Equine charities - experienced any dodgy ones???

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BB2008

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Hello
Just out of interest really. I have worked with a lot of charities over the years and met some real dodgy characters in 'equine charities'!
Just some examples:
- Sick/Aged Horses being retired in a charity only to be sold at auction as ridable, childs ponies
- Equine charities rescuing ponies that are then shipped for meat
- Blatant lies and misuse of money honestly donated!
The list goes on.
I do think there are some fantastic equine charities out there and I would never undermine the work that they do - just wondered if anyone else has come across the dodgy ones!!
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Yes, I have, not going to say who or how though, sorry. But you could start looking for South West Equine charities
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I used to manage an RDA centre and one day one of the helpers bought in a leaflet which her father got from work .A man had been going around and doing loads of blackouts and said the money was coming to us. We had never had a penny.We found out he gave an old saddle 10 years before when it first opened and had pictures taken and carried on collecting money and keeping it.
The charity commission had a file on him about 6" thick as he had done this with alot of charities. He was a bankrupt and lived in a great big house!
 
Yep , one down our way who claimed to rescue horses and then lease them out as loans to remain on site. Just a cover to rent out their broken down old nags and dictate what you can do with them . No names mentioned but they seem to move premises quite a lot
 
Out of interest-are the charities that you say you have worked for reputable well known organisations?

It sounds like you have worked for a lot of charities, i guess 'dodgy' people are everywhere in all nature of business but i imagine you expect not to find them working for a charity.
Or is it the staff that you describe as 'dodgy or the people running them?'

The examples you give sound like the charities you have worked for do not follow principles of good practise.

Why would a charity be described as having 'dodgy' characters because they save horses from going for meat??

Sorry lots of questions but im trying to understand the rationale behind the post.
 
There are some really, really dodgy individuals out there!!! I find it really worrying nowadays and will really check out a charity before I give it any support!!
 
Hi
I have worked on behalf of the charities commission and funding org's in the past so quite experienced in it. The organisations are well known in their local areas - reputation varies.
In my experience the 'dodgy' ones are one man bands or family run type things!
Point of post is I am interested in how much trust people put in equine charities without knowing the in's and out's.
P.S. the 'going for meat' bit was basically a horse which was supposedly retired for an old lady and sent for meat within a week.
Equally I do not want to undermine the brilliant charities there are, and believe most of them are genuine!
 
Ah, i understand, thanks for explaining
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I can imagine the problems that can happen.

I tend to give to charities whenever i can but I am sometimes a little sceptical though.

I want to know exactly where my money is going to and how much is going to the needed cause but to be honest i don't always ask.

It would be great if all charities advertised these sort of facts and figures.
 
Good way of telling is check them out on charities commission website, make sure they are up to date with their accounts etc, look at how open they are about where money comes from and goes! How often do the trustees change, the more trustees the better (8-12 is normal IMO)
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Yup, I have checked out a few (not all horsey) on the website. Interesting reading sometimes!!
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I have heard of a couple of dodgy charities in the Kent area.I don't have any personal experiences with either of them.One is a very well known one which apparantly then sells the horses on to people and another gets people to gift them horses saying they will find a home for life for them and then sells them on knowing they are lame or sick without telling the new owners of the problems.
 
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