kent
Active Member
The initial peak of the objective of Operation Esther, focused on raising resources for three of the charities that took horses into care from Aylesbury, has passed.
Having bided my time until this objective was achieved, can I please now make a plea for the other, smaller, less well-known horse welfare charities?
One of the horse charities local to me (With which I have never had any connection whatsoever. I merely use it now as an illustration.) has a total annual income less than the salary of any of the Chief Executives of International League for the Protection of Horses, Redwings, and The Horse Trust. Yet in 2006 (Figures for the charities for 2007 are not yet available), this charity admitted 17 new equines, had 27 equines in residence, and had 61 in loan homes.
Now that the raw emotion connected with Operation Esther is dying down, can I please ask that heads rather than hearts are used a little more from now on? Perhaps anyone considering donating could take the trouble to read the Annual Report and Accounts of the three large charities, and those of smaller charities. Please check whether your contribution is going towards what you want it to, and whether it is being used as efficiently as it could be. The majors are hardly likely to close down, but that could well be the fate of your more local little horse charity.
Just a little information from the 2006 Annual Accounts (Although I suggest you read the whole of the Accounts, available via the Charity Commission website at http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/registeredcharities/search.asp?position=1&oparea=S)
ILPH had Total Incoming Resources of £8,552,000, spent £2,966,000 on UK Recovery, Rehabilitation and Welfare, and put £3,429,000 into reserves, to bring reserves up to £24,422,000. 129 horses were taken into care, 1719 were out on loan. About 300 equines were on their premises.
Redwings had Total Incoming Resources of £13,550,000, spent £5,238,000 on Sanctuary operations, and put £6,237,000 into reserves, to bring reserves up to £15,698,000. Redwings had 1200 equines in their care. It is not clear to me from the report whether these are all on Redwing premises, or whether some are out on loan. From the Redwings website, each year about 200 equines are taken into care, and about 125 are with foster homes.
The Horse Trust had Total Incoming Resources of £2,123,000, spent £481,000 on The Home of Rest for Horses, and put £1,061,000 into reserves, to bring reserves up to £18,118,000. I cannot find any reference in the Annual Report to the numbers of equines they took in, or have in their care. I think I have read somewhere that they can accommodate about 100 equines on their premises.
My local horse and pony trust had Total Receipts of £60,061, and spent £90,632, so that £30,571 was used from reserves, leaving only £125,634 in reserves. They admitted 17 new equines, had 27 equines in residence, and had 61 in loan homes.
The ILPH spends a large proportion of its resources on education, and on investigating the live transport of horses. The Horse Trust devotes itself mainly to research into horse welfare.
Redwings do concentrate their endeavours on rescuing distressed equines.
The three large charities I have referred to already have large reserves, and their current activities in rescuing equines are restricted by their premises. Therefore it seems to me that most of the resources raised by Operation Esther will actually go mainly to increasing their reserves. Their 2008 reports will show.
I do wish to encourage some of the larger horse charities in their own particular specialities. However I would like to see the smaller, often struggling to survive charities, given more consideration.
I leave you to do the sums on how much income each charity uses to look after one rescued horse, and where their income really goes. Without the overheads of the major charities, the local trust referred to above keeps one horse on its own premises for £3,300 per year of income. It leads a hand-to-mouth existence.
Having bided my time until this objective was achieved, can I please now make a plea for the other, smaller, less well-known horse welfare charities?
One of the horse charities local to me (With which I have never had any connection whatsoever. I merely use it now as an illustration.) has a total annual income less than the salary of any of the Chief Executives of International League for the Protection of Horses, Redwings, and The Horse Trust. Yet in 2006 (Figures for the charities for 2007 are not yet available), this charity admitted 17 new equines, had 27 equines in residence, and had 61 in loan homes.
Now that the raw emotion connected with Operation Esther is dying down, can I please ask that heads rather than hearts are used a little more from now on? Perhaps anyone considering donating could take the trouble to read the Annual Report and Accounts of the three large charities, and those of smaller charities. Please check whether your contribution is going towards what you want it to, and whether it is being used as efficiently as it could be. The majors are hardly likely to close down, but that could well be the fate of your more local little horse charity.
Just a little information from the 2006 Annual Accounts (Although I suggest you read the whole of the Accounts, available via the Charity Commission website at http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/registeredcharities/search.asp?position=1&oparea=S)
ILPH had Total Incoming Resources of £8,552,000, spent £2,966,000 on UK Recovery, Rehabilitation and Welfare, and put £3,429,000 into reserves, to bring reserves up to £24,422,000. 129 horses were taken into care, 1719 were out on loan. About 300 equines were on their premises.
Redwings had Total Incoming Resources of £13,550,000, spent £5,238,000 on Sanctuary operations, and put £6,237,000 into reserves, to bring reserves up to £15,698,000. Redwings had 1200 equines in their care. It is not clear to me from the report whether these are all on Redwing premises, or whether some are out on loan. From the Redwings website, each year about 200 equines are taken into care, and about 125 are with foster homes.
The Horse Trust had Total Incoming Resources of £2,123,000, spent £481,000 on The Home of Rest for Horses, and put £1,061,000 into reserves, to bring reserves up to £18,118,000. I cannot find any reference in the Annual Report to the numbers of equines they took in, or have in their care. I think I have read somewhere that they can accommodate about 100 equines on their premises.
My local horse and pony trust had Total Receipts of £60,061, and spent £90,632, so that £30,571 was used from reserves, leaving only £125,634 in reserves. They admitted 17 new equines, had 27 equines in residence, and had 61 in loan homes.
The ILPH spends a large proportion of its resources on education, and on investigating the live transport of horses. The Horse Trust devotes itself mainly to research into horse welfare.
Redwings do concentrate their endeavours on rescuing distressed equines.
The three large charities I have referred to already have large reserves, and their current activities in rescuing equines are restricted by their premises. Therefore it seems to me that most of the resources raised by Operation Esther will actually go mainly to increasing their reserves. Their 2008 reports will show.
I do wish to encourage some of the larger horse charities in their own particular specialities. However I would like to see the smaller, often struggling to survive charities, given more consideration.
I leave you to do the sums on how much income each charity uses to look after one rescued horse, and where their income really goes. Without the overheads of the major charities, the local trust referred to above keeps one horse on its own premises for £3,300 per year of income. It leads a hand-to-mouth existence.
