... continued from yesterday...
So, for the other rescue's application... I got farther on theirs before I decided it likely wasn't going to work out (myself getting listed as an approved rescue of theirs) due to my own personal / rescue policies and such... the reason for theirs was due to their adoption fee policy.
One thing that you had to agree with, on their rescue application, was that the animals would be adopted out only to approved homes (no problem there) with either no fee or only asking for a donation.
Oh hell no.
I know I've talked about this before, but I cannot agree with that, and that ended that application right there. I do NOT agree with adopting out any animal not no fee. I know I've specifically talked about this when the dogs shelters do their "clear the shelter" events, locally, 1-2 times per year. The dog that no one wanted, last week, at a $65 adoption fee, now has 10 people fighting over it, because it's free. Is $65 that much? If you said yes, you may want to wait to get a pet until you have a smidge more money.
In no way am I saying $65 is pocket change. I acknowledge that $65 is a decent amount of money. However, if you think $65 is a lot to spend for the pet itself, you may be in for a rude awakening as far as what else you may have to spend to keep that pet alive. A few posts ago, I broke down that if you got all your chin supplies from here, you could probably do it for around $80-ish per year (for one chin). That's at our prices. If you go to the pet store, it's going to be at least a few hundred. So... if $65 is too much, then upkeep is probably also going to be out of budget. Not being mean, just being realistic.
Now, I don't say any of this because I'm money hungry. If you've ever met me, or been to the house / rescue, you know I don't live in a mansion and that I drive a 14 year old vehicle. I'm hardly getting rich off rescue (though I do get to do what I love! but money-wise, not rich). It's not that I'm so-dying-to-make-money-off-the-rescues, that I think you should pay an adoption fee. Not at all.
Rather... society sees pets as throw-aways. I'm not saying this doesn't happen when people pay for pets, but I have heard so many times, over the years, "oh, we got it for free, it's not working out, here ya go." Or, even better, "oh, well it was free, so I hate to spend money on vet care / meds / etc, I'd rather just get another one, and drop this one off at the rescue." Ugh.
I firmly believe that pets should not be free. At least, not from a rescue. Give your niece a free puppy all you want, but adoption should not be free. Paying an adoption fee suggests that the adopter is aware that costs will be involved in caring for the pet, in years to come, and the adoption fee is just the beginning. Adopting out for no fee, to me, is problematic. The people who could never-before afford the pet, now can... because there's no adoption fee. That's the problem with the clear-the-shelter events... can't afford $65? No problem, those people can wait for clear-the-shelter, and then adopt... and the second there's a medical concern, bring the dog back, because they can't afford it. Now, of course, I don't mean to suggest that that's everyone, but... I guarantee you that it's at least some of the people.
Second thing. Irregardless of whether or not it's a money issue on the part of the potential adopter, there's another slight tiny little issue with charging no fee, and that is, that the rescue needs money to stay afloat! Our expenses are somewhere in the realm of $25,000-$30,000 every year. You read that right. It costs a LOT to care for a ton of furry small animals, and much of that cost is feed, shavings, hay, and so on. Something has to pay for that. I'm not independently wealthy, and I have never won the lottery (though if anyone has a winning ticket, feel free to donate!). These costs are paid for through adoption fees, sales of non-rescue chins, and also, sale of the chin supplies. All of that just barely covers the costs and not by much (remember, no mansion / 14-year-old-vehicle). I'm not complaining by any means, but I bring this up so you can consider... what if there were no adoption fees? The simple answer would be... there would be no rescue. I already put "my own" money into the rescue yearly, through the sale of non-rescue chins and such... which is fine, but if the rescues themselves had no adoption fees... the only money coming in would be myself funding every cent of it... and you gotta be independently wealthy to do that. I dunno bout you, but I don't just have $30,000 lying around each year, to spend on rescues.
Same goes for donations. The average person doesn't know what it costs to care for an animal. That's fine. Nothing wrong with that, but if you ask for a donation, you may very well get very little. I remember one time at an expo, we had our houses for sale there. In case you're not familiar, they start at $15 and go up to $25 for the largest one. Someone was there, looking at one of the $20 cottage houses, and asked if they could get one if they made a donation. I explained, they were for sale, and that the sales benefited the rescue animals, and further explained which houses were which prices. They said something along the lines of, "oh, they were going to donate like $2 and wanted to get the house." Now... if we had everything donated... wood, glue, rubberbands, hole saws / augers (which are expensive and break over time), time, effort, etc etc. The houses would still be worth more than $2. A cottage house has an 11" x 8" footprint, and takes almost 4' (yes, four feet) of wood to make. That's not counting the glue that holds it together, the file bands used to hold it in place until the glue dries, the hole saws used to cut the holes... oh yeah, and the hour of labor that is involved in making each house. So, you can imagine how a $2 donation doesn't even go towards paying for the raw materials, much less helping the rescue make any profit off the house.
That is what I think would happen in asking for donations. Sure, there'd be some people who would donate a reasonable amount, but then you'd also have those who would donate $5 and say, well, that money would be better spent on the animal, once they have it (another discussion for another day), rather than the adoption fee.
At the end of the day, the rescue (whether mine or anyone else's) has to have money to stay afloat. No adoption fees doesn't help that, and as long as people want the average rescue to stay around and continue re-homing animals, most of those rescues will have adoption fees. I hope, through this post, you can understand why we will not be going to no adoption fees (or donations for adoption fees), and why we will not be joining the ranks of some of the other rescues who believe that no adoption fees are the way to go. To each their own, but for me, this is why we do what we do.
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