Wellington animal welfare activist leaves millions to SPCA

Thursday, 23 February 2017

Margaret Doucas was an animal-mad five-year-old kid when she first walked through the doors of the Wellington SPCA to offer her services.

By the time she started school, the only daughter of a Greek immigrant family couldn't speak a word of English and found good company in the animals at the Newtown centre, for whom she developed an affinity and empathy that would last her lifetime. 

More than 60 years later, following her sudden death last year, Doucas has injected millions of dollars from her estate into the charity, making it debt free.

'At every level her contribution is unprecedented,' says long-time friend and Wellington SPCA board chairwoman Theresa Gattung. 'Her contribution is unparalleled in scope, breadth and longevity.'

**READ MORE:

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One million dollars from her bequest has gone into paying off the outstanding loan borrowed to make up the shortfall of the $4 million needed to build the new animal centre in the old Fever Hospital in Mt Victoria.

As much again, including money from investments and bonds, has been left by Doucas, who had no children, to fund ongoing operations. 

Her generosity is being marked exactly a year to the day she died as the centre is officially renamed in her honour.

HAPPILY EVER AFTER

As well as leaving them debt-free on their new animal centre, the bequest has allowed the Wellington SPCA to launch the 'Home Ever After' initiative, a programme strongly advocated by Doucas that helps in the care of animals once their owners die.

'Margaret's generosity has allowed us to launch the new fundraising initiative and to give us a little bit of a cushion in terms of the ongoing pressure to fundraise all the time,' says Gattung.

Doucas's bequest comes on top of significant financial contributions made while she was alive and a lifetime of service to the charity.

'Margaret started as a volunteer at the shelter at the age of five. She has taken in animals all her life. I never knew her to have any less than two dogs and four cats, which all came from the SPCA. 

'She regarded any less than that as not trying.'

Her husband, John Tizard, recalls a 'succession of strays' she took in over the years. 'She wasn't into purebreds. They were homeless, unwanted animals [she adopted],' he says.

Gattung, who met Doucas 30 years ago at law school where they were both mature students, says her friend had been a dedicated volunteer never afraid to get her hands dirty. 

She was deeply involved in her interaction with the animals as well as serving as a board member on and off for 20 years. 

Wellington SPCA chief executive Steve Glassey recalls Doucas, always impeccably dressed, often turning up just to visit the cats and dogs.

'As a board member it would be easy to disconnect from the frontline. But Margaret, always amazingly dressed and very colourful, would go in to visit the kittens and puppies and come out covered in hair. It never bothered her.'

He described Doucas as 'incredibly warm' but also extremely direct in her capacity as a lawyer.

Over the years, she contributed her professional skills pro bono for the Wellington SPCA.

'She volunteered in a governance role and her ability to be direct was very valuable during some turbulent times,' Glassey says.

A new start 

Doucas, who was a leading patent lawyer in Wellington, was instrumental in securing the new centre in Mt Victoria. Without her it never would have happened, Gattung says.

The SPCA was granted the lease of Fever Hospital in 2005, but financial problems meant it was unable to commit to the project until 2012.

The dark and somewhat creepy building was previously an infectious diseases facility built in 1919. In 2013 it was transformed into a new home for the Wellington SPCA. The centre was built from the ruins of the historically listed hospital, which had been constantly vandalised and in a dangerous state of disrepair for years.

It sits in a tranquil setting among a forest of pine trees where a chorus of cicadas sing - its nearest neighbour, the Governor General down the hill. 

The first million of the $4m needed to create the new animal centre was gathered by Doucas and Gattung over several months culminating in a fundraising dinner in 2007. Another $2m was raised over the next few years. A loan was taken out for the $1m shortfall.

Doucas's enormous philanthropic gesture leaves the SPCA in a good financial position, particularly as it was forking out around $40,000 annually to service the $1m loan.

But Gattung is quick to point out the need for ongoing donations.

'We don't get any government or council funding so we need donations, either from people who are alive or people who bequest money, to fund the operations.'

The SPCA makes money through commercial operations, including op-shops, hiring out rooms in the centre, and various other income strands but they need to fundraise and rely heavily on donations. They need between $4m and 5m each year to operate.

'We are the only charity in New Zealand fulfilling a legal requirement – prosecuting people who abuse animals – that is funded through voluntary donations.'

They receive numerous bequests each year but many are tagged to specific programmes, such as de-sexing. Doucas's bequest is un-tagged and can be used for any purpose.

'A legal trailblazer'

Doucas was one of the first women in New Zealand to hold both science and law degrees and to be a qualified lawyer and patent attorney.

Gattung described her as 'a complete trailblazer'.

'She was New Zealand's longest serving female patent attorney and worked at the cutting edge of science and law.

'She didn't speak a word of English when she started school and she graduated from high school top of her class. She had a brilliant mind.'

Her philanthropy extended to many charitable causes over her lifetime.

After her mother, Eva, died in 2009, Margaret set up the Eva Doucas Charitable Trust with Gattung and for many years operated Eva's Attic shops in Wellington and elsewhere, dispensing hundreds of thousands of dollars to animal welfare charities and women's and children's causes.

Charities to benefit from the Trust included Women's Refuge, Rape Crisis, New Horizons for Women and an organisation dedicated to help educate young women in Cambodia. A number of charities she supported would also continue to benefit financially further down the line, according to Tizard.

Helping HUHA

One of the animal charities Doucas supported during her life was HUHA animal rescue.

HUHA founder Carolyn Press-McKenzie says Doucas donated more than $20,000 to their cause over a number of years.

In return for working shifts at Eva's Attic the animal rescue charity would receive a cheque every now and then for thousands of dollars.

But it wasn't just the money she dispensed that meant so much to people, Press-McKenzie says.

'She made you feel like what you were doing was important. She was incredibly empowering. Margaret and Theresa were not just about donating money. They would get in amongst it all and get their hands dirty. There was always a lot of fun and joy around what they were doing.

'Margaret had an amazing way of infusing herself into people's lives and giving the inspiration and support needed to succeed in whatever you were doing.'

Tizard says the Wellington SPCA had always been dear to his wife's heart and that she had planned to make it a beneficiary in the event of her death.

'Her objective was to make sure that the centre was debt-free and it wasn't when she died. Her main concern was that the debt be paid off and that they start with a clean sheet.

'The important thing for her was that the SPCA was in a good financial state, not that the centre was named after her or that there would be a big fuss made of what she did to achieve that.'

Wellington SPCA numbers:

In the last financial year, the Wellington SPCA received:

* Bequests totalling $2.3m. This includes $1m from Doucas' estate which paid off the outstanding loan on the Fever Hospital Animal Care Centre project. (The remainder of her bequest has been paid in the new financial year).

* $1.8m from commercial activities, such as animal services, op-shops, room hire and retail sales.

* $1.2m through fundraising and in donations.

* The SPCA is the second most bequeathed charity to Hospice.

* The Wellington SPCA needs between $4m-$5m to operate annually.

* The Wellington City Council originally bought the Fever Hospital building as a liability from the Ministry of Health for $1, though it cost them $50,000 a year in maintenance.