2024 Free

Annual Report 2024

Birmingham Dogs Home has served the West Midlands for over 130 years, rescuing, reuniting and rehoming stray and abandoned dogs without any government funding. In 2024, the charity cared for nearly 2,000 dogs across its Birmingham and Wolverhampton centres, operated a Behaviour and Training Centre and an in-house vet clinic, and expanded community support to help owners in hardship keep their pets. Costs rose 18.5% amid increased demand driven by XL Bully legislation and the cost-of-living crisis.

Report snapshot
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About

Dog rescue, reuniting, rehoming and care across the West Midlands with no government funding; specialist behaviour and training support; in-house veterinary clinic; emergency boarding for social care referrals; community education in schools and community groups; owner support to prevent abandonment; foster care including palliative fostering

Key Metrics

Key Metric 1 Nearly 2,000 dogs cared for across two rescue centres in Birmingham and Wolverhampton in 2024
Key Metric 2 Behaviour and Training Centre delivering specialist behaviour support, enabling more dogs with complex needs to be successfully rehomed
Key Metric 3 BDH Vet Clinic providing affordable veterinary services to the wider community, strengthening preventative welfare in the West Midlands

Key Outcomes

  • Supported families facing hardship to keep pets at home through behaviour support, emergency boarding and owner assistance, reducing the number of dogs entering the rescue system
  • Costs increased 18.5% in 2024 reflecting rising demand — particularly from dogs relinquished due to XL Bully legislation and cost-of-living pressures — with the Trust maintaining services despite operating at a deficit
  • Refurbishment of Wolverhampton rehoming centre underway as the Trust's largest single capital investment, future-proofing capacity to care for dogs across the region

Geography

West Midlands

Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
8,033 children, adults and families affected by a disappearance helped in 2022/23
Key Metric 2
35,064 TextSafe® messages sent to missing children and adults; 2,960 Suicide Risk TextSafe® messages to high-risk individuals
Key Metric 3
40% of Lost Contact tracing cases successfully resolved; 1,000+ multi-agency professionals trained
30th anniversary year: over 10 years and £10 million raised by players of People's Postcode Lottery for Missing People's services
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
CHF 3 million+ total programme funding raised in 2025 — a record — with CHF 1.3 million redeployed directly to YMCA National Movements
Key Metric 2
2.5 million people reached through digital skilling initiatives via HP partnership across 30 YMCA partners since 2021
Key Metric 3
37,000 people directly reached per Community Wellbeing project (1.3 million indirectly); 85 new Change Agents enrolled from 44 countries
5,000 jobs to be created under Igniting Youth Futures (USD 5.2 million Accenture/Macquarie-funded); 750+ young people already reached at year-end
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
95 individual young people in under-16s groups; 85 in over-16s groups; 42 in Transformers (trans/non-binary); 114 young people supported through 385 one-to-one sessions
Key Metric 2
149 parents and carers supported across 44 online and in-person groups; 3,500+ participants in training and workshops across 97 sessions
Key Metric 3
96% of young people said Allsorts groups had been of help; 75% said coming to Allsorts improved their overall wellbeing
Won Investing in Children's Member of the Year Award for extensive youth voice integration; 100% of Summer Programme participants enjoyed activities
Impact Snapshot
Key Metric 1
33,600+ people directly supported; 52,000+ indirectly supported (2025)
Key Metric 2
£19.6M raised in fundraising income, up £3.4M on 2024
Key Metric 3
352 socially isolated people supported by community outreach (up 11%)
97% of caseworking enquiries received tailored intervention; 95% beneficiary satisfaction