A complaint about animal charities

I hope I'm not out of line, but I'm wondering if anyone agrees with me.

I give to a lot of animal charities. It's no secret that I'll help animals before I'll help children, most of the time. There are a gazillion people more than ready to help kids in need, but not so many willing to do the same for animals. I'm finding myself wondering about where my money goes, though. I give to North Shore Animal League, The Humane Society, The World Wildlife thingy (can't remember the name) :rolleyes: and lately, they've been sending me a lot of stuff! Photo albums, umbrellas, cards, address labels, etc.

My worry is this...how much of my money goes to paying for this stuff? When I give my money to a charity, I want it to go toward the care of animals. Not to pay for more people to give more money to pay for umbrellas! How much of my money goes to food, medical care and other things I think I'm helping with?

What's a person supposed to do? :(

That's one reason I never donate money, but intead coupons, food, toys, etc.

I don't know about other SPCAs or humane societies, but I hate the BC SPCA, especially Kelowna's. All of their donation money goes towards the workers' salaries. Their yearly salary is $200,000!!! I wish I could get that much for doing absolutely nothing! They make the volunteers do all of the work while they sit around and breed the unaltered dogs they get.

In my opinion, animal charities are almost never what you think they are. Think about where PETA puts their money. It's alot the same with some other charities.

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Originally posted by PJ's Mom
There are a gazillion people more than ready to help kids in need, but not so many willing to do the same for animals.

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That is my EXACT reasoning for giving to animal charities over human charities. A lot of the time, I am looked at like I have another head growing out of my shoulders. I've even had someone say "Well it's a good thing not everyone thinks like you". The nerve!

I don't know what to say about your question though... I suppose you could call and ask. I'm currently helping my state goverment conduct a study on a possible new roadway in our state and I know people have complained about the literature they receive for it, saying it's expensive and fancy and being paid for out of the taxpayer's dollar - but the fact is, it isn't. So maybe if you called someone with the charities you give to, you'd find out it came from somewhere else...

The information on the amount of money spent on the animals as a percentage should be publicly available.

yeah. . you should request statistics on how much of your donations goes directly to the animals, they legally should tell you! The only thing I can think of, is that maybe the umbrellas/stickers/photo albums are donated?? I donate to the ASPCA, and they send photos of dogs "I sponsored". I don't necessarily believe that *I* sponsored those particular dogs, but it's good to know that the money goes to some animals in need. . pictures or not. I think they send the photos and cards because a lot of people don't feel it's worth donating without some sort of proof :p

I'm not silly enough to think that all of my money goes to the animals...even if they don't send me stuff I don't need. Administrative costs and things like that have to be taken into consideration. (but could also be kept to a minimum, I'm sure.)

But umbrellas? The Wildlife organization will send me a raincoat if I send them $15. Doesn't it cost $15 (or more) to make and ship a raincoat? :confused: So the animals would never benefit from my contribution. :(

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A lot of the time, I am looked at like I have another head growing out of my shoulders. I've even had someone say "Well it's a good thing not everyone thinks like you". The nerve!

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You too? I hate it! Most people know not to even go there with me anymore.
:rolleyes:

This is my main beef with animal charities too. I donate to organizations that I know are reputable...but I get the "guilt mail" and gifts just about every week!

It's terrible! I mean, they're preaching to the choir with this stuff, but I can really only afford to donate to each charity once a year...so sending me stuff every month is a waste of time and money. If they could just remind me once a year to send my donation, that would be just fine.

Just the cost of mailing so often has got to be a lot of money.

At one point, I even asked one of the charities (I think it was the ASPCA) to not send me the promotional stuff (labels, mugs, stuffed animals etc) because I wanted my money to go to the animals. They said ok, and surprisingly, I haven't gotten a lot of mail from them lately, which is good.

I think this is a VERY legitimate issue. I used to donate to various organizations, but after looking into it more and after some discussions my husband and I had about it, I now buy specific items and donate them to the local shelter instead, usually food, crates, blankets, and so on. I feel much more certain that my money is actually going to help the animals this way. You just know that all those free gifts and mail flyers take money to produce, and I simply don't trust that my donations are not going to pay for that stuff instead of where I want it to go. I do sometimes make cash donations to the local shelter too (where I adopted Tasha from), but I still feel more confident that my money is going to help animals than if I sent a check off to the ASPCA.

Thats why I think its more important to give to local rescues and charities. Most people know the biggies... but they always forget the little ones. And the little ones often do the most good, and it all goes directly back to the animals, since everyone is volunteer.

The cat rescue I volunteer for has periodical fund raisers, but I often wonder HOW they do it. I know they get reduced prices for the vet care and such, but I have had some fosters that had many many trips to the vet, and now my most recent foster will need surgery to remove her partial leg. Thats won't be cheap, even at discounted rates. I don't how we pay for all the medicines, vet care, cages, food, etc.

I know what you mean. I donate to the HS of US and they send me so much stuff - keychains, stuffed animals, umbrellas, notepads, address labels, picture frames and albums. It makes hubby mad and says I'm just buying their stuff. I do wonder how much goes for animals and how much goes to promotional items I don't need.

we stopped donating last year to our bird club because all of it goes to the nashville zoo's bird exhibits.

last year they had a hyacinth macaw from the nashville zoo visit the local news and his beak was soooo long it was under his neck feathers. clearly those birds are not being provided the right stuff for them to wear their beaks down, and no one working with them cares enough to trim their beak.


so from now on I'll donate prayers. not cash.

I donate to IMOM http://www.imom.org/

They are all volunteer. No one takes a salary. I've been working with them for over 2 years now and I've never received literature or SPAM. They don't spend money on that kind of stuff.

It has been very rewarding to get updates (online) on the pets who have been helped by the volunteers.

Lisa

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Originally posted by K9soul
I think this is a VERY legitimate issue. I used to donate to various organizations, but after looking into it more and after some discussions my husband and I had about it, I now buy specific items and donate them to the local shelter instead, usually food, crates, blankets, and so on. I feel much more certain that my money is actually going to help the animals this way. You just know that all those free gifts and mail flyers take money to produce, and I simply don't trust that my donations are not going to pay for that stuff instead of where I want it to go. I do sometimes make cash donations to the local shelter too (where I adopted Tasha from), but I still feel more confident that my money is going to help animals than if I sent a check off to the ASPCA.

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I agree with K9SOUL, if you donate "stuff" to a local shelter, you know that you really are helping. :p

www.charitynavigator.org

rates charities through a number of methods, and gives a breakdown of their ratings for each charity

I agree about just donating to the local shelters. I'm glad to hear about this. I would much rather give food, beds, etc and know I'm being of good use instead of throwing my money away. I also help animals before kids.

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Originally posted by PJ's Mom
You too? I hate it! Most people know not to even go there with me anymore.
:rolleyes:

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My friends and family know not to go there with me but believe it or not, the first person who ever said "It's a good thing not everyone thinks like you" was a solicitor for a charity! I was so appalled, I hung up on her.

Do any of you give money to Petsmart? I see that money bin at the front of the store and if I have cash, I usually put it all in. :rolleyes: Somehow I think it will be used better.

I guess my days of giving money to charities through the mail are over. I will take the advice of all of you and give to the local shelter. It gives me an excuse to drive over there and visit the doggies and kitties anyway. ;)

A coincidence I guess, but North Shore called me tonight asking if I would sponsor a dog or cat in need. I HATE to be bothered by someone asking for money on the phone. I told them that if they could send me literature, I'd think about it. They wanted me to make a pledge for a certain monthly amount. I hung up on her because my answer wasn't good enough. She wanted money right now. :(

Lady's Human, thank you for that link. It's very interesting! :)

Argh, North Shore. I work with a rescue in northern Westchester and NSAL shleps their animals from the Island all the way up there and competes with the local rescues.

I must be in the right place...I'd rather give to the animals than kids (I've never said that out loud and I still feel funny writing it down) because I know someone else will look out for them (the kids).

It is difficult deciding which charity to send your hard earned money. thankfully there are a couple of small local ones around me that could use some help. The big ones can fend for themselves!

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Originally posted by Lady's Human
www.charitynavigator.org

rates charities through a number of methods, and gives a breakdown of their ratings for each charity

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another good link ...

http://www.charitywatch.org/