Giving the gift of love this Giving Tuesday

While we believe everyday is the perfect day to help animals, Tuesday 30 November is Giving Tuesday, a special chance to find out more about the many ways you can give to transform the lives of animals.

The international event is the perfect chance for people to find out more about what they can do to help support our life-saving work.

No matter how big or small, everyone can help make a difference for animals by showing they care by giving their love - whether that's by volunteering time, donating money, sharing skills, campaigning, donating goods or food, or through organising an event.

Every year thousands of animals suffer from neglect, cruelty and abuse. With your help, we can end their misery. To do this, we rely on caring people to help change the lives of as many animals as possible and rely on voluntary fundraising and donations to carry out our vital work.

To celebrate Giving Tuesday, we've been looking to find some of the simplest and easiest ways people can help transform the lives of animals.

Care with a share

One of the easiest ways to help animals is to share social media posts. From helping rescue animals find their special someone, to raising awareness of our campaigns, social media helps provide a chance to amplify the voice of animals who need it most. 

With Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and a newly created TikTok channel there is a way for everyone to get involved!

Our branches, centres, hospitals and wildlife centres also have their own social media pages where they showcase their work to transform the lives of animals.

Giving a voice to the voiceless

Anyone who cares about animals as much as we do can help give animals a voice by signing petitions, writing to MPs, and by signing up to our campaign newsletter for regular updates about how you can help.

Recycling to the rescue

Donating unwanted items is a way to support a local branch by helping generate some of the money needed to run local rescue centres and animal welfare schemes.

We're always looking for donations of clothes, bric a brac, handbags, jewellery, toys, books and DVDs so please consider donating to your local charity shop.

Charity shops are also an important way to shop ethically and sustainably at the same time as supporting good causes. 

There are some amazing bargains to be had in our shops that will make you look good but also make you feel good that you are stepping away from fast fashion which is damaging for the environment, animals and our wallets. Fast fashion is clothing that moves quickly from catwalk to stores in order to meet new trends. The items are often cheap and disposable and ultimately end up in landfills.

The Charity Retail Association estimates each charity shop saves 29 tonnes of textiles from going into landfill each year. With over 300 RSPCA charity shops that's around 8,700 tonnes saved!

Winning for animals

You can be in with a chance of winning money for yourself while winning for animals when you play the RSPCA Weekly Lottery. For as little as £1 a week you could win £1,000 in our weekly jackpot or one of 100 cash prizes! You could also win up to £10,000 in our quarterly Superdraws.

Give the gift of life

Buy the paw-fect gift for your loved ones and pets while supporting our work and helping to help animals this Christmas. By shopping with us you can treat your family, friends and pets to fabulous gifts while also supporting our work to rescue, rehabilitate and rehome or release animals in need.

For those who are looking for an alternative to gifts this Christmas there is also the chance to help animals by sending friends and family an RSPCA Charity Gift Card. Ranging from £10 to £100, the charity gift cards are treated as donations, going towards looking after animals in our centres to help them recover from injury, cruelty or neglect. 

Simply select your choice of gift and we'll send you a beautiful photographic greetings card featuring an animal we have rescued, left blank inside for you to write your own message. All cards explain how your gift helps animal welfare, and make the perfect gift for the animal lover in your life.

View our Christmas catalogue online or browse our online shop to see all of the gifts we have available this Christmas.

Payroll giving

By donating through your payroll you will be helping us rescue and care for animals in need, and helping to educate and inspire people to stand up for and act on behalf of animals. Regular funds also mean that we can plan ahead and there's less admin for the charity with no gift aid forms to complete!

£5 could help provide treats or toys for a cat or dog, £10 could help to provide a day's board for a horse who has suffered cruel treatment, £20 could help feed some of the wild animals in our care, and £50 could help towards emergency medical treatment for a sick animal.

Food for thought

Help feed animals at centres by donating items on your local centre's unique Amazon Wish list. Each centre has their own list, showing exactly what's needed. It's an easy way to make sure the animals get exactly what they need at just the click of a button. 

People can also help animals by donating to a pet food bank. The project began in Lancashire during lockdown as a response to the number of people who were facing financial difficulties as a result of the pandemic. Starting with five areas across Lancashire, the scheme was then rolled out across 35 different food banks across Lancashire, Cheshire, Merseyside, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Northumbria and Greater Manchester. It's now been extended to the north east with the chance for people to donate by leaving food at a number of special drop off points.

Try something new

Do you fancy trying your hand at something new, or learning a new skill? Why not try volunteering?

Volunteers make a huge difference, not just in the time they donate and the tasks they do, but also in their ambassadorial role for the RSPCA, spreading our messages to their network of friends, family and beyond. They bring their skills, experience, energy and enthusiasm.

There is no 'standard' volunteer. Everyone is different, and offers to volunteer for their own personal reasons, be that a passion for animals, to learn new skills or donate existing ones, for social reasons, or to feel they are doing something worthwhile for their community. We have a diverse volunteer programme meaning there is something for everyone. From our animal care roles helping in centres and hospitals, to field-based roles within the Inspectorate and education, to home-based roles in support and administration.

We've also developed digital roles for volunteers who are time poor, and professional roles for those who like to donate their talent and skills for good. There are also micro-volunteers who take part in digital and community tasks that support our animal welfare work at both a national and local level.

Open your heart and home

We rehome around 40,000 animals every year across England and Wales - proving one of the very best ways to help rescue animals is to welcome them into your life!

We don't have a blanket rehoming policy; we believe that every animal (and owner!) is an individual and work hard to place the right pets with the right new owners. You can find your perfect match on Find A Pet and can sign up for email alerts when animals matching your criteria come into our care. 

Sometimes we also look for temporary homes for those animals who may not be quite ready for a fresh start. Fosterers are hugely important to us, providing a lifeline to some of the most vulnerable and needy animals who come through our doors. Fostering can help an animal recover from neglect, abuse, illness or injury, and is often the first step in them finding a new, loving forever home. Contact your local branch or centre to speak to them about becoming a fosterer in your local area.