This is the Form 990 (tax return) filed by the Humane Society of the United States for the tax year 2010. It was filed with the IRS on September 2, 2010. At 146 pages, this tax return covers most financial aspects of HSUS, and provides accounting details unavailable anywhere else.

According to this tax return, less than 1 percent of the HSUS budget in 2010 consisted of grants to real "humane societies" and other hands-on pet shelter groups in the United States.

Here are some other highlights:

• Total revenue: $148.7 million
• Total expenses: $126.4 million
• Net assets as of December 31, 2009: $187.5 million
• Fundraising expenses: $24.3 million
• Salaries and benefits: $36.2 million
• Pension contributions: $2.6 million
• Total grants to other groups: $5.3 million
• Grants to ballot-initiative political front groups: $1.75 million
• Funds passed through to the HSUS-affiliated "Humane Society International": $1.7 million

 This is the Form 990 tax return that the HSUS Wildlife Land Trust filed with the IRS for fiscal year 2003.  

Total revenue: $4,109,230

Total expenses: $3,740,704

Net assets and end of year: $2,699,112

 This is the Form 990 tax return that the HSUS Wildlife Land Trust filed with the IRS for fiscal year 2002.  

Total revenue: $3,934,632

Total expenses: $3,569,430

Net assets and end of year: $2,330,586

 This is the Form 990 tax return that the HSUS Wildlife Land Trust filed with the IRS for fiscal year 2001.  

Total revenue: $3,541,995

Total expenses: $3,392,486

Net assets and end of year: $1,965,384

 This is the Form 990 tax return that the HSUS Wildlife Land Trust filed with the IRS for fiscal year 2000.  

Total revenue: $4,751,650

Total expenses: $4,625,261

Net assets and end of year: $1,815,875

 This is the Form 990 tax return that the HSUS Wildlife Land Trust filed with the IRS for fiscal year 1999.  

Total revenue: $3,216,953

Total expenses: $3,207,985

Net assets and end of year: $1,673,743

 This is the Form 990 tax return that the HSUS Wildlife Land Trust filed with the IRS for fiscal year 1998.  

Total revenue: $3,527,415

Total expenses: $3,326,811

Net assets and end of year: $1,313,819

On this page are links to the federal income tax returns filed by the Global Animal Partnership (GAP) from its inception in 2005 through the end of 2009.

GAP was originally founded by Whole Foods Market as the "Animal Compassion Foundation." After a later name-change, it added Humane Society of the United States CEO Wayne Pacelle to its board and hired HSUS Vice President away to be its Executive Director.

Because GAP was organized as a "private foundation," it files a tax return (Form 990-PF) that discloses where its funding comes from. Through the end of 2009, Whole Foods contributed $1.42 million to GAP, amounting to 77 percent of all reported donations. (Most of the remainder came via a $380,000 contribution in 2009 sent through a "donor-advised fund" that masked the money's source.

In 2010 Whole Foods announced that it would begin implementing a 5-tier animal welfare rating system administered by GAP.

This document contains a set of all of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests made by the Humane Society of the United States to the U.S. Department of Agriculture during 2010.

In total, HSUS made 17 requests, including inquiries for records involving predator control methods (M-44 and sodium fluoroacetate) and licensed animal breeders.

(Note: This file is 6.5 megabytes. We strongly recommend that you right-click on the "DOWNLOAD" link and select "Save Link As" to save the document to your computer instead of viewing it in your internet browser.)

This is the Form 990 (tax return) filed by the Humane Society of the United States for the tax year 1994. At 29 pages, this tax return covers most financial aspects of HSUS, and provides accounting details unavailable anywhere else.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Total revenue: $23.4 million
• Total expenses: $23.3 million
• Net assets as of December 31, 1993: $39.8 million
• Fundraising expenses: $2.0 million
• Salaries and benefits: $5.1 million
• Pension contributions: $559,329
• Total grants to other groups: $298,673
• Funds passed through to the HSUS-affiliated Humane Society International: $410,760

This is the Form 990 (tax return) filed by the Humane Society of the United States for the tax year 1993. At 25 pages, this tax return covers most financial aspects of HSUS, and provides accounting details unavailable anywhere else.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Total revenue: $23.9 million
• Total expenses: $20.4 million
• Net assets as of December 31, 1993: $39.7 million
• Fundraising expenses: $1.4 million
• Salaries and benefits: $4.7 million
• Pension contributions: $399,281
• Total grants to other groups: $205,804
• Funds passed through to the HSUS-affiliated Humane Society International: $212,091

This PDF contains a 98-page report from the "Shelter Evaluation Services" department of the Humane Society of the United States. It was delivered to the city of Carson City, Nevada, during November 2010. The local Nevada Appeal newspaper first reported on its findings on December 30, 2010.

According to the Appeal, the city's Health and Human Services Department, which oversees Animal Services, requested the evaluation last spring. The report is based on a three-day site visit conducted in July to tour the shelter's current operations, services, and programs. HSUS charges $25,000 for such evaluations.

The report criticizes the Carson City Animal Services (CCAS) facility for not watering its lawn; causing stray, feral, and otherwise unsocialized cats elevated stress levels through improper housing; insufficient housing for exotic animals, birds, and small mammals; "a complete absence of nurturing animal care and animal enrichment programs"; inadequate animal-handling training for staff members; flawed communication with off-site veterinarians; limited usable animal-housing space; and unhygienic cleaning practices. HSUS also recommended that CCAS "contact local teachers who may be interested in receiving KIND News," a monthly publication put out by HSUS's youth-education division.

The Carson City Board of Supervisors moved to accept most of HSUS's recommendations on December 7, 2010, shy of building a new facility.

“We asked for this to get an idea of how we're doing compared to other communities and to find out if we can be doing better,” Gail Radtke, Carson City's animal-services manager, told the Appeal.

However, given that the evaluation was based on a very short visit to the Carson City facilities and that HSUS doesn't operate or oversee any shelter of its own, it's unclear why the city paid HSUS for the report, especially amid a statewide budget deficit of up to $3 billion. The super-rich HSUS has yet to explain publicly why it shouldn't be providing evaluation reports like this one for free.

We believe reproducing this material constitutes a "fair use" as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this material for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

This PDF contains a 122-page report from the "Shelter Evaluation Services" department of the Humane Society of the United States. It was delivered to the city of Dallas, Texas during November 2010. The exact date is unknown, but The Dallas Morning News leaked a copy online on November 29. 

The report itself was commissioned in December 2009 by Dallas Animal Services, which agreed to pay HSUS $25,000 for the evaluation. HSUS staff spent three days on-site in April 2010, basing their report on their observations in this very short period of time. HSUS reportedly prepared a similarly expensive report for the same organization in 2001.

The actual funds for the report's completion were provided by an organization called the Metroplex Animal Coalition (MAC), which describes itself as being "focused on spay and neuter assistance ONLY" (as opposed to live-animal adoptions). However, since MAC's money comes from dues paid by member groups, and most of its members are themselves animal shelters, it stands to reason that the HSUS report was funded (however indirectly) by private shelters that HSUS should be financially supporting—not the other way around. MAC's Advisory Board includes one member (out of five) who works for HSUS. Its Secretary/Treasurer chaired a 2010 Dallas fundraising gala for HSUS. 

The report itself criticizes Dallas Animal Services for the way it cares for cats; the lack of stimulation and exercise its dogs receive; flawed communication with veterinarians; a lack of hygienic animal handling; a failure to provide significant space to care for horses and other livestock; and a feeling of "alienation" among its staff. HSUS also complained about how the Dallas City Council, whose interests lie in getting animals off the streets, crosses swords with the animal shelter management's goal of reducing the number of animals that are euthanized every year.

Contained on the report's last page, as a way to establish HSUS's bona fides, is the false claim that HSUS is "backed by 11 million Americans, or one in every 28."

The super-rich HSUS has yet to explain publicly why it shouldn't be providing evaluation reports like this one for free.

We believe reproducing this material constitutes a "fair use" as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this material for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

This is the Form 990 (tax return) filed by the Humane Society of the United States for the tax year 2009. It was filed with the IRS on September 2, 2010. At 114 pages, this tax return covers most financial aspects of HSUS, and provides accounting details unavailable anywhere else.

According to this tax return, less than 1 percent of the HSUS budget in 2009 consisted of grants to real "humane societies" and other hands-on pet shelter groups in the United States.

Here are some other highlights:

• Total revenue: $101.6 million
• Total expenses: $121.7 million
• Net assets as of December 31, 2009: $160.5 million
• Fundraising expenses: $22.3 million (23 percent of every dollar raised)
• Salaries and benefits: $35.8 million
• Pension contributions: $2.6 million
• Total grants to other groups: $6.7 million
• Grants to ballot-initiative political front groups: $1.95 million
• Funds passed through to the HSUS-affiliated "Humane Society International": $2.7 million

This is the published program for the US Department of Agriculture's "Future Trends in Animal Agriculture" symposium on September 22, 2010.