But it's tofu-based, cruelty free gravy!
[The Humane Society of the United States] collected over $86 million in contributions, and spent more than $24 million on fundraising, including $4 million on professional fundraisers. Think about it: 28 cents of every dollar contributed to HSUS goes back out the door to raise more money. HSUS even paid a single “lockbox” company more than $4.2 million to count and process its cash hauls. We won’t comment on that company’s curious "ALF" initials (for Arizona Lockbox & Fulfillment).
And with all this cash flying around, it’s no surprise that 41 HSUS employees made at least $100,000 last year. All told, HSUS paid out over $30.9 million in salaries, wages, and other employee compensation.
Meanwhile...
HSUS gave only a little more than $450,000—that’s just half of one percent of its total budget—in grants to organizations providing hands-on care to dogs and cats. That’s less than 11 percent of what it paid “ALF” (see above) just to count its money.
Arrgh!
I hate when the good guys become the bad guys. Thanks for shining a light.
I worked the charity/fund-raising business for about 7 years. This is pretty SOP.
Sounds very much like the united way, the president of makes well over a million a year. go figure.
A very dirty scam is going on with the SPCA right in Vancouver BC. Another Animal weslfare org. called Animal Advocates rescues animals which are going to be put down and they care for them and try to find homes for them. This is headed by a woman in West Vancouver. She has uncoverdd things that really upset her concerning SOPCA's treatment of animals and she spoke and wrote about these "abuses".
SPCA has launched a lkegal campaign against the lady and animal advocates that has been going on for perhaps half a dozen years. The lady has had to put her own home up for collateral against her own legal bills fighting this case. She is all parepared for the next court appearance and then the SPCA gets a postphonement or else drops some of th4e charges they see she can disprove and the case goes on and on. It is only going on to tie the woman up and break her financially so she can't criticize the SPCA. DTAhe contributions made by the public to the SPCA are being spent by them to fight another animal rights group wherreas the animal advocates has no lose and ready cash so the lady pays her own way.
I have complained to the directors of SPCA and withdrawn my contribution but this is small beer to them as they go their own way. Look up animal Advocates and see for yourself what SPCA is trying to kill.
and dear friends, please have your humane society canvasser spayed or neutered.
This is one reason why I never give money to charities such as the SPCA or Ulnited Way. Their overhead for administration is out of whack. I give to charities which have minimal overhead.
Mike
I agree with Mike @ 1:34 and quite giving to these shysters, plus a number of others, a decade ago. Who was said "There is a sucker born every day"?
I only donate funds to real charities that I have researched.
I usually donate to the Sally Ann because I think most of the money goes to their cause not to administration. Am I correct or should I stop giving to them too??
I think this is one of the reasons guys like Bill Gates find it a full time job to give away money. W. Buffet said he knows how to make it and Bill knows how to give it away.
Charity is big business, like government, there was a time when all welfare and all hospitals were taken care of by tithes.
All my "charity" money goes to the NFA.
Actually, when I last checked, the United Way's admin ratio was below average:
http://www.unitedwaytoronto.com/aboutUs/main.php
However, I remember it being lower than that just a few years ago.
kickbacks.
older than civilization.
about 45 years ago there was a scandal how the united way honchos treated themselves to a lavish banquet at the end of a successful campaign. I could never get over the idea if I ever gave money to them, *that* money would go entirely to the back-slapping feast.
I gave over 4 grand to the tsunami relief but since then, the only charitable deductions I get is 20 bucks to the War Amps for those handy key tags.
human rapaciousness.
SallyAnn officers make over 50g a year so I guess you will have to figure it out for yourself.
School teachers make 50g a year, so not really out of line.
United Way has become to PC, that is why I dumped them.
There are good charities out there. I know because I run one: http://BCDigitalDivide.org No one can ever accuse us of improperly using donations because we don't accept them! Not one cent. And everyone is a volunteer.
Amongst the professional charities, I'm sure there are good ones too. But I've spoken with more than a few fellow private sector entrepreneurs who have dabbled in the not-for-profit (NFP) world because they legitimately wanted to give back. What I'm told is that too often many who work in such NFPs consider themselves to be modern-day martyrs. And thus, whatever amount of dysfunctional, unproductive messes might exist in an NFP, all are dismissed under the banner of "Well, at least we're doing God's work!"
I live in the South Granville area of Vancouver. It's known as a popular shopping district of clothing & shoe stores and coffee shops. As such, many of the well heeled crowd of Vancouver are known to frequent it. Realizing this, assorted charities send their smiling fundraisers out to solicit donations. I always wonder if these kids have any knowledge of where the money they raise actually goes? Do they even care?
I put the brakes on donating to the United Way when they scooped 12% off the top of a donation that I directed to be paid to a third party. Plus this year’s UW literature featured a lot of head-covered ladies that I have no wish to support.
Instead I made a number of good-sized donations to organizations directly. I just hope that most goes to the people who need it.
Plus at Christmas time I like to add money to the Sally Ann kettle whenever I can. This year they gave out neat travel-sized Kleenex packets - I should have donated more.
SallyAnn officers make over 50g a year so I guess you will have to figure it out for yourself.
Posted by: FREE
Got a link to back that up? The Salvation army officers I have met, make around minimum wage.
"About 30 Toronto Humane Society employees returned to work Tuesday for the first time since the animal shelter was raided last month and several senior staff members were charged with animal cruelty."
. . .
"The staff were allowed to return because the Toronto Humane Society obtained a court order last week saying it could resume operations."
. . .
'Bob Hambley, new president of the humane society, said Tuesday he is pleased the court recognized that the "unending occupation of the shelter had to stop."'
You gotta love lefties: brain dead from start to finish.
And I thought it was about the animals.
Not all charities are rotten but those that are do a great disservice to say the least.
Please make all donations payable to: The Not Stirred Enough Fund. I promise to use all monies for my personal greed and fulfillment.
On a serious note; I guess this blog topic is how dog breeders try to justify their puppy mill operations.
On a personal note; I've had 2 dogs over the last 30 years. Both were and are Humane Society mutts of no fixed breed that brought immeasurable joy to my family.
Only if by "serious", you mean "illiterate".
It's the same things with govt funds for women's groups and SOW and poverty groups. Most of the money goes to fund the middle class employees; only a very small percentage goes to the actual people needing help: the poor, the homeless, the women.
These charity groups are big businesses and exist for their employees. Same with unions which are big corporations whose executive live extremely well off the wages of the workers.
FREE: "I worked the charity/fund-raising business for about 7 years. This is pretty SOP [Standard Operating Procedure -- 'had to look that up!].
Overall, this is why it's a good idea to give to a church if you want to help the downtrodden: Almost 100% of your donation goes directly to feeding, clothing, and keeping the homeless warm/cool, depending on the time of year.
How is this possible?
Most of the labour is volunteered on the part of parishioners.
Churches, traditionally, use much less of people's donations as overhead even when one is giving to an international cause. You just have to be careful to which church/congregation you give, because some of them are pretty zealous left-wingers and give to questionable agencies. KAIROS is one such agency -- see Ezra's blog:
http://ezralevant.com/
The HSUS was given a 4 star rating by charity navigator for 4 years in a row, something only 7% of charities have recieved. In addition, you need both shelters and advocacy orgs working together to stop animal cruelty. You could have shelters with an unlimited budget, but that wouldn't stop animals from coming in - you need someone to help make the laws stronger, so that less animals are abused and abandoned in the first place. Anyone who has a question about what HSUS does should visit our CEO's blog, as it will show you daily what we are doing to fight animal cruelty. www.waynepacelle.com
The number one beneficiary of HSUS is the legal profession. They lobby for laws that will ultimately remove food from tables, and pets from your homes. The IRS figures speak for themselves, Sarah. Stop taking people for fools.
(Besides, what legitimate non-profit requires a "rapid response" Google-search team?)
I don't give much to charity because a few years ago, I too found that the great majority was skimmed off in "administration". My only donations go to the Salvation Army - they ARE a Church, and their officers are ordained. I have been in some rough pubs and the only respect most of the inhabitants had for anything were the SA collectors - because they KNEW that the SA were genuine.
...and if you have a company doing the solicitations for a charity they get half of whatever they collect (minimum).
Then from that dollar the half a buck slides thru the admins hand and well you see how it goes.
As to people on the street doing the "please give" routine they get at least half (of whatever they report to the boss) then the boss takes his cut before he sends it off to the charity.
The idea of the United Way was to have a "one stop shop" for charities. Supposedly to cut down the number of people coming to your door looking for donations. The problem with that is that under the UW umbrella are over a hundred groups and charities of which many are rather questionable. I prefer to pick which charities to support (or not). Personally, I get more out of knowing where my donation is going than handing it over to the Way. Just my opinion, btw and as batb donating your time volunteering is also an excellent option.
I agree with a lot of the other comments - stopped giving to both the Toronto Humane Society and the United Way over 25 years ago when I received a letter back thanking me for my donation but saying that they knew for sure that I could give more. How did they know? have they seen my income tax return. They get nothing from me, except the Sally Ann.
sarah: Yeah, no thanks.
I'll give to my state Humane Society if I want to do good works related to animal welfare.
HSUS is a bunch of "animal-rights" money-waste.
Not a cent.
(And "more laws" aren't going to keep people from abandoning animals, given that there's nothing like enough money to enforce the too-many-laws we have now.)
batb @ 4:10 I agree with you on this. Some church funds (do your research), War Amps, Sally Ann, a few historical societies are the organizations our family supports. KAIROS, MCC have been taken over by the anti-Israel and anti-USA crowd.
The crucial point with any charity is the percent of intake that actually goes out as expenditures on the cause(s) the charity is organized to deal with. The national HSUS is appalling, as noted; your local Humane Society is the outfit that actually gets out and saves animals. Give money to them, NEVER to the national operation. Don't give money on any level to the Red Cross -- it does good work, but it wastes so much it's a travesty. The Salvation Army, last time I checked, was top-ranked, turning out something like 86% of its receipts in actual expenditures toward the causes it backs, and the highest-paid officer in the Army (the equivalent of its CEO) made somewhere around $55,000 a year. Always check and recheck what your charities are doing, especially if you think about giving to a national organization; consider instead contributing to outfits in your locality.
I give primarily to the federal conservative party, the wildrose alliance, the Fraser institiute and the manning institute because they are all working in the right direction to benefit the most people.
Two good organizations to donate too are STARS (if you live in Alberta) and Samaritan's Purse (even though they are religious group the money you donate is actually spent on what they say it is).
Both of these organizations you can see your money in action... especially STARS which relies on volunteers and a huge amount of private donations.
Non-profits would be the Enrons of the century if they were ever actually audited.
Neil Thompson....spot on with your comments.
The SPCA should be made to answer for how they have gone after this lady.
The sickening thing is that even as they are having to remove more of their claims in their law suit, they can still drag it on and on, because of donations from the un-informed.
Animal Advocates have proven how much can be done to improve the life of a continually abused animal- often after the SPCA have turned their back on them.
And they do it with their own money or meager donations.
There are other local rescue groups,too, that thankfully function away from the grip of the SPCA.
I agree with Kate. Mark Levine is an animal lover & he loath's the humane society as a scam.
Ive heard him often enough tell people to give donations to breeders if they care about the animals. Not these Busy body money vacuums.
Add the Cancer society to that list of questionable orgs. Locally we had a guy go from being the chairman of a "steering committee" for an arena to suddenly becoming the President of the Cancer Society....who subsequently ran Terry Fox to death.......