The new year got off to a good start for animal welfare charity All Dogs Matter as a donation from Raffle House provided enough funds to run the entire charity for the first week of the year, a period that is always a difficult time for the organisation.
The £7,170 donation was especially welcomed by the dog rehoming charity after it experienced a surge in pets being abandoned in the run-up to Christmas, with its largely volunteer staff taking about 30 calls each day from people wanting to surrender their dogs, many of which need expensive vet care.
All Dogs Matter, which is headquartered in North London and has kennels in Waltham Abbey, was founded in 2009 by CEO Ira Moss and actor and animal rights activist Peter Egan. Initially set up to deal with an influx of Staffordshire Bull Terriers being given up by owners, it now rehomes 350-400 unwanted dogs of many different breeds every year.
Last year, the charity entered into a corporate partnership with Raffle House, a prize draw provider that gives away multimillion-pound homes and various other prizes. Part of its mission is to raise funds for charity, with a portion of each entry going to a charity partner.
When purchasing tickets, Raffle House allows players to decide which of its partners they wish to direct the charitable donation portion of their entry to and it distributes these funds to charities on an annual basis. Despite being signed up for only about half of last year, a significant number of players selected All Dogs Matter as their chosen charity and it has just received its first donation.
“We are extremely grateful for this donation and excited about the possibilities for the potential of this partnership going forward now we’ve seen how quickly players have aligned with our cause. Already, the funds have made a big difference, being equivalent to the cost of an entire week of our operations – we need £1,000 a day to run All Dogs Matter including veterinary costs, medicine, food, kennels and emergencies,” said Ira Moss, CEO of All Dogs Matter.
“Costs are only likely to rise further as we attempt to deal with the shocking surge in the number of people giving up their dogs. Like other kennels in London, we are being overwhelmed as owners give up pets they can no longer take care of, many of which were purchased from unscrupulous breeders and therefore had issues buyers were unable to deal with. We’re also still feeling the lingering effects of the pandemic, when many people made impulse commitments to animals.”
James Mieville, Executive Director at Raffle House, said: “We’re happy to partner with such a worthwhile organisation. I’m particularly fond of this charity as we had Brindle Staffies growing up as children – they are the most energetic and loyal dogs – so I’m pleased our players have been quick to show their support for All Dogs Matter. We know many of them are animal lovers, so we expect the level of annual donation we’re able to provide to grow in future to allow the charity to help even more vulnerable dogs.”
