Animal Rescues

stevire

I'm just wondering how people working for an animal rescue make their wage/living? They do unbelievable work and from what I can see from the Dept of Agri funding is quite low for some Rescues. Fundraising, donations and then take away vet bills there doesn't seem to be anything left to make a living?

It's one for the future and something I'd love to do when I have the space. My partner and I have been fostering dogs for some time now and dog training has become a hobby for us so I have visions of taking in dogs training them some basic obedience and tricks to help them find a forever home.

It would be worth your while obtaining the returns of some animal rescues, they are registered businesses afaik. Well worth the few euro it would cost.

You can than see the financial side of things, all income, costs and wages etc.

Many would rely heavily on volunteer labour, alternative incomes would be the norm.

there are some folk drawing a wage fulltime of course (deserved obviously) but it wouldn't be substantial.

Nody

As noted above in general it's not done as a full time job; rather you have another job and devote your free time to it or your other half makes enough that you can do it fulltime etc.

Pac2015

I run a small animal rescue in Dublin with 3 other people none of us take a wage as its simply just not there but I do work full time 9-5pm every week and so does my husband so that is how I sustain myself but for the rescue for vets bills, food, any training we may need done we have to rely purely on donations from our supporters, most occasions for the vets bills we all end up paying some money ourselves and I always have at least 2 foster animals as we never have enough people to do that for us.
Most small rescues work like that, with volunteers helping out with the workload or doing street collections or fundraisers & auctions online once you have money you can do so much.

Bigger rescues like <snip> or the <snip> obviously have money behind them and draw a wage rather a bit too large a salary if you ask me in some cases but thats another story.
Only some rescues can receive the government grant and most will only receive about 1200 per annum which lets be honest is nothing.
I know of one rescue in Cavan that we work with and they have a person who is a qualified dog trainer and behaviorist so they do all sorts of classes plus they do CPR classes for dogs and charge for it the money then goes back into the rescue centre. Some rescues have charity shops and agree a low rent for them most of these are outside of Dublin and would have been disused anyway.
Chances are not many rescuers take a wage any I know of work also, one runs a restaurant, I work in an office, one is a teacher, some work with horses and do classes its a wide variety but I suppose what I am saying is that you most likely will always need to work alongside doing rescue.

Mod note: as per forum charter, please don't name or discuss individual rescues.
Thanks,
DBB

DBB

The Dept of Ag grant is generally in line with the size of the rescue/the turnover of animals. The big rescues get most money, the small rescues get least, but in all cases, what they get comes nowhere near the cost of actually running the rescue, let alone paying a salary.
The number of rescues that pay a wage in Ireland in tiny compared to the number of rescues in existence.... I can think of 5 or so rescues that pay a salary to the person(s) running it, and a couple of these are salaried not because it's a rescue, but because it's a rescue that's also running the county pound. If the percentage of rescues which pay a wage was as much as 5% of the rescues in Ireland, I'd be surprised.
I also run a small rescue, and used to foster for another one. The two roles are chalk and cheese. Running a rescue is, quite frankly, a major pain in the arse, made bigger by the fact that all too often you lose your own money for the privilege of having said pain in arse.
Granted, you meet the very best people, but by dog you meet the very worst too, and it really feels like you spend your time cleaning up someone else's mess, at all hours of the day, every day of the year, for no money. Actually spending time with the animals you rescue is the least time-consuming part... The voluntary time taken up with vet trips, transport, organising home visits/fosters/kennels/transport, fundraising, administration (jeez, the administration!), keeping accounts and your charity status up to speed... It's a royal pain in the arse. Even a small rescue can come to feel like an unpaid, thankless, full-time job.
Did I mention it's a pain in the arse?!
Another thing to factor in, and I wish I'd realised this before I set up my little rescue... Once you start it, emotionally it's very, very difficult to get out of it. The guilt attached to scaling down or stepping out is pretty bad, and I'm not just speaking for myself here. I've been in the rescue game a long time now, and know all the old faces, and everyone says it... I'd love to give it up, it has me jaded, but who's going to help these dogs if I don't? How many dogs will die because I'm not there to help them any more? Believe me, we've all got to this stage, and I wish someone had warned me of it before I took the step of going it alone with my own rescue. I'd love to just foster again!
Sorry if this all sounds negative, but I think people tend to have an unrealistic view of what it's like to run a rescue. Whilst iI don't mind admitting that I'm looking at it with a rather caustic eye, it is the reality, most of the time.
Think very carefully op... There are loads of ways to play a significant role in animal welfare, without having to accept the chain of actually running a rescue around your neck

aonb

I work with a rescue/shelter. ALL of our helpers are volunteers. We are a registered charity. We are constantly fund raising. Constantly. We are a pretty big concern - have rehomed over 300 dogs in the first 6 months of this year. Every one of our dogs/cats are neutered, chipped, wormed. We have ponies/cats/pigs(!)/hens/donkeys coming through our shelter. Our vet bills are enormous. Caring for our shelter animals until they are homed is a massive task - cleaning, walking etc etc. There is an endless rota of volunteers involved with every aspect of our work. As someone said its a labour of love, there are so many animals out there that need rescue/help its a daunting task

Pac2015

DBB wrote: »

The Dept of Ag grant is generally in line with the size of the rescue/the turnover of animals. The big rescues get most money, the small rescues get least, but in all cases, what they get comes nowhere near the cost of actually running the rescue, let alone paying a salary.
The number of rescues that pay a wage in Ireland in tiny compared to the number of rescues in existence.... I can think of 5 or so rescues that pay a salary to the person(s) running it, and a couple of these are salaried not because it's a rescue, but because it's a rescue that's also running the county pound. If the percentage of rescues which pay a wage was as much as 5% of the rescues in Ireland, I'd be surprised.
I also run a small rescue, and used to foster for another one. The two roles are chalk and cheese. Running a rescue is, quite frankly, a major pain in the arse, made bigger by the fact that all too often you lose your own money for the privilege of having said pain in arse.
Granted, you meet the very best people, but by dog you meet the very worst too, and it really feels like you spend your time cleaning up someone else's mess, at all hours of the day, every day of the year, for no money. Actually spending time with the animals you rescue is the least time-consuming part... The voluntary time taken up with vet trips, transport, organising home visits/fosters/kennels/transport, fundraising, administration (jeez, the administration!), keeping accounts and your charity status up to speed... It's a royal pain in the arse. Even a small rescue can come to feel like an unpaid, thankless, full-time job.
Did I mention it's a pain in the arse?!
Another thing to factor in, and I wish I'd realised this before I set up my little rescue... Once you start it, emotionally it's very, very difficult to get out of it. The guilt attached to scaling down or stepping out is pretty bad, and I'm not just speaking for myself here. I've been in the rescue game a long time now, and know all the old faces, and everyone says it... I'd love to give it up, it has me jaded, but who's going to help these dogs if I don't? How many dogs will die because I'm not there to help them any more? Believe me, we've all got to this stage, and I wish someone had warned me of it before I took the step of going it alone with my own rescue. I'd love to just foster again!
Sorry if this all sounds negative, but I think people tend to have an unrealistic view of what it's like to run a rescue. Whilst iI don't mind admitting that I'm looking at it with a rather caustic eye, it is the reality, most of the time.
Think very carefully op... There are loads of ways to play a significant role in animal welfare, without having to accept the chain of actually running a rescue around your neck

Good Advice !

stevire

Great responses and wonderful insights. Thanks for all the info and advice. Maybe we'll just stick to fostering for Rescues