Catwork - Funding

Funding - donations and sponsorship

The subject of funding is always a tricky one; but we are often asked how we fund the work we do with the cats and run the sanctuary, so we thought a page on the website might help explain.

When we started, way back in the last millennium (1996) it was really just an extension of our love of cats and we pretty much funded it ourselves.

As things grew, and more cats came to be here, often at the request of an individual who cared about the individual cat but was not able to actually care for it, they would often want to provide a small monthly sponsorship donation to help cover the cat's needs.

As things grew more, and we found ourselves with numbers of cats we had never imagined we would have, fortunately, more individuals involved with their 'protege' would add their small regular financial help.

It was with great humility that we found that, when eventually an individual cat reached the end of its life, their 'sponsor' continued to provide their small regular financial help - for the benefit of the other cats here. We have always been so grateful that these people were prepared to continue with their help.

Obviously, things change - like so many small rescues, our funds have slowed up as some of our supporters have died, and others have worsened personal situations which meant they were no longer able to continue with their financial contributions.

Fortunately, we still have a good number of ongoing supporters who generously give us a reasonable backing for the costs involved, but over recent years, as with so many others like us, the balance has changed, which has meant that we have more and more seen outgoings outstripping donations each month.

It is, therefore, with reluctance, that we have to start talking about funds, and how to continue to provide for the cats in our care. We suspect it will be many years before we realistically manage to reduce the numbers significantly, so we have to take a responsible view and start talking about funding (it has always been a subject we don't like to mention too much - there seem to be so many asking for money, we didn't want to be just another pleading voice).

Until now, our supporters have always been people who know us and our work, and we often welcome them here to visit and meet with all the cats they help - it has always been a very personal relationship with every sponsor; but we realise that we need to reach out a little further to introduce more people to the work of the sanctuary and hope they might be prepared to offer a little financial contribution to help support what we are doing.

If anyone who is reading this would consider contributing a small amount, either a 'one-off' or regular, we would very much like to hear from you so we can tell you anything you need to know about our work with the cats and reassure you that every penny we receive is spent directly on the cats and their care - absolutely nothing is taken out for 'administration' or any other use. We spend ALL donations and sponsorship on food, medications, veterinary care and provision of sanctuary facilities - if the cats need it, we do everything we can to make sure they get it!

However, we can reassure anyone reading this that, whatever happens, we will personally support the cats down to our last penny, so we hold no 'emotional pressure', just a simple request that, if you feel what we do is worthwhile and would like to help with a little support, please get in touch so we can get to know you, and you us.




If you prefer not to contact us, we provide a 'donate' button below that will enable you to make whatever donation you would like - but we really would prefer to know who you are, if for no other reason than to thank you personally, but hopefully also to show you more directly how your help is being used.

<back to top>