Wild Things Rescue Ethical Rehabilitation Of British Wildlife Wild Things Rescue Annual Review 2020-2021
Wild Things Rescue
Charity number 1190933
Objectives, activities and achievements
‘The objects of the CIO are: For the benefit of the public to relieve the suffering of animals, in particular native wildlife in need of care and attention and, in particular, to provide and maintain rescue homes or other facilities for the reception, care and treatment of such animals’
Wild Things Rescue have achieved the charities objectives in the previous year by undertaking a range of tasks. The charity has engaged with members of the public, veterinary professionals and other animal agencies to provide advice on how best to act when an animal has been found in distress. This has resulted in the charity accepting approximately 800 animals into our care within the period of 16[th] August 2020 and 28[th] June 2021. Of the animals who entered our care, we have been able to successfully release approximately 45%. This is considered a good release rate as it also includes those animals who were euthanised or died within the first 48 hours in our care. Where possible, we have performed post mortems of those who haven’t survived. This is helping to give us a better idea of the ailments that the animals suffer from, therefore giving us a better idea about how to improve care next time. The charity has been able to monitor animals after they have been released and have seen that some animals have gone on to breed which shows that we are rehabilitating wildlife to a good standard, where they are able to be released and live a normal life. We feel our work goes some way to boosting numbers of wild animals in the areas in which we work.
The charity has also expanded care facilities by securing a grant to enable us to build a workshop where hedgehogs and small birds can be housed while undergoing treatment. The National Lottery provided us with a grant of approximately £8,000 so that we could purchase the workshop, a generator and furniture for the workshop. Unfortunately we were a victim of fraud and lost £1,680 after paying a deposit for the workshop. This has been reported to the police and Action Fraud. We are working to get the money back. However, this set back has not stopped us from getting our workshop as we were able to fundraise the lost money and find an alternative supplier. We have also erected more aviaries to enable us to provide better care for sick and injured birds. The larger aviaries have enabled us to take in approximately 30% more birds this year, including far more birds of prey. These improvements have allowed us to provide a better service for the public as we have been able to accept more animals and, as a result, return more animals to the wild. We have been complimented by the public and veterinary professionals on how our facilities have grown since we became a registered charity in August 2020.
The addition of new facilities have also allowed us to take on more volunteers as our charity has grown and, as a result, we feel we have helped members of the public significantly. We now have 45 volunteers, many of whom are unemployed or struggle with health issues. They all say how helping alongside the charity has improved their mental health and brought them joy. The charity has also been able to provide talks for local clubs such as Mareham Le Fen Gardening club, talking to members about how they can improve their garden to enable wildlife to thrive. We had planned to hold more talks like this however, repeated lockdowns and the delay in building our workshop has meant we haven’t been able to. We are hopeful that we will be able to do more talks for the public. We have overcome this issue by using social media to make informative posts and engage with the
public to educate them on issues surrounding wildlife. We also now have a dedicated telephone line which means that those who do not use the internet can contact us directly for advice.
Financial review
Wild Things Rescue has finished this financial period with our reserve and a good surplus in the bank. Over the last year we have found new ways to fundraise, all of which are proving successfully. The charity has a reserve of £2,500 which covers 6 months running costs. This will be reviewed 3 monthly to see whether we need to increase the amount or whether it is no longer necessary. As of August 2021, we are happy with £2,500 as a reserve.
As previously mentioned, we lost £1,680 to fraud this year. This has not had a big impact on our financial status as a very kind donor gave us £1,700 to allow us to continue our project. We have reported the fraud to Action Fraud and are hopeful that we will get the money back. This issue, naturally, has caused us to look at how we select new businesses to work with and in future we will only use trades people on personal recommendation.
At this point the charity is happy with our financial position and currently have no concerns on the sustainability of the charity. As our costs have increased, we have adapted our fundraising accordingly. We have put together a fundraising team and are attending more events. We have also secured new ways to fundraise by building an online shop which allows members of the public to make donations and purchase fundraising items more easily. We have seen a good uptake in these items and feel that if we add more items, these will raise funds just as well. In the last 12 months we have secured a grant from the National Lottery and hope to apply for further grants in the future.
Structure, governance, and management
Wild Things Rescue is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation whose only voting members are its charity trustees. The governing document is a memorandum and articles of association. These are available to trustees at any point. Currently we have not taken on more trustees, however, anyone wishing to become a trustee must express an interest via email, this will then be discussed at the next trustee meeting. If the trustees are happy, the applicant will be invited to join the next meeting where they will (if still deemed appropriate) be accepted as a trustee.
Reference and administrative details
Wild Things Rescue (Charity number: 1190933)
Registered address: 2 Tomlinson Close, Tattershall, Lincolnshire, LN4 4NH
Wild Things Rescue
Financial Activities
1 August, 2020 - 28 July, 2021
| TOTAL | |
|---|---|
| Income | |
| Donations - Online | 9,605.89 |
| National Lottery Grant | 8,485.00 |
| Sales of Products | 287.00 |
| Total Income | £18,377.89 |
| Cost of Sales | |
| Cost of sales | 345.38 |
| Total Cost of Sales | £345.38 |
| TOTAL | £18,032.51 |
| Expenditures | |
| Accommodation | 387.43 |
| Advertising/Promotional | 101.89 |
| Animal Costs for Testing | 27.52 |
| Animal Feed | 615.51 |
| Animal Medication | 38.21 |
| Animal Supplements | 19.46 |
| Animal Vet Bills | 581.44 |
| Bank charges | 56.00 |
| Dues and Subscriptions | 658.08 |
| Legal & Professional Services | 9.49 |
| Postage | 137.17 |
| Printing and Stationery Costs | 22.00 |
| Raising funds | 41.11 |
| Supplies | 1,470.77 |
| Uncategorised Expense | 698.62 |
| Volunteer Materials | 449.55 |
| Volunteer Training | 154.95 |
| Volunteer Travel Expenses | 667.35 |
| Total Expenditures | £6,136.55 |
| NET OPERATING INCOME | £11,895.96 |
| NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE) | £11,895.96 |
Accrual Basis Tuesday, 15 March 2022 05:24 pm GMT+00:00
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