Rehoming appeals

Operational guide to rehoming appeals

Rehoming appeals occur when there is a good story that can have national newspaper appeal.
This could be one animal that has a good story that we can use to launch a rehoming drive for many of that species or where we have a large number of one species to rehome in one go (this is also known as mass rehoming).

There is no such thing as a local appeal. A national newspaper can pick up a story unexpectedly. It is always advisable to talk to your regional press officer about the potential of a story becoming national.

The rehoming appeals process is a support structure to enable animal centres and branches to cope with the intense public exposure that a rehoming appeal can create. It is always better to initiate the rehoming appeal process and then not need it, than to be caught out and unable to meet public expectation.

The rehoming appeals process is not emergency rehoming but a planned rehoming process to ensure that the RSPCA gets the best possible result from the appeal – in terms of the number of animals rehomed, potential for income exploited and customer satisfaction. This takes time to achieve and we therefore need a minimum of six weeks notice from launch of appeal process to going public.

The key to a successful appeal is to start planning as soon as possible. It is never too early to start the process but it can be too late!

If the animals have not yet been signed over to the RSPCA or are subject to a case, the process can still be initiated.

How do I initiate a rehoming appeal?

Talk to your animal welfare manager, branch support specialist or regional press officer about the potential for an appeal. Consider early what kind of appeal you are running – is it a rehoming appeal?; is it a rehoming/fundraising appeal?; do you want to adapt the process to appeal for fosterers?

Who decides whether the story is suitable for a rehoming appeal?

The decision to launch a rehoming appeal rests with the regional headquarters. National Society headquarters will advise and support the regional headquarters on the potential of the proposed appeal.