Every year in December, the government awards funding to the animal welfare organisations in Ireland.
In 2022, the total amount awarded was €5,798,446.
This may seem like a lot until you learn that the total amount of money awarded to all charities by the government averages €13 billion per year.
This €13 billion figure comes from an Excel document that can be downloaded from the Charity regulators website. It is a large and unwieldy document, covering all the funding received by tens of thousands of Irish charities between 1st April 2013 and 30 Sept 2023.
I tried to pull out information for separate years but because much of the funding covers time periods from, say, May of one year to April of the next, getting the numbers for just one single year proved too difficult. However, the total monies awarded by the government to all the charities in this time period amounted to over €138 billion. If we divide that by 10.5 (the time frame) we get the €13 billion average figure quoted above.
Which means animal welfare gets 0.04% of all the yearly charitable funding awarded by the government. Out of every €10.00 the government gives to charities, animal groups get less than one cent.
We can do another calculation.
The various charity activities listed in the Excel document include disease research, disability support, combating poverty, religious activities, education and training, advancement of arts, culture, heritage and science, playgroup/afterschool, rural development and so on. As well as animal welfare.
The funding comes from a number of different sources including: government or local authorities, other public bodies, philanthropic organisations, donations, commercial activities, bequests and other sources.
In order to estimate how much of all charity funding went to animals I entered the keyword “animal welfare” and highlighted any group that specified that as part of their charity activities.
Then compared the gross income of all the charities (€272.272 billion) to the gross income of charities that undertake animal welfare work (€1.114 billion). The percentage going to animal causes is 0.41%. (This is the 4 cent in €10 quoted in the title).
And that is greatly overestimating the amount going to animals. There are many groups that include animal welfare in their remit but they would do other work too, like disability support, relief of poverty, education, youth development, overseas aid and/or promotion of community. However, in lieu of contacting each group and asking how much of their funding went directly to animal welfare, I simply included their entire funding amount in the calculation. So that 0.41% is a very generous overestimate. And again, notice, it’s not even a full percent.
To be clear, animal welfare funding includes rescue and rehoming thousands of dogs, cats and equines but it also covers extensive wildlife rescue and rehabilitation of mammals, birds and marine life. All of this on a fraction of a percent of total charity funding.
But maybe such a percentage is normal? Does anyone give more than half a percent to animals?
Well, a Forbes article in 2021 bemoaned the fact that only 3% of all charitable giving in the United States went to groups helping animals. Actually, it was to those helping animals and the environment, so, again, not totally to animals. Still, better than Ireland.
In strong contrast, the National Philanthropic Trust in the UK reports that animal welfare is the most popular charitable cause with 27% of donors choosing it, followed by support for children or young people (24%) and medical research (22%).
So the more we look, the more miserly the Irish figure seems.
We’ve all heard the cliché of the cats’ or dogs’ home or donkeys being left everything in the rich old lady’s will. And there are some very generous bequests in the Excel document. But to suggest that animals are getting everything at the expense of human charities is a complete myth and a dangerous one at that. Animals and the people who serve them are already getting so little, the least we can do is acknowledge it and attempt to remedy the situation.
I’m not saying that we should aim for a quarter of our charitable funds going to animal causes but even a jump to 5% would mean a lifechanging alteration for all the wonderful animal causes in Ireland.
Animal charities provide a tremendous service to society. Not only in the care of all the homeless and abused animals which would otherwise be wandering our streets but also in the lives of the huge community of volunteers and workers who are involved in the daily rescue and rehabilitation of domestic and wild animals. Many people would love to work full time with animals and decent financial support would mean job creation in the areas of animal care, outreach and education.
There are numerous studies showing that contact with animals alleviates depression and improves quality of life. Research shows that the emotional and social support that pets provide helps to buffer stress, promote resilience and recover from adverse circumstances. People with disabilities often find that able-bodied people are socially awkward with them; if they have a dog it breaks down barriers and allows a more comfortable and natural interaction.
These examples are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the benefits that human-animal interaction can bestow. Maybe if we spent more money on facilitating opportunities for people to interact in positive ways with animals, we could see a drop in the incidences of depression, addiction and anxiety that plague this country.
We owe it to animals, and to ourselves, to try.
Sources
Find the Excel document here: https://www.charitiesregulator.ie/en/information-for-the-public/search-the-register-of-charities
https://www.nptuk.org/philanthropic-resources/uk-charitable-giving-statistics/
https://www.mhanational.org/blog/how-human-animal-bond-increases-resilience-and-empowers-us-thrive
