The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) recently published an online article
about the work of a girl in northeast Ohio. 12 year old Harley Helmam has collected
thousands of supplies such as blankets, towels, toys, and food for her local shelters
through her Blankets Fur Beasties group.
If you would like to help shelter animals in your area, Harley
has this advice:
"It’s simple! Just go to
your local animal shelter’s website.
They usually have a wish list of things that
they need. Then start collecting!"
That’s great advice Harley, and you've provided an excellent example for the HSUS !
I would like to add that if your budget does not include being able to donate financially to a local
animal rescue or shelter, they would welcome donations of your valuable time !
(handing out flyers, working at the bake sale, taking pictures of animals available for adoption,
donating time at the shelter to help with maintenance or animal care, and more )
Only 1 penny of every dollar donated to HSUS is given to a
local pet shelter !
HSUS gave just $500 to support pet sheltering in the Buckeye State in 2012.
The nonprofit watchdog Charity Watch finds tha HSUS spends as much as 45% of its
annual budget on overhead, earning it a "C-" grade. Animal Peoples's Watchdog Report
pegs HSUS's overhead spending at 55% of it's budget...For a group that claims that 1 in 28
American's donate to it's organization and has a budget of well over $100 million, that adds
up to a lot of wasteful spending!
Harley's advice is a message I'd like to pass on to all HSUS donors.
As HSUS steps up their annual
fundraising drives with sad pictures of dogs and cats looking up at you pleadingly,
wouldn't it feel good to
know that your donations were actually going to help animals???
Instead a majoruity of your contributions pay
for a slick advertising campaign and powerful lobbyists,
not to mention the overly paid executives of the Humane Society itself !
Preying on peoples emotions
and using their skillfully crafted propaganda to hide the real truth is advertising at its "best"!
The following information is from the HSUS website :
How is The HSUS affiliated with my local humane society?
Local humane societies and SPCAs are independent entities and are not run by The HSUS
or any other national entity.
What is The HSUS' mission?
The HSUS' mission statement is "Celebrating Animals, Confronting Cruelty." We strive to create a
humane and sustainable world for all animals – a world that will also benefit people. We seek
to forge a lasting and comprehensive change in human consciousness of and behavior toward all
animals in order to prevent animal cruelty, exploitation, and neglect, and to protect wild
habitats and the entire community of life.
While it all "sounds good on paper" , I find their mission statement
to be far reaching and a bit vague... and all the expensive advertising, lobbying, etc. is why so
little of each of donation goes directly to help an animal. While the HSUS does help sponsor offer
educational programs and events like spay/nueter clinics and mobile disaster rescue help, please
don't judge thisbook by it's carefully executed cover !
* I need to acknowledge www.humanewatch.org as an excellent reference source for this post
No comments:
Post a Comment