The IG office is usually a place of quiet repose and peaceful study. But that attitude of contemplation is broken at least once a year – and that’s when we’re writing the profile of Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.

Hearing Dogs, like many an animal charity, has a failsafe strategy for raising funds: in large part, it plasters its website with pictures of puppies, adds some emotive language, and waits for the money to roll in. As a result, IG HQ echoes to the sound of ‘oooohs’ and ‘aaaahs’ every time we write the charity’s profile.

The saccharine level of Hearing Dogs’ communications is quite simply off the scale. The front cover of its annual review contains a picture of the actor better known as Pat Butcher cuddling a hearing-dog puppy, and features a pair of puppies nose-to-nose in a pose which makes them look as if they’re about to kiss. Turn the page, and the table of contents is embellished with the image of a small, fluffy creature with a paw on a calculator, to show in pictures that the financial summary is on page 15.

This sort of emotionally manipulative fundraising makes me feel as if I’ve eaten half a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts – which, I can attest, isn’t a pleasant sensation. It also makes me feel sympathy for fundraisers who work for un-sexy causes, such as helping the victims of domestic violence or working with mentally ill people.

But my main worry is that cute-animal-based fundraising probably works. If the reaction of my charity-hardened colleagues is anything to go by, tugging the heart-strings of dog-lovers is remarkably easy. And it’s a lot easier to get people to open their wallets if they’ve already been hooked by the charity’s oh-so-cute publicity snaps.

Of course, Hearing Dogs is a worthy cause. But for so long as it, and other animal charities, lure in donors with cuddly creatures, charities without such furry friends will seriously miss out.
 

 

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