Dog Desk Shop is the trading arm of Dog Desk Animal Action CIC. We created it because we believe there should be more than one way to fund the work we do for vulnerable dogs. Donations are enormously important to us and always will be, but we can also work to generate income ourselves. That is what the shop allows us to do.

Every sale contributes to an organisation with a social purpose behind it. The income generated through Dog Desk Shop helps support the wider work of Dog Desk Animal Action, and that work takes many different forms.

Some of it is very easy to see. There are dogs who need veterinary treatment, medication, diagnostic tests or surgery. There are dogs who need food, ongoing care or practical help. Sometimes we meet them at the beginning of a crisis and sometimes we remain involved in their care for months or years afterwards.

But Dog Desk Animal Action has never been only about responding to the dog immediately in front of us. We also want to understand why dogs are ending up in these situations in the first place, what systems are failing them and what can be done to change those systems.

That has taken our work into research, education, advocacy and public policy. We follow what is happening to stray and abandoned dogs around the world. We examine legislation and policy, look at the way animals move through systems, gather evidence and ask questions when what is happening on the ground does not match what we are being told.

Sometimes that means looking at one dog. Sometimes it means looking at thousands.

All of that work requires resources, and one of the reasons Dog Desk Shop matters so much to us is that it allows us to generate some of those resources through trade.

We don't believe the only conversation an animal welfare organisation should have with its supporters is one that begins with please donate. There has to be room for other ways of doing things.

If you need a birthday present, you are going to buy one somewhere. If you want something lovely for your home, something for your dog or a small treat for yourself, there are thousands of businesses competing for that purchase. Dog Desk Shop simply gives you another choice.

You can buy something you genuinely wanted to buy anyway and choose a business where the income generated has a social purpose behind it. We think that is rather powerful.

It also means you don't have to consider yourself a donor to make a difference. You might discover Dog Desk Shop because you love dogs. You might find us because somebody shared one of our products. You might arrive through a search engine looking for a present and have absolutely no idea who Dog Desk Animal Action is.

You are equally welcome.

We want people to shop with us because they like what we sell. We want you to find something you would happily have bought elsewhere and decide to buy it from us instead. The fact that there is something much bigger sitting behind the shop is an added reason to choose us.

And behind it there really is something much bigger.

There are dogs receiving help because people support Dog Desk Animal Action. There are dogs receiving veterinary care, food and practical support. There is work taking place to improve welfare, challenge poor practice and understand what is happening to stray and abandoned dogs in places where too few questions are being asked.

Trading helps us keep doing that.

No single purchase makes all of that possible. The strength of social enterprise comes from something much more ordinary. One person buys something, then somebody else does, and then somebody else. Thousands of completely ordinary purchases can collectively contribute towards something substantial.

That is why we don't measure the importance of an order by how much somebody spends. A £5 purchase is part of the same idea as a £50 purchase: people choosing to spend money with a business whose purpose they believe in.

So when you ask where the money goes when you shop with Dog Desk, the answer is ultimately much bigger than the shop.

It helps Dog Desk Animal Action continue its work. It helps us be there for dogs who need practical support. It helps us look beyond individual cases and ask why dogs are being failed. It helps us research, educate, advocate and push for change. And importantly, it allows us to generate income through our own work rather than relying entirely upon asking people to give it to us.

That is why Dog Desk Shop exists.

Beautiful Gifts That Give Back isn't simply a strapline. It is the whole idea.

You find something you love, you choose to buy it from us, and that choice helps us do more for dogs.