How do you decide which animal-related charities to support?

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At this time of year, we are all besieged with pleas for charitable contributions of every kind. Chances are, if you have ever given money to even one animal-related charity, the following year, you found yourself receiving solicitations from dozens of them. Then you have to choose which organizations deserve – or can do the most – with your donations.

There are so many to choose from. There are national organizations that focus on legal issues affecting pets and pet owners, groups that work for improving conditions for animals that are used for food production, and of course an endless array of shelters and “rescue” groups. All of them accomplish something; all of them have animal lovers at the helm. And I’ll bet most of us do donate some amount of money to at least one of them.

How do you decide which organization to donate money (or time or goods) to? I invite you to either share your method or reason for your choice, or to make a “pitch” to WDJ readers for the animal-related charity of your choice.

I’ll go first:

For the past few years, all of my charitable donations have gone to the Northwest SPCA, the animal shelter that is closest to my home, and that serves the town where I live as well as all of the unincorporated areas in this county. I do this so that my donations can directly affect the quality of life and services available to the animals in my community. I know, trust, and admire the shelter director, and can directly observe that the animals in the shelter are well taken care of. Oh! And they don’t share their mailing list with any other animal-related charities  😉

What about you?