Inflation impacts on charities in many ways

[CHARITIES ARE LIKELY to face both new financial challenges and increased demands to support people as inflation in the UK hits its highest level for 40 years. That is the warning from a coalition of charity support bodies.

According to data from the Office for Gas and Electricity Markets, higher energy prices means that an average household will now be faced with an increase in gas and electricity bills of almost £60 a month. Earlier this year, the government announced that it would raise benefits by 3.1% fromApril. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said that this represents ‘big real terms cuts to the living standards of many of the poorest households’.

Alison Taylor, CEO of bank and charity services at the Charities Aid Foundation, said: “Charities are impacted by rapidly rising inflation on many fronts. Many more people in their communities are likely to rely on their support, with 71% of charity leaders worried about managing an increase in demand on their services.

“Tightening household budgets are impacting donations, with 14% of people planning to cut back on donations to cover their bills; and in addition, inflation means that donations are not going as far as they used to in real terms. After two years supporting their communities throughout the pandemic, when many had to rely on their reserves, charities are also having to find the funds to pay higher costs, including rent, food and fuel.”

Her fears were echoed by Dan Corry, chief executive of New Philanthropy Capital. “The people charities work with are going to be feeling much poorer and very anxious as a result of this steep rise in the cost of living,” he commented. “Many will indeed be much poorer, as they spend more of their income on food and energy where prices are rising fastest.

“The government has not yet done much to help families get through, especially those reliant on benefits. So more people will need the help charities provide; yet charities will find it harder to support them as inflation increases their own costs and erodes the value of reserves and pre-pledged donations.” He said charities ‘must start planning now’. “Inflation reduces the real value of everything,” he said, “so if you don’t increase spending you are cutting the good you can do. But this is very hard to do when your donors will also be feeling squeezed and commissioners are very unlikely to pay more to cover those extra costs. It’s what makes inflation a uniquely pernicious problem for charities. “Funders will therefore need to rethink their strategies. Many will have hoped to replenish their coffers after paying out more than usual through the pandemic. But with returns on endowments having done pretty well despite COVID-19, is now really the time to do so?”

Alison Taylor added: “Building financial resilience – a cornerstone of pandemic survival – will remain a priority, including expanding and diversifying the ways in which income is generated. Charities should make every effort to remind UK taxpayers about the value and vital importance of declaring Gift Aid, which effectively adds 25% to every donation, and make full use of any opportunities for unrestricted funding.” q

Legacies provide a lifeline at Oak Tree

[LEGACIES ARE VITAL to the animals of Oak Tree Animals’ Charity: they would not have been able to move to their current home at Oak Tree Farm, Carlisle in 1982 without generous gifts through wills. All donations, regardless of size, provide a lifeline to the animals at Oak Tree. More than half of the work carried out there is paid for by legacy gifts, and they couldn’t help the number of animals they do without them.

Choosing to leave a gift in a will is an exceptionally personal way to help. One supporter who chose to leave a legacy to Oak Tree explained her decision: “My lifelong love for animals and the knowledge that my gift will help support and rehome unwanted animals at Oak Tree Animals' Charity in the future gives me a great sense of happiness. I wish more people would support animal charities like Oak Tree and be part of their incredible work. I want to help Oak Tree Animals' Charity continue its wonderful work for many years to come. It is comforting knowing that I will still be able to support animals long after I am gone.”

To find out more about Oak Tree Animals’ Charity, or to enquire about leaving a gift in your will, visit www.oaktreeanimals.org.uk or email fundraising@oaktreeanimals.org.uk. q

Their project is to reintroduce foxes to the wild

[IT WOULD BE TEMPTING to try to explain all that is The Fox Project, but that

would look a little like a shopping list: wildlife information bureau, humane fox deterrence consultancy, wildlife ambulance service, wildlife hospital etc.

Instead, it would be more straightforward to concentrate on what’s going on right now, as we are midway through the annual cub season and with more than 200 fox cubs presently in our care and a further 100 expected before the season is over. How does that work?

Wynn was one of the first cubs the project received in 2021. He is pictured gazing thoughtfully out of his pen at the setting sun, perhaps quietly wondering how he can get out into the big, wide world and do what he wants, rather than what we want.

Founder of The Fox Project Trevor Williams takes up the story: “Wynn was picked up next to a dead sibling by a passing dog walker and we assumed they had crawled out of the den in search of a mother that, for whatever reason, had failed to return. He was a keen bottle feeder, and because baby animals need the company and warmth of others, he was grouped with Wendell, Wilfred, Calvin and Bertie.

“Cubs grow fast and a brooder will only hold them for so long before their accommodation needs to be upgraded to steel vet cages. And they, too, are soon inadequate for curious, active youngsters who are developing speed and agility – albeit wobbly speed and agility!

“The next step was day release in a two-storey chicken run and back in the warm at night for a bedtime bottle and a bowl of dog food. They loved that! And then they were moved to a larger foster pen, where muscles could develop and they could feel the weather.

“As soon as Wynn and Co were weaned off the bottle, the bond with their feeder was broken and they were transferred to one of our team of fosterers. These volunteers have pens in their gardens where they can look after the needs of a litter of cubs without getting directly involved with them.

“And that is where the serious work begins in encouraging cubs to revert to wild in preparation for late summer release. Given all the changes, our cubs should be growing suspicious of people in general; and their first instinct when a fosterer approaches is to run into the hutch provided. If they begin to get ‘waggy’ with the fosterer, we move them to another. And we keep doing that right through the summer.

“From mid-June, we start to move them onto pre-arranged rehab sites – no more than five cubs per site. Those are predominantly rural: often farms and smallholdings.”

The cubs are now the responsibility of the rehabber that owns the property. Their job is to feed, water and clean out the pen and never to speak. A cautious cub is a cub that will live the longest: if you’ve made a cub tame, you’ve undermined their potential for a safe and long life.

After four to six weeks on site the cubs are used to the sights, sounds and smells of every other animal in the area and vice versa. That means they can safely be released without danger of attack. Come the night of release, the rehabber simply leaves the door open and walks away.

Trevor continued: “Timing for this final part of the procedure is governed by nature. Just as the breeding season fluctuates a little every year, so does natural dispersal, when wild-raised cubs – by now around five months old – will fan out from their home territory to locate their own: a vital process to avoid in-breeding and necessary if they’re ultimately to find a mate. Release of our cubs is timed to coincide with that point.”

Wynn and his chums were released from a smallholding in East Sussex. Initially, they all returned for support feeding, but it’s seldom needed for long. As they begin to use the instincts nature provided them with, the cubs return less and less frequently.

“When they no longer return,” said Trevor, “we must hope they’re doing well. And we generally know they are, because we often see them around for months, or even years. Not that it’s any of our business. We’ve given them that all-important second chance and whatever befalls them, good or

bad, is down to them.” q

The dream continues to offer sanctuary to abandoned animals

[THE YEAR IS 1983 and it is the coldest winter for 20 years. Many stories about horses and ponies being abandoned by their owners on Rainham Marshes in Essex were hitting the headlines.

Paula Clark, who was involved in raising money for a number of sanctuaries, was sitting at home in tears after reading the story of those poor horses. When her husband Ernie returned home from work, Paula showed him what was happening and they vowed to take action and help the animals that needed them.

Some of the horses were already dead and others were starving when the couple got to the marshes. They weren’t having their basic needs met; they had no water or food. Paula and Ernie took tanks of water to them and bales of hay and feed. They even got a vet to examine some of them. No-one was looking after the horses’ basic needs – let alone enriching their lives.

Paula and Ernie embarked on fulfilling their dream and the story of Hopefield Animal Sanctuary began. They began taking horses with the intention of fostering. They would bring them back to health and then find them nice homes.

The first horse they fostered out was Pye. Soon after they heard that the fosterers were trying to sell him, so Ernie took them to court at a cost of £4,000. Ernie finally got Pye back in a terrible state, so both Paula and Ernie promised they would never rehome again – the animals had a home for life.

As Paula and Ernie found fostering animals didn’t work out they decided to provide homes for life to their animals. One beneficiary is Juliette, a thoroughbred horse who arrived in a terrible condition.

Because of her home for life at Hopefield, and the daily care and attention she receives, she is now physically transformed.

Paula and Ernie have both now sadly passed away. Since their passing the work has been taken over by new trustees and a dedicated team of staff and volunteers look after the resident animals, old and new. Many animals arrive in a terrible condition and are completely transformed by living at the sanctuary.

The sanctuary has now been running for 35 years – it has over 50 regular volunteers, a huge amount of local and loyal support and over 20,000 followers on Facebook.

CEO Dave Schlaich explained: “We have continued to rescue horses and farm animals, but have found that over the years the type of animals we are having to help has greatly changed, with people getting more and more into exotic species through the pet trade.”

The sanctuary is now open the public from Friday to Monday each week. It has become a visitor attraction with a small tea room. All activities generate funds that go directly to the animals, making the future more secure.

Said David: “You can support us by becoming a regular donor, visit us, sponsor an animal or leave us a legacy in your will, knowing that your donation goes towards providing a home for life for one of our animals.” q