Aesthetics doctor gives up five-figure salary to save dogs
Save Our Street Dogs president Dr Siew Tuck Wah. Photo: Dr Siew's Facebook page
SINGAPORE — From its origins as a handful of animal-loving friends coming together rescuing stray dogs, it has burgeoned into an organisation with four full-time staff and more than 400 volunteers, with monthly expenses that have doubled in the past three years.
As such, Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD) president Siew Tuck Wah is leaving behind his job as an aesthetics doctor — and a five-figure monthly salary — to run the charity full-time.
Yesterday marked the 36-year-old’s last day at The Sloane Clinic. “All this time I’ve been juggling work and SOSD … It’s been very, very busy; along the way I’ve actually burned out many times (yet) tried to continue,” said Dr Siew, who announced his decision in a Facebook post on Monday. “But now it has reached a point where I have to choose either one.”
Running SOSD is “more than a full-time job” and the organisation, which was granted Institutions of a Public Character (IPC) status in April, faces a critical year ahead.
The organisation began as a passion project by a group of friends in 2011, and Dr Siew took over as president in 2012. SOSD was registered as a charity in 2013.
Attaining IPC status makes organisations more appealing to donors, as tax exemptions can be claimed for donations. But this also means more paperwork for the group, noted Dr Siew, adding that apart from ensuring the group’s finances and fundraising projects are in order, other standards of procedures for various departments and data protection plans also have to be implemented, among other things.
“A lot of animal welfare groups have not gotten this accreditation; having this will ... show the public we really mean business, and set our processes in order,” he added.
While his four-man team handles the daily operations, Dr Siew said many aspects of the group’s operations hinges on him. Within one or two hours, he can receive more than 100 messages from the 15 to 20 group chats involving SOSD’s operations.
Giving himself a year to focus on SOSD, he wants to revamp its communications plan so that social media postings, for instance, can be made without him. Last year, the group rescued about 260 dogs, and its operating costs amount to about S$40,000 each month. But donations were not coming in because of a lack of awareness about the work SOSD was doing when Dr Siew was too busy to post updates on its work on social media.
Apart from possibly increasing SOSD’s staff strength, including hiring a veterinarian, SOSD’s needs in the near future include building a new shelter. It would take two years to build a new place, and the lease for SOSD’s Pasir Ris premises will be up in May 2017. Dr Siew also hopes to revive the idea of a national adoption centre. “The concept has never been crystallised … It was never confirmed who is in, who is out. Ideally, in my opinion, all animal welfare groups should come together.” SIAU MING EN
