Which charity?

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JillA

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If you were going to leave a significant bequest to charities in your will which three would you choose? Since my nieces clearly don't want to have anything to do with me and I have no other relatives, I would rather the proceeds of my house and yard went to a deserving cause, ideally to help stop animal cruelty. PFK is on my list and a good dog one (maybe Dogs Trust because they offer a home to any dogs that I leave), any other ideas? Obviously we all need a crystal ball because I'm not planning to shuffle off in the next few years but.........................
 
JillA said:
If you were going to leave a significant bequest to charities in your will which three would you choose? Since my nieces clearly don't want to have anything to do with me and I have no other relatives, I would rather the proceeds of my house and yard went to a deserving cause, ideally to help stop animal cruelty. PFK is on my list and a good dog one (maybe Dogs Trust because they offer a home to any dogs that I leave), any other ideas? Obviously we all need a crystal ball because I'm not planning to shuffle off in the next few years but.........................
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Prince Fluffy Kareem
Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust
WHW as my horses are going there
Spana
 
Redwings are already in there and WHW will be joining them as I'm intending on leaving any horses I have to them.

There's a small cat sanctuary near Brum that helped me out enormously when a skinny, hairless stray turned up in my back garden. If they're still around when I go then OH has instructions to make a sizeable donation. They've had living donations mainly due to my complete frustration with the RSPCA at the time. 5 years on cat is now long haired and ruling the house.
 
I think PFK would be my personal first choice, as they do so well on so little funds that a larger amount would allow them a bit of peace of mind and of course allow them to help so many more animals
 
For anyone considering RDA - please leave money to individual groups (all have their own charity number), rather than RDA National. Much like the RNLI, direct donations go a lot further and quicker.
 
I suppose if something happened (illness-wise) towards the end of your life, you might want to leave a bequest to a charity working with people affected by that illness. Obvious example, if you had cancer you might want to leave something to Cancer Research or Macmillan.
 
numptynoelle said:
I've used this website in the past to help me decide - it's useful if you want to see where the donated money goes: http://www.aliveandgiving.com/Home.aspx

It is by no means complete though, and I wouldn't make any decision based solely on what it says. We really need a charity navigator site, like the US one.
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Thank you, that's really useful, especially to show how much they spend on their charity aims
 
Dogs trust are not the only option to home dogs (or indeed anything else animal wise) you leave behind. Do consider the Cinnamon Trust. Not only do they provide a home for life in a normal domestic environment for animals left in their care they are also one of the only places who will foster animals if you go into hospital for a time and still return them to you if you become well enough.

My mother fosters cinnamon dogs. She has a shifting pack of 5 - 10 at any one time. (And if you figure out how old I am you can guess how old she is - an inspiration!) Sometimes its a bit of a bet as to whether they will outlive their elderly owners. But getting a pet back to an older person is an immense blessing. Even just being able to take the pet to the care home or hospital is wonderful for them. Cinnamon will not put a dog down unless it is for medical reasons. (Other charities will PTS once they become unwell regardless of prognosis for treatment. One of course will PTS older animals without regard to health...)

Well worth consideration.
 
Well,My first would be PFK.my second would be Hillside,no big board of directors to keep unlike,cancer charities and lots of others.My third would be,actually I haven't got a third.Before you do leave to any charities check up on those board of directors skimming the cream off the top of your donation.
 
The Brooke is the only large charity I donate to and would be my first choice.

For smaller equine charities, Shy Lowen - http://www.shylowen.com/ and in this country (Ireland) Hungry Horse Outside - https://www.facebook.com/HungryhorseOutside.

Personally I would never donate to the Dogs Trust after some experiences I had with them, I know its not fair to tar the whole charity based on a couple of their employees but sorry, I have.
 
For horses...PFK, SPANA, The Brooke?

For small animals what about the PDSA hospitals?
They are not an animal re-homing charity, but they do provide free/heavily discounted treatments and surgery to pets belonging to people that cannot afford private vets fees (pensioner, people on certain benefits etc). They run entirely on donations, and work hard to help educate owners on pet health care and wellbeing, so that these animals are not left suffering or dumped in the first place.

Alternatively are there any small, local charities near you that you would be happy to donate to?
How about a local wildlife rescue?
 
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respectedpony said:
Well,My first would be PFK.my second would be Hillside,no big board of directors to keep unlike,cancer charities and lots of others.My third would be,actually I haven't got a third.Before you do leave to any charities check up on those board of directors skimming the cream off the top of your donation.
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Most charity trustees are volunteers and those who are paid by the charity mostly have a job within the charity, the MD or finance director or such in which case they're being paid for their job. But if the amount they're paid does worry you then you can always specify in your will what you want the money to be spent on and they do have to spend it on that.

Personally I would pick smaller local charities, we have a local animal shelter that would be on there if it was mine.
 
Hope Pastures an amazing small charity in Leeds they loan their rescues after extensive training and always have them back in an emergency they also take their ponies to care homes, schools and groups providing educational and theraputic visits. No big ceo taking massive wages out for every £1 95p.goes to directy to help the animals not many if any can make that claim Www.hopepastures.org on twitter @HopePastures facebook
www.facebook.com/HopePasturesUK/
 
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Kaylum said:
Hope Pastures an amazing small charity in Leeds they loan their rescues after extensive training and always have them back in an emergency they also take their ponies to care homes, schools and groups providing educational and theraputic visits. No big ceo taking massive wages out for every £1 95p.goes to directy to help the animals not many if any can make that claim Www.hopepastures.org on twitter @HopePastures facebook
www.facebook.com/HopePasturesUK/
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Oh, thanks, I had forgotten about Hope Pastures, they took in a really poor old mare we saw advertised for sale cheap and gave her a lovely retirement. ATM I think I will choose PFK (with Brooke as a back up in case they are no longer functioning when I fall off the twig), Dogs Trust and something working with endangered species. No reason why I can't give smaller bequests to some local ones - my will is going to look like the Charity Commission website lol. And NONE of it will go in IHT due to the donations being to charities :D
 
Oh really do you remember the mare's name they also took a little pony in from this forum who was rescued and I remember the story about him a good few years ago now.
 
Kaylum said:
Oh really do you remember the mare's name they also took a little pony in from this forum who was rescued and I remember the story about him a good few years ago now.
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I think she was called Molly. She was a dark bay TB type, and her eyesight became pretty poor before she died. She was advertised for £200 on a sales website, looking like skin and bone and as though she was living in someone's garden, poor old lady who was so tolerant she was used and abused. A friend donated the purchase price and I asked Hope Pastures to take her in because she was in their area
 
Mentioning Leeds has reminded me of an article I read a few years ago about a Leeds charity called something like Heartdogs - they worked with homeless people with dogs so that when the homeless person was found a home, they could take a dog with them. (A lot of the landlords were saying 'no dogs'.)
 
TheOldTrout said:
Mentioning Leeds has reminded me of an article I read a few years ago about a Leeds charity called something like Heartdogs - they worked with homeless people with dogs so that when the homeless person was found a home, they could take a dog with them. (A lot of the landlords were saying 'no dogs'.)
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oh I will look them up
 
I prefer Spana to Brooke as they moved me back in the 80's with a documentary buy John craven of the lives of the animals in Marrakesh - Africa and Mexico - I also like the Happy Hooves Spana does where you you can buy needing things for the animals https://happyhooves.org/product-category/gifts-of-health-&-happiness/

PFK because they do such an amazing work and I currently and previously fund raise for them. GHADT because they help the people of Gambia making better lives for the people and animals. The only non horse charities I will support are
RNLI
Air Ambulance
Dementia UK
CPL
Cancer Uk too

There are many I wont give to for my personal reasons
 
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respectedpony said:
Well,My first would be PFK.my second would be Hillside,no big board of directors to keep unlike,cancer charities and lots of others.My third would be,actually I haven't got a third.Before you do leave to any charities check up on those board of directors skimming the cream off the top of your donation.
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Err - Hillside isn't a charity. I would be very interested to find out a bit more about their operations, as it flummoxes me how they can have around 1000 large animals on 3 smallish sites, and still provide a decent level of care. My impression of them is that they are hoarders on a grand scale, who are constantly tugging on the heart strings with posts about how desperately they need funds/hay/bedding, whilst taking in more and more animals. Along with a bit of light activism on the side. I don't feel comfortable about how these people operate.
 
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