take in and look after sick and abandoned animals.

http://www.alternativesanctuary.co.uk/

On the face of it, it is the sort of thing my whole family would support as they all have pets of one kind or another.

However it was odd in so far as it was addressed to a name my mother used 40 years ago at an address 200 miles away, so she asked me to take a look to see what it was all about.

On investigation it is a registered charity however the published accounts on closer inspection show it to be a cash cow for the people raising money with little spent on animals.

On page 6 of the accounts for 2011 you will see "Voluntary Income", that's money raised by amongst other things sending begging letters) as £1,053,755. Not bad.

Yet further down this amount is almost cancelled out by "Cost of generating voluntary income", that's money they have paid someone to raise the Voluntary Income money some £932,872.

Leaving £120,883 to spend on actual animal care and other costs.

http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk...110331_e_c.pdf

I've tried asking them who pocketed the £900k fees but so far they have refused to comment.

I know this is the way of many charities and of course there are chuggers often in the equation who charge for their service to interrupt my path to my lunchtime pint.

I find it odd that they ask to send cash with no request for a direct debit. The government hate cash transactions as there is no audit trial for crime prevention and taxation purposes and from a charities point of view there is no option of repeat funding. And all the published numbers go to voice mail.

Slightly less weird are the charities that attach a 5p coin to the outside of their begging letters. I get several of those a month at home. Combined with the cost of postage that is money that could be better spent I think.

That £932k is further broken down into £558k for post & stat and £374K for prof fees. That's a shit load of money for for both... you're right thinking something odd going on..

rouge traders http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/gotastory/

I was just looking at the Euro DM website, sounds horrible:
1) Send out letters like the one your mum received
2) Try to get people to donate regularly
3) Find the rich pickings from the donators
4) Persuade them to leave some money in their will for the charity

Some people.

And those are the 'declared' figures...

Euro DM (their fundraisers) also sell websites, think I'll pass on their offerings.

http://www.eurodmltd.com/solutions/index.php

Wow coincidence, I actually received one of these requests today, I would have returned the £3 requested, being a sucker for sick animals, but Not Now!! Thanks for the warning 👍🏻