The Dish by Darcie

I’m going to be gone for a few days. My brother and sister in law are here from Louisiana and we’re headed to northern Nebraska to see our sisters. Yeah! I love my family! Be back soon. – Darcie

I often take a few months off from the news and stick to things I like, like dogs and dog products. I’m a news junkie so it’s not an easy thing for me to do. I highly recommend it, though. It gives me peace of mind so I’ll continue my ways until I die most probably. Most of the news is meant to sensationalize, to terrify, to instill fear, and it’s about this person hurt that person anyway so I don’t miss much. Those things don’t enhance my life, I don’t miss them when I take the vacation from that part of our world. I did miss a few things this past few months. I feel great but wow, look what’s happening out there now!

The HSUS thing has been all over the web and in the news so you’ve all probably heard about it by now, I thought I’d talk about this for a minute.

Years and years ago when I was in college, naive, struggling to keep the rent paid and children fed, I found a job raising money for what I thought was a great cause. My pay was on commission, based entirely on the money I could raise, they said they could not tell me what my percentage would be “because it depends on how much you raise” and no ballpark figure of what my wages would be. One of the guys was making about $100 a week and they thought I’d probably come in around that figure, too. I entered into this blindly and I quit with my first paycheck. If I hadn’t had rent and little mouths to feed, I would have turned down that paycheck. It still haunts me just a little bit now and then. At this job I called people and explained the need for the donation. I was never turned down and people gave with open hearts. When my pay check was handed to me it was huge. I thought it was a mistake and I asked. It turned out that I “earned” 25% of all donations that I had procured (yes, this seems to be the right word to use in this case). The next 25% went to my immediate supervisor. The next 25% went to his supervisor. The rest settled in admin fees and “other salaries” and then what was left went to the actual project. I never could find out exactly what went to the actual need. It was the first and the last time that I trusted wholeheartedly in an employer and “charities”.

My particular, personal moral compass weighs heavily to the side of what I think is right. That job was a hard lesson for me: Know who you’re working for, get it all in writing before you start, and understand where the money goes. That job was my first shoulder rub with truly dishonest people.

I do give money to what I believe are good causes and I know that you do, too. Do you know where the money goes?

Paid positions exist in just about every non profit but how much are they paid? How much money does the founder get? What exactly is the percentage of my donation that goes to the cause I want to help? If you’re not asking these questions and donating blindly from the goodness of your heart, you might have some trouble with how your money gets spent. Non profit does not mean that someone doesn’t profit.

According to a New York reporter and humanewatch.org, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) may not be using your donations to take care of the animals like you thought they were. There was a full page ad about this in the USA Today dated yesterday, the page seems to have been paid for by humanewatch.org who is, according to info I found, The Center for Consumer Freedom in Washington. They appear to be a group who also solicits donations and according to the website, they are also a non profit.

They say in the article that HSUS gave only $425,371 to hands on pet shelters in 2008, out of a $99,664,400 budget. And that HSUS made $8,558,128 in pension contributions between 2004 and 2008. If that is true and the way to find out is ask for the accounting from them, it does not look good for the animals that people wanted to help with their donations. According to humanwatch.org, only $1 of every $200 donated goes to hands on pet shelters.

HSUS is being sued in federal court for racketeering, according to the stories. Here’s a definition of racketeering:

“Racketeering is the act of operating an illegal business or scheme in order to make a profit, perpetrated by a structured group. It is a broad category of criminal acts that includes bribery, sexual exploitation of children, and illegal gambling, among many others. Racketeering is closely associated with organized crime, since both are conducted by groups. Racketeering encompasses many criminal acts. It includes theft and fraud against businesses or individuals. “

HSUS has always been sue happy and right or wrong, that is their thing according to their website. They sue for this or for that. Right now they are suing Amazon for carrying dog fighting materials. They sued Ringling Brothers Circus several years ago. That seems to be what has led to Ringling Brothers bringing the racketeering effort to light.

I don’t find anything on the HSUS.org site in answer to these charges. Perhaps someone from there will comment here and tell us what’s up. They do claim that they are doing the right thing. Here’s their page of financial statements if you’d like to sift through. If they really are racketeering, it won’t help you much, that will be hidden somehow.

Sometimes a law suit is the only way to be protected or find protection and it’s not cheap but where does it end and should it end? I’m really curious what you think.

I don’t know the ins and outs of this argument. My post is only to start a discussion on the subject. Want to put in your two cents?

What goes around, comes around. If we don’t do the good thing every day, if we harm someone or an animal in any way, it’ll come back to us to pay someday.

Mark Twain once wrote that “the trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that aren’t so.”

I’m all for doing the right thing. Everyone has a different idea of what that right thing is. What do you think? – Darcie

I itch all over!! – Darcie