This is a great suggestion – how would we go about investigating this possibility? Please let us know.
FAQ Category: Funding - Fundraising Suggestions
Not a question but an obsevation… If 7500 people made a commitment to donate £5 per month that would generate £450,000 per annum. Is that perhaps more achievable?
Absolutely! Our hope is that individuals as well as Breed Clubs and Societies will make contributions to help support the Genetics Centre. We believe that the broader the funding base is, the more secure the Centre will be. So a large number of smaller donations could work just as well as fewer larger contribution. Every little helps.
UC Davis in the US do a breed specific Genetic Diversity Project to see the variation of a closed gene pool of an individual breed, is this something that could be useful alongside the work of the AHT as Davis concentrates purely on genetic variation and not genetic diseases could a symbiotic collaboration help? with highlighting your work and additional funding?
Thank you for this suggestion – we will give it some serious thought.
Again, thinking of income generation, do you charge a fee for researchers using your work?
No we do not – we consider the best way to benefit dogs is to share and collaborate freely with other researchers around the world, and in return we benefit from the expertise and findings of others.
Will the KCGT consider reopening the give a dog a genome project and raise additonal funds alongside that? Potentially add a markup to cover some employment costs of staff for those breeds which are not mapped previously?
Whole genome sequencing of additional breeds is certainly something we could consider. The first phase of GDG benefitted from matched costs from the Kennel Club, which reduced the cost to each breed. Matched funds would not be available from the KC going forwards (we imagine) but genome sequencing costs have reduced since the first phase of GDG – so if this would be of interest to breeds please let us know.
Have you thought about a Crowd Funding exercise?
We consider is to be a crowdfunding exercise, albeit one that is targeting people with an interest in breeding and owning healthy dogs.
Is there scope for you to have a stand at Crufts to raise awareness of the need for funding among the people who attend that event? I imagine that stands are very expensive though, so perhaps an advert in the catalogue or a leaflet drop?
Cathryn will be at Crufts representing the Canine Genetic Centre, sharing a stand with Canine Genetic Testing, who will be selling DNA tests and are covering the costs.
