SPCA launches $19-for-2019 fundraising campaign
The Swift Current SPCA is asking for financial support from southwest residents to help the shelter to take care of stray, lost and unwanted pets.
The community-funded animal shelter kicked off the $19-for-2019 fundraising campaign on Feb. 15 with the help of a few local celebrities who participated in the celebrity dog pound event.
Living Sky Casino General Manager Trevor Marion, Smart Flowers owner and professional florist Poppy Parsons and City of Swift Current Councillor Ron Toles had to raise funds to secure their release from the dog pound.
Their efforts raised a total of $2,250 that gave the Swift Current SPCA's annual appeal to the community a good start. This was the second time the annual campaign started with the celebrity dog pound event.
“We did it last year as well, just as a way to raise visibility for the campaign,” Swift Current SPCA Development Officer Teresa Cole said. “So it's really our kickoff to that larger appeal.”
This annual appeal is a key part of the non-profit organization's fundraising efforts for the shelter operations during each year.
“This one is really important to us actually,” she said. “It's our first big campaign of the year.”
This initiative was originally started five years ago as the $14-for-2014 campaign when the organization was facing a growing challenge to keep shelter doors open.
“They set up the $14-for-2014 campaign at that point to try to engage as many people as we can in Swift Current and area,” she recalled. “It's not a huge donation that we're asking and we've increased it of course a little bit each year. So now that we're at 2019, it's $19 or any amount really that people would like to donate above that.”
Their goal for the 2019 campaign is to raise at least $13,000 from the $19 appeal to the community, which will all be used to fund local shelter operations.
This might be considered a modest fundraising target, but
Cole noted it fits in with the Swift Current SPCA's approach to have various events during the year to raise money for the shelter.
“It's still significant for us,” she said about the goal. “Our fundraising over the course of the year is not over two or three events. We do a lot of smaller events over the course of the year to try to get to where we need to go.”
In 2018 there was an increase of about 20 per cent in the number of animals cared for by the shelter, and as a result their annual budget increased to around $360,000 or about $30,000 per month.
“It was a busier year for us with about 425 pets through,” she said. “So that increased our costs. ... We've been really running pretty much at capacity for most of last year. That's common for us on the cat side of the operation, but last year the dog side was exceptionally busy as well. We thank people in the community certainly for coming and adopting, because every time there's an adoption that creates more space for us to bring more pets in.”
Since the start of 2019 the situation has not changed and the shelter is really full at the moment with only a few kennel spaces for dogs and a lot of cats. Some dogs were scheduled to go home with their new owners this week while other dogs will be coming in.
“Our cat population right now would probably be 60 plus, with some of those farmed out to our foster families right now, just because we don't have enough space for them,” she said.
Cole therefore felt the cost to operate the shelter in 2019 would require a similar amount to last year's budget.
“I would say we're looking at something similar, maybe even a little bit more,” she said. “Costs keep going up unfortunately, as they do for everybody.”
The Swift Current SPCA is a no-kill shelter, and staff and volunteers will care for animals until they are adopted by new owners.
“We never euthanize pets to create space,” she noted.
“So often they will come and go fairly quickly, but every now and then we'll have a pet, particularly if it's a pet that has special needs, that just takes a little longer to try to find the right home for that animal.”
The Swift Current SPCA does not receive any federal or provincial funding and it is also not affiliated with nor funded by the Saskatchewan SPCA, which has a different mandate than the local shelter.
“It is important for people to be aware of that,” she said. “We've certainly run into a number of people in the community who'll say we just supported you through one of your initiatives and it turns out that wasn't necessarily a local initiative. That was a Saskatchewan SPCA fundraiser of some sort. We're both definitely in the business of animal welfare, but our mandates are different and we're not directly connected. The Swift Current SPCA runs with its own board of directors and we're independent and we serve Swift Current and the southwest area, whereas the SPCA Saskatchewan has a broader mandate.”
The Swift Current SPCA relies on community support for about 85 per cent of its annual budget through donations, adoption fees and other services, and fundraising events. All proceeds stay in the area to fund the operation of the animal shelter.
They therefore face a similar challenge this year than every other year to ensure there are sufficient funds to care for animals in the shelter.
“We really are so dependent on the fundraising and the adoptions, staying on pace,” she said. “So the budget is always something we have to pay attention to and certainly hope that the community stays behind us in order to continue to run the operation. And whatever we can do on the adoption side is what allows us to try to address the overall problem of too many pets and homelessness of a lot of unwanted pets out there.”
Another challenge is the ageing shelter building, which requires more maintenance work. Planing for a new shelter in the future is therefore something that will require attention during 2019.
Donations to the $19-for-2019 annual appeal can be mailed to the Swift Current SPCA at Box 1163, Swift Current, S9H 3X3 or dropped off the animal shelter at 2101 Knight Crescent or at the SPCA Used Book Store at 37 1st Ave NE. Donations can also be made online at the SPCA website www.spcaswiftcurrent.com. A new option this year is to send donations through an electronic funds transfer (EFT) to treasurer@spcaswiftcurrent.com (password: 19for19).
There are many other ways to support the Swift Current SPCA during the year. The SPCA is participating in National Cupcake Day on Feb. 25. Local groups and businesses can raise funds for the animal shelter through their own bake sales
“That's a fun day where there'll be a number of businesses and organizations doing bake sales,” she said. “People are organizing fundraisers for us and people will be buying cupcakes and that will help support us. That's just one example of the third party fundraisers that are a big part of our fundraising each year. We're always appreciative when people take it on themselves to organize a small fundraiser of some sort in the community and then donate the proceeds to us, because there's certainly only so much capacity that we have to organize things ourselves.”
People can also support the Swift Current SPCA by becoming a member, or they can volunteer at the Used Book Store or assist with activities at the shelter such as dog walking or cleaning, or they can donate supplies to the shelter. For more information, visit the Swift Current SPCA website or Facebook page (@swiftcurrentspca).