One of Britain’s largest animal charities, the RSPCA, recently built a £16+ million large state-of-the-art modern head office in Southwater near Horsham. In 1999 the RSPCA, together with the Guide Dogs for the Blind had over £230 million invested on the stock market between them. Investment on the stock market is NOT a charitable cause, and yet these charities continued to plead for yet more funds. In three short years the RSPCA is now £16 million in debt!

It is encumbent on the trustees of any charity to ensure the wise and low risk investment of surplus monies. There are many supporters who, having donated to this Charity, would be appalled to find that the pennies they donated were not used for the purpose they had wanted but had been gambled instead on the Stock Market . . . . and lost!

Worse is to follow. The RSPCA has currently an £80 million budget including a retained staff of 1,800 all on the payroll. While wages for field officers are modest that is not so for the pin-stripe suited employees further up the ladder.

One new employee, Jackie Ballard, 49 has just been appointed director-general with a salary of £90,000 pa. She has never run an organisation like this, admits she has no idea how to read a balance sheet and yet this is one of the largest charities in the UK with 193 branches! She was Liberal Democrat MP for Taunton for 5 years so it seems she is a hard worker and is known as a leading anti-hunt campaigner.

Yes, we all recognise that we need an organisation like the RSPCA and they have achieved some good works however should they be delving into the political arena with the charity money? Last year they spent £4.5 million of charity money on political campaigns and nearly £1 million on lobbying politicians!

Brownbread Horse Rescue sometimes has to liase closely with the RSPCA over certain cases so we like to maintain a good working relationship. Brownbread has no payroll so the pennies donated do go entirely to the equines for which it is donated. We find it frustrating that the general public doesn’t realise that their donations are being squandered in constructing posh offices, paying exorbitant salaries to employees with unsuitable qualifications or experience, gambling on the Stock Market and pursuing political aspirations.

Before you put the pound in the box find out truly how much of it actually goes to the cause you are hoping to support. Whether or not you donate directly to charity the Government does. Government money is taxpayer’s money and if you are a taxpayer then you are contributing to charities by 28p for every pound donated by people out of their taxed income. You can always find out how a charity spends its money by contacting the Charity Commission where the main account figures for each charity are available to be seen by the public.

Oh, and by the way, your four Trustees of Brownbread have over 150 years of equine experience between them additional to their relevant qualifications.