Oct 07 2010
“Show Me” the Money
The Humane Society of the United States has its factory fundraising operation in full gear again. (Yes, yes ... we were shocked too.)
Wayne Pacelle sent out a desperate plea for money this week to HSUS "constituents" all across America. He says HSUS needs $200,000 to run ads in Missouri in support of its “Proposition B” ballot initiative.
We're telling Fox News viewers today that Prop B is a sucker bet that will take the idea of limiting how many animals a person can own and eventually apply it to farmers. But there's an even better reason to not help HSUS pay for its political advertising in Missouri: The group has more money than it needs already.
HSUS reported in its 2009 Annual Report that as of just nine months ago it had $27 million in “cash and cash equivalents” in the bank. What’s going on here? Two possibilities come to mind.
One option is that HSUS's leaders are just shameless money grubbers. (Never discount the obvious.)
Despite having tons of dough in various bank accounts, HSUS may not want to dip into its $151 million in investments. Or the $1.5 million parked in the "Ohioans for Humane Farms" account—money that's not needed for a ballot campaign in the Buckeye State (at least not this year).
The second possibility is that HSUS really is short on cash. A year before reporting (in December 2009) that it had $27 million in cash on hand, HSUS put that number for December 2008 at $50.7 million. In other words, HSUS went through nearly half its cash in 2009.
Has HSUS blown through the other half in 2010? Are more and more donors becoming former donors after they’ve learned the truth? Could HSUS’s reckless fundraising practices and its habit of outspending the White House on payroll finally have caught up with Wayne Pacelle?
Perhaps it’s a little of both. Stay tuned. We'll keep watching.
Related People
Related Organizations
Posted on 10/07/2010 at 10:44 AM by the HumaneWatch Team
Fundraising & Money • Gov't, Lobbying, Politics • Pets • (5) CommentsComments
I’m not an expert on these analyses, but I believe close scrutiny would reveal that the money HSUS spends on “animal care facilities” consists almost entirely of its maintenance of the 5-6 animal sanctuaries included in its acquisitions of other AR groups with profitable donor lists. These are NOT pet shelters, and they do not have any programs for placement of pets in need.
During the past six months or so HSUS has had a very consistent (creative, deceptive) response to the revelation that it contributes just 1/2 of 1% of its revenues to pet shelters. I don’t have a copy handy, but it goes something like “We spend $20 million a year on grants to local pet shelters and facilities for animals that have been abused, neglected, or abandoned.” These statements are usually signed by HSUS staffers Sarah and Hillary. The intended implication is that HSUS is giving multi-millions to the “humane society” in your neighborhood, but we know from looking at the grants data that this is misdirection. It’s perfectly in keeping with the other manipulations of fact that are the HSUS trademark.
Having read the news story, I wonder if that Chihuahua even came from a “puppy mill” or suffered like she claims. Frankly, I trust those people on nothing.
This Barbara women claim about Missouri being the “puppy mill capital” begs a question. Whose standards of what constitutes a “puppy mill” is being used? The HSUS standard seems to be any place that is big and successful.
I also like how she whines that “it’s simply untrue” that this is a step toward targeting livestock. If that is the case, why is the bill so all encompassing and why does it target the number of animals you can have (just because you have a large amount of animals does not mean you can’t take care of them) and those “time between” breeding rules could easily be turned on farmers.
I also might have taken her denial more seriously if her organization did not have a pattern of anti-farmer/livestock industry behavior.
unless a chihuahua is being held by someone.. and even then.. they can shake.. who knows why..most of then are not running around on grass or anything else as they are well known as LAP DOGS
Comments are moderated, and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive. Extremely lengthy comments and those that contain obscenities may be edited before they are posted.
Add a comment:
The H$U$ financial report claims $11.6 million spent on “animal care facilities” in 2009.
Are the 2009 IRS forms available showing grants made by H$U$ ?