Give Local, Act Global: When the need is local, give local
Years ago, our tiny nonprofit, Homeless Animals Relief Project (HARP), which operates in rural Mississippi, received a call from an indigent area resident to request help getting 15 cats fixed. Our volunteers toiled to catch, transport to the veterinarian, and return these cats. We paid the bills for the cats’ care. Sneezing from the fur stuck to our clothes and with cat pee staining our shoes, we returned the cats to this home after surgery. Once inside the tiny house we stood slack-jawed and stared at walls papered floor to ceiling with membership certificates for modest but regular gifts to a multimillion-dollar national animal welfare group.
“When I see those sad pictures on the TV, I must do something,” the cats’ owner said. This resident erroneously believed that donations made to a major animal welfare organization would be shared with local groups like ours; that all animal welfare groups formed this big national network toiling together, arm in arm, to help animals. Sadly, that is not the truth.
Each animal welfare nonprofit is responsible for its own income, expenses, and program. To cover the cost of fixing these cats, our volunteers had to chip in some of our own funds. Likely a familiar refrain for most small spay/neuter nonprofit’s volunteers.
Our local grassroots nonprofit has no celebrities stumping or singing commercials for us. We’ve no funds or volunteers to make a television commercial or start a glitzy fundraiser. As a result, like most local, effective, small, spay/neuter-focused, volunteer-driven nonprofits, we are marching forward every day to crush animal suffering, and we’re doing it well. But the headwinds from our modest budgets restrain and hobble us.
Considering a charitable donation? Always consider local charities first, then do your research before you give. Check to see where the nonprofit is spending their money. What percent is going to fundraising or salaries and overhead? How much to program services? How much is spent on program services in proportion to their income and assets? Visit Guidestar.org or other charity rating organizations to see how charities spend the money they receive. Then judge the outcome for yourself.
With HARP’s modest resources, we don’t send certificates and T-shirts and bumper stickers or logo mugs or a tote bag in exchange for a donation. Nor do we want to; we want to put every penny you donate to work helping animals here in our area.
When you give local, you will know where your money went and who it helped. It may be your neighbor. It will most certainly be your community. We stretch every dollar we receive so we can advance our battle lines against feline suffering every day.
Give local because animal suffering is not just on television. It’s right here in your state, in your county, in your town. Give local because the need is local, and because supporting local, boots-on-the-ground charities around our country and then around the world is how we will develop a coordinated global effort to end animal suffering.
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Linda Chitwood is the founder,and former director of Homeless Animal Relief Project, which provides free or low-cost spay/neuter surgery for pets living with the poor in north Mississippi. The recipient of The Annie Lee Roberts Courage & Compassion Award from The Summerlee Foundation, Linda has over 25 years experience in addressing pet welfare challenges. She is the author of $5 For a Cat Head: True tales of animal welfare, with hands-on tips for helping animals.