U.K. Animal Charities Argue About Fund Raising
In what might be described as allegations of donor poaching, the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has accused its English counterpart of unfairly fund raising in Scotland.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which operates in England and Wales, denies the charge.
But the Scottish organization said the Royal animal-welfare group has advertised itself on Scottish radio and at Scottish supermarkets.In response, the group has started an ad campaign aimed at humbling its peer.
“The Scottish SPCA today challenges the RSPCA to stop stealing food from the mouths of Scotland’s defenseless animals and tell the truth to the Scottish public,” the group said in a statement on its Web site.
The animal charity said that 70 percent of the Scottish public believes the RSPCA helps animals in Scotland. “We are therefore calling for the RSPCA to be explicitly clear in its advertising that it does not rescue or rehome animals in Scotland. This could be by explicitly stating where it works or even describing itself as the ‘RSPCA for England and Wales,’” the statement said.
According to The Times, a newspaper in London, the RSPCA said it did not deliberately market itself in Scotland.
“Every piece of printed literature, television advertising, and Internet banner advertising always features the wording ‘The RSPCA is a charity registered in England and Wales.’ We always make every effort to exclude advertising messages reaching Scottish consumers. All Scottish donors, who contact us via RSPCA fund-raising campaigns, are directed to the Scottish SPCA so that they can donate to them if they so wish,” the RSPCA said in a statement, reports the newspaper.
A newspaper in Scotland, The Herald, this week investigated the RSPCA’s claims and reports that the English group accepted about $2-million a year from Scottish donors.
By The Ian Wilhelm from philanthropy.com
