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Benefits of staying as a private animal rescue sanctuary vs registered charity?

Ambience

Warren Veteran
I'm currently operating a private animal rescue sanctuary.

However my other half is happy to put up the 5k that would be required to become a registered charity into the company bank account.

Only thing is I'm wondering if it's worth it? What would be the benefits of being a non profit registered charity vs a non profit private rescue.

It seems you have more control as a private rescue. It seems heavily regulated being a charity through the commission. Surely there are benefits though right?

I'd appreciate any views on this.
Thanks x
 
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The benefits of becoming a charity are that you can claim gift aid on donations and that people will take you more seriously.

The drawbacks are that you have to do the administration work and get other trustees involved. You may think the people you get to act as trustees are good but they may turn out to want to throw their weight around and cause trouble:evil:
 
Sorry, can't help with the question...but when did you become a rescue?! I think I've missed a lot! :shock: :lol::lol::lol:
 
Ditto what doorkeeper said. Plus I think charities are entitled to claim VAT back on certain things like medical supplies :wave:
 
I did apply to become a registered charity.

I still have to put the first 5k donation in the company bank account and change my rescue name as it was too similar to an existing name.

I changed the name of the rescue, but I'm wondering if i should hold off becoming a registered charity as it may be restricting for me.

The memorandum and articles say I'm a non profit charitable organization. I'm still not a registered as a charity through the commission as of yet.

I'm in discussion with them and they had no objection to my most recent name proposal. They just want evidence of the 5k payment, which i can put in.

I just wondering if it's the right next step.
 
Personally i think I would wait a little while and see how your rescue and fundraising go. You may find its not for you after all or that you don't get enough donations to keep running after putting up the original 5K :? Once you are up and running and donations hit the 5k mark you have to become a charity anyway :)

Shutting down a charity seems just as hard as setting one up and you would loose all your 5k if it didn't work out as it would have to be donated to another charity.

So personally I would test the waters first and see how you get on and then see if becoming a charity and the benefits of it suit you once the rescue is on its feet :D
 
Shutting down a charity seems just as hard as setting one up and you would loose all your 5k if it didn't work out as it would have to be donated to another charity.

Blimey, even though that makes sense I'd never realised it:shock:

I guess if you stay as a private charity you still have to submit yearly accounts to the tax man etc to declare any income (or loss)?
 
Blimey, even though that makes sense I'd never realised it:shock:

I guess if you stay as a private charity you still have to submit yearly accounts to the tax man etc to declare any income (or loss)?

From what I read any money left and any items/housing bought with donations it has to be given to another charity if yours closes, you can't just keep it.

This includes land and accommodation bought with charity money or donated
 
From what I read any money left and any items/housing bought with donations it has to be given to another charity if yours closes, you can't just keep it.

This includes land and accommodation bought with charity money or donated

Yes, that's what I've been told too :wave:

And AFAIK it has to be a charity with similar intentions as yours was...so you couldn't use the money from an animal charity to benefit a cancer charity (for example)
 
The benefits of becoming a charity are that you can claim gift aid on donations and that people will take you more seriously.

The drawbacks are that you have to do the administration work and get other trustees involved. You may think the people you get to act as trustees are good but they may turn out to want to throw their weight around and cause trouble:evil:

I have put my family forward as trustees so I'm okay on that front. What additional administration work would there be?

Gift aid is not a major concern yet- a donation would be nice :) Mind you i haven't started fundraising yet. I haven't really had time to do anything like that.

The request for our rescue to take bunnies has started flowing in now. Too many for me to take at the moment, besides what i have agreed too. I can help in terms of time. I've just run out of hutches now and runs. So i need to start raising some money to take in extra buns.

I'd like to fund raise for a large shed to be put up with hutches as I've organized the land now where it can go. Now the buns have started coming in though, costs are going on neutering, vaccinations and treatments etc and I've blown my shed budget already.

One reason i wanted to start out with a 5k donation and get setup as a registered charity straight away was that my other half has a 15% share in a fund raising company. The only thing is I'm worried now that it would be classed a conflict of interest by the charities commision- unless he gives up his share of the company.

Recently though i heard of a man using his own fundraising company to raise funds for his charity- although it was controversial- it was on the news in America. I don't know if we can do that kind of thing here.
 
Personally i think I would wait a little while and see how your rescue and fundraising go. You may find its not for you after all or that you don't get enough donations to keep running after putting up the original 5K :? Once you are up and running and donations hit the 5k mark you have to become a charity anyway :)

Shutting down a charity seems just as hard as setting one up and you would loose all your 5k if it didn't work out as it would have to be donated to another charity.

So personally I would test the waters first and see how you get on and then see if becoming a charity and the benefits of it suit you once the rescue is on its feet :D

I'm a die trying kind of girl- but if the money had to be donated to another charity- one of you guys would have it as my first port of call, so the shutting down of a charity wouldn't concern me as i know any funds and resources would go to a good place :)

Thankyou for what your saying here though. The other thing- i didn't want to lose the rights to the rescue name i have again, hence the reason for wanting to get it all sorted out as a registered charity initially. I don't want to have to change the name again because it's too similar.

Also until i register the name anyone can register it and i intend the name to become a trademark which will follow on to doing various other things with it to support animal rescue and the welfare interests of animals in the food industry etc and help with regards to preventing animal cruelty and so on.
 
How many rescues have you taken in so far?

Are you rehoming or just offering permanent sanctuary space?

I am operating as both a rescue and a sanctuary although the company name is "..........animal rescue" ( i won't give the full name out at the moment as I've things to sort out with it still)- Any buns that are unrehomable or long term sick, I'll keep here and medicate as sanctuary buns. Any buns that are well i will be rehoming.

I haven't started re-homing at all yet though. I've taken in and agreed to take in 26 bunnies ( 7 more I've been asked to take besides this and i can't really at present- this may change in the coming weeks though) in total so far as of next Tuesday. This is my limit.

I can't take anymore as i don't have my shed built. I will probably do so once a big shed goes up, but for now i need to see how i get on re homing these etc.

My main concern is neutering and vaccinations which is where my main budget will go and any other vet fees- health checks etc, dentals,meds.
 
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I am operating as both a rescue and a sanctuary although the company name is "..........animal rescue" ( i won't give the full name out at the moment as I've things to sort out with it still)- Any buns that are unrehomable or long term sick, I'll keep here and medicate as sanctuary buns. Any buns that are well i will be rehoming.

I haven't started re-homing at all yet though. I've taken in and agreed to take in 31 bunnies in total so far as of next Tuesday. This is my limit.

I can't take anymore as i don't have my shed built. I will probably do so once a big shed goes up, but for now i need to see how i get on re homing these etc.

My main concern is neutering and vaccinations which is where my main budget will go and any other vet fees- health checks etc, dentals,meds.

Be careful with this....you'll very quickly fill up with sanctuary buns, and will have no space for ones to rehome.

I can't remember who, but I remember a rescue saying this on here, and that it's best to do one or the other. (Obviously you could have a few sanctuary places, but have a limit.)
 
Be careful with this....you'll very quickly fill up with sanctuary buns, and will have no space for ones to rehome.

I can't remember who, but I remember a rescue saying this on here, and that it's best to do one or the other. (Obviously you could have a few sanctuary places, but have a limit.)

Thanks. Do you know what the reasoning was behind not combining both?
 
Thanks. Do you know what the reasoning was behind not combining both?

Just that you'll take in loads of "special needs" bunnies, and they'll take up all your accommodation, so there'll be no hutches left for you to take in any rehomable buns. You'd end up at a standstill, with just sanctuary buns. If you hand them on to a sanctuary (or fosterer's...so they're still "with" your rescue) then you'll have space to help more buns in need. :)
 
My advice would be to withhold the charity application for a while.

Give yourself 12 to 18 months of rescue work first and revisit the idea after that.

Being a registered charity doesn't automatically mean that there is more funding from anywhere and in my experience people are still happy to support a rescue even if it isn't.

What people really want to support is a reputable rescue that operates clear and caring policies on a consistent basis. Build your foundations first and then if it suits you at a later date consider it again.

In my own rescue (Little Brambles Guinea Pig Rescue) I like to devote my time to the care of the animals here and homevisits for those that are rehomed. Fundraising and keeping the CC happy are all far too time consuming for me and I much prefer the idea of idependence.

If you go onto Many Tears website ( a welsh dog/cat rescue) there is a good article on why they haven't become a registered charity which makes interesting reading. :)
 
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