This campaign has stopped and can no longer accept donations.

I am fundraising to save Friendicoes from being shut down

Story
Updates (1)

Cover image courtesy of Friendicoes.

Why am I fundraising?

Friendicoes SECA is a shelter in New Delhi which works for the welfare of animals. The organisation has been doing a remarkable job in rescuing, treating, sheltering, and rehoming animals. A haven for abandoned, sick, and injured animals, Friendicoes has been helping the voiceless for almost 36 years. Friendicoes provides a shelter and ambulance services for our four-legged friends, and also works towards finding homes for them.

Today, Friendicoes is under a threat of being shut down, because of lack of funds. If the shelter shuts down, dozens of animals will be without a home; and several more will not receive the care and treatment they need. The streets will be their next home, and their chances of survival will be slim.

Here's a note from Friendicoes's Facebook page

This post is not to create panic or to distress anyone but to bring the reality of the financial situation at Friendicoes to the public.

Many times in the past we have faced financial crisis but this is the worst by far. If we do not raise some funds quickly, Friendicoes ambulance service and shelter is under serious threat of shutting down services if not permanently then at least for a period of time.

We just finished paying off the salaries for July. But we have 60 lakhs owed to medicine suppliers and another 12 lakhs to different food suppliers. That is a total of 72 lakhs plus a few more other odd bills.

Luckily or unluckily the fuel station do not give us any credit for ambulance fuel so we do not have any fuel bills due. MCD owes us 30 lakhs for the spay/neuter program but even after adding that to the balance we still owe 42 lakhs+ to suppliers.

If we do not raise some funds quickly we will have no choice but to shut down all shelter services for a few months till we can balance the accounts.

What do I plan to do with the funds?

With this campaign, the money donated will go directly towards Friendicoes, and in their efforts to remain running. By contributing to this campaign, you will be helping Friendicoes stay up and running - and you will be helping the animals retain their sanctuary, the only home they have ever known.

Ask for an update

17th October 2016

Dear Supporters,

I am Uthra Nagarajan, an Open Fellow with Milaap. A quick chat with Geeta, the co-founder of Friendicoes gave me details about how the shelter is currently functioning. Apart from funds raised on Milaap, Geeta got donations from the public too, to keep her shelter up and running.

“Tata Trust was our biggest funder,” said Geeta. “We are in a better place and are stronger than ever before.”

Feeding around 2,000 animals at any given time on any day, Friendicoes now has a trauma-care centre, five hospitals, and a country-sanctuary. “After our hiatus, we started two new hospitals, one in Delhi and another in Gurgaon,” smiled Geeta. The work for these two hospitals had begun two years earlier.

During the tough time that Friendicoes faced, Geeta is grateful that they didn’t have to cut down on any of their programmes. “I am happy that we were able to pull through and keep our programmes running even when there was no money,” she said. However, not all facets were unaffected, she added. They had to cut down on the number of strays and hit-and-run cases they could take in for treatment and housing. She hopes to improve that number in the coming months.