Dear rich people: please consider giving to grassroots non-profits.
In which Jill asks for money from strangers.
Generated with AI November 19, 2023, at 11:00 AM
Dear millionaires, billionaires, lottery winners, tech titans, MacKenzie Scott, and every Kardashian: small non-profits are doing lifesaving work. But we could use your help.
Recently, the compensation for 13 ASPCA executives made the rounds on the internet, to widespread dismay. CEO Matt Bershadker pulled down a hefty $1,117,171 in 2022, while the lowest paid ASPCA executive made a tidy $343,772.
That same year, our scrappy volunteer-only rescue saved 133 dogs from local shelters and networked ten times that number. Thanks to donations, we were able to rehabilitate hard-to-place and medical dogs who required additional training and care prior to adoption. We could help these dogs because we had the funding.
But a crisis was looming. The animal rescue community was awakening from the pandemic-era dream of empty shelter kennels, lower euthanasia rates, and dependable donations.
It’s now 2023. The dream has become a nightmare.
Here in Los Angeles, shelter kennels intended to house a single dog now hold two or three. According to analysis firm Shelter Animals Count, this year has seen a 30 percent increase in “non-live outcomes.” The influx of stray cats is up and the percentage of owners reclaiming their dogs is down.
Foster-based rescues like ours have seen a precipitous drop in adoptions, as more animals are dying in shelters.
Distressingly, many of the name-brand, animal-focused charities have decreased their on-the-ground activities, pivoting to advocacy programs like spay-and-neuter education and renters’ rights. These are important conversations, but one could argue that when a simple Google search produces dozens of reliable sources on these topics, it’s diminishing returns.
Fewer large charities are actually taking animals out of shelters, leaving smaller local rescues to do the hard work. As a burnt-out volunteer recently quipped, “If there’s not shit on your shoes, take a seat.”
Every non-profit with a healthy endowment and comfortably-compensated executives started as an idea. At Outta the Cage, our vision combined taking videos of at-risk shelter dogs, networking those dogs, and finding them forever homes. We’ve stuck to it.
Local rescues regularly visit shelters and get to know the animals. Working with shelter staff and volunteers, we track animals who are at risk, profile them, and get the word out. Often, we join forces—as we recently did with a rescue partner—to save and vet a shelter dog (us) and find her a foster home (them).
I’ll be the first to admit that—as we intrepidly network and save dogs hours away from euthanasia—fundraising often takes a backseat. We can’t afford sad TV commercials or imposing billboards. We certainly didn’t start a non-profit because we like sending emails asking for money. But it’s giving season, so we’re asking. We want to help more shelter dogs. Because there ARE more shelter dogs.
You can find us on our website or on social media (here, here, and here). Or maybe you’ll see us assembling crates at a neighborhood adoption event. Or at a shelter helping a long-term stay dog burn off steam.
Or looking for a hose so we can spray off our shoes.
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P.S. If you want to see how your favorite charity is spending your money, check out the ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.
