Who do you donate to?
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
My own personal view is that I live my life in the best possible moral way I can, not because I believe in karma, or I think I’ll get a reward in Heaven, but because I believe that as decent, co-operative humans, sharing the same planet and the same resources, we owe it to one another to behave as well as we can.
The problem is that even if most of us do that, there appear to always be people who will take advantage of that situation to their own ends.
As you have seen, I really detest people who cheat other less cynical, more trusting people out of their money or their dignity or health. I actually don’t think these greedy, immoral people ever get their come-uppance via karma. I wish they did, but I don’t believe it. I think they go right on enjoying the profits of their schemes and don’t have the slightest empathy for the people who they’ve scammed. It is my view, then, that those of us who have the ability to understand these scams have an obligation to call such people to account.
I am sure that the ShooTag folks, for instance, think I have some kind of vendetta against them personally – but I don’t. My concern is with all such people. I don’t know much about the HSUS but I would be very curious to hear their explanations of how their money is spent. When you run big organizations like that, it is inevitable that a certain amount of the money that comes in as donations goes to running the business – it has to be that way, and anyone can understand that. But if the disparity is as great as it appears (99 million dollars is a LOT of money) then this company needs to make a very good accounting of what they’re doing with the donations of kind folks.
And if they are being dishonest, then you can see how that works – it means that anyone who has given money to HSUS is going to have their charitable instincts curbed. How sad is that? A group of greedy people who want to make some money have poisoned the well for so many others.
I really hope this is a misunderstanding, but as is often the case when I hear stories like this, my gut tells me that there’s truth in it.
I’m not a religious person as you know, but there is a very good piece of advice in Matthew: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’. It is attributed to Jesus, but I think we can safely say that he wasn’t the first to come up with this obviously sound piece of common sense. If we all lived our lives by it – ALL of us – we’d have a great deal fewer problems.
anaglyph
May 27, 2010 at 9:58 pm
I am so happy to see your post on the H$US. You were informative yet nonjudgmental. I used to donate to this group when I was younger and ignorant. I’d read their glossy magazine and lovely stories. Then they did an expose of canned hunting – a despicable practice where manly-men can shoot wildlife locked in a pen with no chance of escape. That article was written about 30 years ago if I remember correctly and canned hunting is still legal in the U.S. but what turned me against the H$U$ was the author. In order to get the story and pics he pretended to be pro canned hunting and calmly stood and watched the “hunter” shoot arrrows into a penned big horn sheep and watched it slowly die because (he said) it would have been counterproductive to expose himself. That seemed pretty sick to me – but the story probably garnered them a massive amount of $$$.
Wayne Pascelle is now the head of H$U$ and he was formerly employed by pEta – another non-profit run by a mentally unbalanced genius woman (Newkirk) who knows how to play on peoples’ vulnerabilities and sympathies to bring in the money. peTa is just another lobbying organization that gives very, very little to actually help animals. Ingrid boasts that she personally killed “about a thousand” shelter cats and dogs in her pre-petA days “to end their suffering”. People donate millions to this useless organization, celebrities let themselves be used for advertising, not knowing that Peta’s philosophy is that animals are better off dead than enslaved by humans. That means your spoiled and loved dogs and cats, my 4 retired show bull terriers (now fat lazy couch potatoes). Sorry this got long-winded, but I spent the time to research these two billion dollar organizations and they do NOTHING to actually help animals. People would be wise to give their money to their local animal shelters that are overwhelmed with discarded and lost pets and financially overwhelmed as well. Note – your LOCAL humane organizations usually have no affiliation with the H$US of the U.S. – totally separate entities.
Ellen
May 28, 2010 at 5:51 am
Thanks for sharing your experience. I have long been annoyed by and somewhat suspicious of paid phone solicitors but I had no idea what a huge percentage of the money they “raise” goes to them.
I wish it were easier to get the truth on how charitable organizations spend their money. I give much less then I used to because of stories like this.
As far as HSUS goes, I was never under the impression that their primary function was shelters or rescue. I thought they mainly lobbied for humane legislation and worked to raise public awareness on the need for such legislation. If they actually do that, then I think it is worth supporting.
Jill M
May 28, 2010 at 7:57 am
I think you are exactly correct and right on target with your comments. Folks don’t understand the difference between a charity and a non-profit or not-for-profit corporation. A charity is approved by the IRS and registered with each state where all finances are disclosed and available for view on-line. The charity may or may not be a corporation also but if it is then there will be substantial overhead most likely since someone wants to be paid for their time etc. I know because I run a IRS approved charity with NO payroll or overhead except for the annual gov’t renewal fees. It can be done.
Norman Pickett
May 28, 2010 at 9:36 am
I’ve also given over the years to HSUS. Such a shame when good ideas and intentions go so wrong from greed. Check out http://www.bestfriends.org I feel it’s one of the remaining places that started with a great idea and not only kept to it but improved it a hundred fold. I won’t expound their virtues as you will soon see for yourself if you really check them out. I’ve been a loyal contributer for quite a few years now. I feel that if you open your doors to the public and not only let them in but encourage them to come and see and visit and work alongside them it becomes much harder to be underhanded. Happy holiday!! P. S. Just love your column as well as adore your website!! I buy all my Antlerz and toys from you guys! Keep up the wonderful things you do!!
sylvia lazzaro
May 28, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Norman – you are absolutely correct in describing the difference between a charity and a non-profit. The problem with the H$U$ is that they give the impression that they use donated money to directly help animals when they do no such thing. I don’t believe their small donors would be so generous if they knew their money went to pay for salaries and billboard propaganda. Hope that didn’t come across as harsh – didn’t mean it that way, just tired and cranky!
Ellen
May 28, 2010 at 10:09 pm
HSUS is not the same as your local HS. They are not affiliated. The goals of HSUS are much different – they don’t spend much of their resources on immediate caretaking of homeless animals. That’s what our local HSs are supposed to do. HSUS focuses on long-term education, awareness, legislation, and relief of animal suffering. They focus not only on cats and dogs, but on many platforms: Farm animals, Cockfighting, Puppy mills, Seal slaughter, Horse slaughter, just to name a few. They are a huge organization, but they accomplish a lot, and they make the world a much better place for the animals. Not just in our own back yards, and not just for dogs – they focus on a much bigger picture.
Alma
May 30, 2010 at 11:48 pm
Hi Darcie et al. – I absolutely agree that people should research the organizations to which they donate and be sure the mission, programs, fiscal accountability, etc. are in line with their expectations. I say this as both an HSUS employee and someone who supports various animal welfare orgs and other charities. The HSUS is not affiliated with local animal shelters, and our budget is dedicated to big-picture animal protection issues – e.g. dogfighting, puppy mills, factory farming, horse slaughter, and Canada’s annual seal hunt. These are all things we highlight on our website, in our publications and action alerts, through press releases, and in all of the ways we communicate with the public.
Genuine charity watchdogs such as Charity Navigator are great resources for evaluating nonprofits. (The Center for Consumer Freedom is a corporate front group that’s been widely discredited by the mainstream press; check out sourcewatch.org or citizensforethics.org.) The HSUS has received Charity Navigator’s highest rating for four of the past five years; we currently have a three-star (out of four) rating.
You mentioned the Ringling lawsuit. The Fund for Animals, the ASPCA, and the Animal Welfare Institute were the original plaintiffs in this case in 2000. After nearly a decade of litigation, we are disappointed that the court dismissed this case on the technical issue of standing, and never even considered the key question of whether Ringling Bros. is violating the Endangered Species Act by keeping endangered Asian elephants in chains for the majority of their lives and beating them with sharp batons called bullhooks. Tom Rider joined the suit because he cares about elephants, and he travels the country in a broken-down VW van telling his story. We’re confident the claim that he is a paid plaintiff won’t stand up on appeal.
Hillary, HSUS
June 1, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Sorry to be long-winded, but I want to add one more thought. Animal shelters need the support of their communities, and I hope people donate generously to these organizations. In my experience, many HSUS supporters also contribute to their local shelter(s); it’s not an either-or proposition.
For another perspective about the Center for Consumer Freedom’s campaign against HSUS, check out this recent blog post by a shelter director with whom we’ve worked: http://richmondspca.typepad.com/richmond-spca-blog/2010/05/setting-the-record-straight.html.
Hillary, HSUS
June 1, 2010 at 4:59 pm
I had my eyes opened by a group here in TX. (SNIP name). They have done their homework (and I’ve checked on what they’ve said, too). HSUS is actually aligned closer to PETA in what their objectives are. (SNIP URLs) Donna
Donna, If you can send me the web site address for the pages that talk about HSUS, I’ll be happy to post those. Thanks. – Darcie
Donna C
June 2, 2010 at 11:06 pm