donations need advice !!!!!!

PLEASE MOVE IF IN WRONG SECTION, I run rabbit and guineapig rescue in eastbourne we neuter and vaccinate everyone which as everyone is aware is very costly we like other rescues rely solely on donations,
My question is should i be asking for a minimum donation per guinea pig or rabbit ? I havnt done in the past and found that people are only giving £10 for a neutered and vaccinated bun part of me thinks well at least they find a good home but then the other part of me thinks am i being taken for a ride any advice would be appreciated

Can you not put a list of costs for a bunny right in front of people when they are making their "donations"?

Most decent people would react to that and pay more I would think.

You need to ask a minium of say £30 .... Someone that has vet check,vac & neatured would be getting a fantastic deal for £30...
£10 isn't enough & I think people have a cheek to offer you that little if I'm being honest...
I had my little Molly from a rescue that asked for £10 but she had no vet check,vacs or she wasn't spayed I gave them £20 .

I think you`ll find a large majority of rescues ask for a minimum donation alot higher than that & i feel are totally within their rights to do so. Especially if the rabbits are neutered & vaccinated.
To be honest i feel if people are only giving you £10 they really are taking the pee!
Perhaps you could decide on a minimum donation amount of possibly £30 - £40 & also print out some information explaining how much it costs to vaccinate, neuter & generally care for the bunnies/gp`s before they go to a new home.

Best wishes,
Su.x

You might find this post helpful: http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=17139

I did a survey of rescues in 2004:

average adoption fee = £20 (that includes everyone whether they did neut/vacc or not)

20 rescues > £10
35 rescues > £20
39 rescues £20-£30
12 rescues £30-£35
3 rescues £40 and 1 rescue £50

For a neutered/vaccinated rabbit I would think £20-£30 would be a absolute minimum. If people complain at that or are only willing to offer £10 you have to consider whether they are going to be willing to pay £10-20 per vaccination in the future.

It does help to explain your charge though so a poster setting out what you spend on the bunnies e.g.

We pay:
£30 neutering
£15 vaccinations
total £45

You pay:
£30 adoption fee

Might help people understand

Tam

I think many people just don't realise how much these things cost, especially if they're first time owners or have not neutered/vaccinated before due to lack of knowledge. I think that showing the new owners what it has cost you to vaccinate and neuter them would definitely encourage more of them to donate more money. I think that asking for a minimum £30 donation is more than reasonable, because a pet shop bunny is usually around £20-£30 (my pet shop bunny Miles cost £25) and they haven't been neutered, vaccinated or had a vet check!

Tamsin said:

If people complain at that or are only willing to offer £10 you have to consider whether they are going to be willing to pay £10-20 per vaccination in the future.

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I completely agree - if they can't pay then they probably can't afford to keep a rabbit (vet bills etc.) and if they won't pay then it just shows lack of commitment.

AMETHYST

Agree with all the above. I would (and have) donated upwards of £35 for a neutered, vaccinated bun. I htink this is completely reasonable.
However, when I was first looking for rescue bunnies, I would not have said this, as I though I was doing them a favour by offering a bunny home It's only as I've become aware of the expense involved for rescues and the hard work that's put in that I have changed my view. Definitely have posters up explaining the cost.

I've paid £40 min for all my vacced and neutered /speyed rabbits. I agree that if you make YOUR costs clear then it seems very reasonable to charge that amount.
I guess you will get some people that will walk away when they see the costs but if you don't get a decent amount coming in then surely it will limit your capacity to take on further rabbits and get all the vet treatment necessary? I also think that if people aren't willing to pay that sort of ammount then they haven't really thought through the actual costs of a rabbit properly and they may not be the most suitable home.

Greenfields have a tick list on their adoption form to show what treatment the rabbit has received and how much it costs. From what I have seen people who see this are likely to give a decent amount of money - I guess a lot of people don't realise how much neutering etc costs!

HS said:

Agree with all the above. I would (and have) donated upwards of £35 for a neutered, vaccinated bun. I htink this is completely reasonable.
However, when I was first looking for rescue bunnies, I would not have said this, as I though I was doing them a favour by offering a bunny home It's only as I've become aware of the expense involved for rescues and the hard work that's put in that I have changed my view. Definitely have posters up explaining the cost.

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Thats what i thought too I remember being shocked that one rescue wanted £50 for a pair- now I realise that is very reasonable!

Now I think upwards of £35 is perfectly reasonable :thumb: particularily as one of my male rabbits cost nearly £70 to neuter myself! So people also need to be aware that it would cost them MUCH more to get these things done directly themselves.

I noticed yesterday though, one of the RSPCA branches who advertises on RR is only asking for £15 for neutered, fully vaccinated rabbits :shock: I guess they have their own vets though so can keep costs down that way.

i would expect to pay about £50 for a neutered bun, and that wouldnt cover costs of neuter vacc adn keeping it. with guineas people seem to pay less, but my vet charages the same for a guinea neuter as a rabbit so thats £50, so i would expect to pay £35 at least for a guinea. pet shops charge £40 for a bunny, unneutered and not vacc, so its much cheaper to rescue!!!

I think you should put up your minimum donation...£40 for a neutered and vacs bun and £20 for a neutered gp...
These people are giving you les than they'd pay in a pet shop for an un neutered, un vacs bun of dubious sex?!
Having higher donation puts off un suitable owners who will not pay for vet care in the future.
Do you homecheck?
It really is advisable.

again if anyone questions the donation to me i always explain the costs involved in not only getting the particular bun they are having ready for a new home, but running the rescue in general.
I rehome quite well and very few rabbits end up staying here for long, so the extra cost doesn't seem to put off good owners
What do other rescues in your area ask?

Think about it this way...

A bunny from the pet shop is £25 upwards. Neutering is about £30 and 2 vaccinations are around £15 each.

That's a huge, £85 per bunny!

Try and explain it that way maybe??? and they should see that £30-£40 is very resonable.

Jeanette

This is interesting

Can I ask you Bunnyrun what petshops in your area charge for a rabbit :?:

The reason I ask is because a few rescues that I spoke with on the phone a while ago for Tam also had low donation fee's of £10 for vaccinated and neutered/speyed rabbits. I was shocked but then they went on to explain that they would find it hard to rehome if they increased the fee as you could purchase a rabbit in petshops for £5-£10 in their area :shock: so people would be more inclined to go and buy one rather than adopt

I have asked myself whether areas differ with regards living expenditure and the answer has to be yes, especially when you see how much vet costs differ from area to area.

I have not been all around the west midlands to see what varying prices petshops charge for a rabbit but the few I have been in are a minimum of £25 my end so even adoption does not work out that much more for a neutered and vaccinated rabbit at £35 - £40

Would be interesting to see a survey of area's to see what petshops acutally charge and to see if it coincides with area's that have a high intake in rescues and maybe a low income area :?

It's*all*about*the*bunny said:

A bunny from the pet shop is £25 upwards. Neutering is about £30 and 2 vaccinations are around £15 each.

That's a huge, £85 per bunny!

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thats probably about the minimum as well isnt it! If you spay a female in some areas it can be about £90 for the op and £20 for each vaccination....and £25 for the bunn = £155! :shock:


i think much of the problem is getting people to understand that things like neutering and vaccinating are very necessary. Some people may buy a bun from a petshop for £15 with the assumption that that is all they will ever spend on it, not knowing or caring that they need to get vaccinations and neutering done, so in comparison £40 at a rescue sounds quite expensive.

I bought Zeus for £80 then paid that again to get him neutered (he had his first vaccinations at the breeder) so that was £160 + £25 every year for vaccs (and as it turned out more for other vet bills ).

By comparison the forty pounds ARC ask as a minimum donation for a neutered vaccinated bun is cheap, I think I paid about the same for Cosmos from Kathy's in Nottingham and the rescue I got Pierre from only asked a tenner minimum for a neutered/vacced bun :shock: - I gave them extra.

I have to admit the "rescue" I got Athena from I only paid a tenner as she wasn't spayed or vaccinated - they didn't actually ask for anything - she was very badly cared for and misstreated by them (you should have seen how they handled her :shock: ) and I just wanted her out of there asap.

Caz

I neuter, vacc and homecheck and ask for a minimum of £40 per rabbit and dont usually have a problem getting it. I rehome between 1 and 6 rabbits per week and many people offer more than the minimum donation. If people are not willing to pay that minimum amount you would have to ask yourself what they would do if faced with a big vets bill

We ask for a minimum of £40 too, and often get more. Pet shops around here sell rabbits for between £15 and £25, neutering is from £30-£55, vacs at least £21, so elsewhere they would pay £66-£96 for a rabbit if they intend to treat it properly. Once we explain that people realise they are not being asked for too much. Without at least that much coming in we can't help the next rabbit in line.

For guineas we ask a minimum of £25 for a neutered male, £15 for a female or male too old to neuter. Seeing as guineas locally are £15 to £19 to buy, and neutering would again cost £30 people accept this too.

We couldn't operate without donations set at this level.