We desperately need your help this winter!
As we head into another long, cold winter we need to ask for your help with a major appeal with a massive fundraising target and a campaign to boost our direct debit donors.
Small charities everywhere will be all too familiar with the constant battle to bring in enough money to cover outgoings and unfortunately at the moment it is a battle we are not winning. We rely heavily on donations and we are so grateful for the support we have received so far this year however we are really concerned this winter with costs remaining higher than ever for the basic outgoings of food, vet bills, bedding, electricity, heating, etc. We are very close to having to temporarily close to any new animal intakes even if we have space due to financial pressures.
Hay and straw supplies this winter are suspected to be short due to poor weather around harvest time and farmers have had no choice but to increase their prices. This means over winter we will be using around £25 of hay a day as well as around £20 of haylage and £5 of straw each day! Hard feed prices are also higher than ever - we get a delivery every 6 weeks from a wholesaler and we are spending £100-£200 more than previous years each time.
We currently have a number of animals, including horses, goats and pigs who require daily supplements and/or medication for long-term conditions such as arthritis and cushings disease. Along with these there are routine vaccinations, worming, etc. and the inevitable illnesses and injuries that come with caring for over 100 animals and our vet bills are now more often over £1000 per month than under. Then there are the elderly animals who require additional feeding, especially our multiple older ponies with poor teeth who need specialised feed.
All of this means that as it stands our monthly outgoings are exceeding what’s coming in. Whilst we have some plans in place to help address this with increased fundraising efforts and some outstanding funding applications we are hoping to be successful with, we really need a big winter boost to allow us to breathe a bit easier as well as to increase our monthly income going forward. We find that with funding applications, most (not all!) will fund either specific projects (i.e. not core animal costs such as vet bills or feed) or are more focused on the people/community side of what we do and whilst that is incredibly important too, there are often exclusions to spending any of the funding on the animals. This can be very frustrating when the animals are at the heart of absolutely everything we do for the people who benefit from the services at Mossburn and it is something we try to highlight to prospective funders regularly.
Please do not think that the animals will ever go without what they need, we will always find a way, but if you can spare any amount at all we would be incredibly grateful.
Optionally, you can save your purchase to your account by Signing in.
If you don’t have an account, you can Sign up to create one.