This is a sample of fundraising appeals sent by the Humane Society of the United States in 2009 and 2010.

Most of the appeals use language that is dog- and cat-centric, such as:

[T]he only way we can make these critical life-saving programs work and help save the lives of puppies and kittens in peril is with the continued support of our very best members such as you.

However, HSUS doesn't run a single pet shelter, is not affiliated with any local-level "humane societies," and shared less than 1 percent of its budget with pet shelters in 2009.

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.

Download Select HSUS Fundraising Letters from 2009 and 2010

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 shows the schedule of outgoing grants filed by HSUS along with its 2009 federal income tax return. Entries marked with a highlighter indicate grants to organizations whose function includes the hands-on rescue, care, and adoption of dogs and cats. (Horse and rabbit sanctuaries were also included.)

Download 2009 HSUS Outgoing Grants Schedule

This is a copy of the Form 990-T (Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Return) that HSUS filed for fiscal year 2009. According to the IRS, "Any domestic or foreign organization exempt under section 501(a) or section 529(a) must file Form 990-T if it has gross income from a regularly carried on unrelated trade or business, of $1,000 or more."

For 2009 HSUS reported $21,824 net income from advertising. After deductions, its total unrelated business taxable income was -$73,233.

Download 2009 HSUS Form 990-T

This document contains a Consolidated Financial Report for the Humane Society of the United States, dated on December 31, 2009.

It was prepared by the public accounting firm of McGladrey & Pullen. HSUS filed it with the West Virginia Secretary of State's office, as part of the process of renewing a fundraising license for the Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust. It's now a part of the public record.

The Report discloses that the HSUS family of organizations had a combined net worth of $191.3 million as of 12/31/2009, including $148 million in investments ($66 million of which are in hedge funds). Its land and buildings are worth $17.4 million. It spent $34.2 million on salaries and employee benefits. Its pension funds are valued at $18.5 million (which is still $8.8 million less than the $27.3 million in obligations it owes its employees who will retire in the future..

HSUS's auditors report that the organization and its affiliates collectively spent $25.3 million on fundraising expenses (just 18.8% of their $134 million in total expenses). But Animal People News, the internal watchdog newspaper of the animal rights movement, has performed its own analysis that concluded HSUS spends fully 50% of every dollar on fundraising expenses.

Download HSUS Consolidated Financial Statements, dated December 31, 2009

 This is the Form 990 tax return that the Humane Society Legislative Fund filed with the IRS for fiscal year 2009.  

Total revenue: $3,252,737

Total expenses: $2,739,981

Net assets and end of year: $1,295,115

Download 2009 HSLF Form 990

 This is the Form 990 tax return that the HSUS Wildlife Land Trust filed with the IRS for fiscal year 2009.  

Total revenue: $7,024,668

Total expenses: $6,477,560

Net assets and end of year: $4,806,637

Download 2009 Wildlife Land Trust Form 990

 This is the Form 990 tax return that Humane Society International filed with the IRS for fiscal year 2009.  

Total revenue: $19,891,629

Total expenses: $7,011,414

Net assets and end of year: $1,164,314

Download 2009 HSI Form 990

 This is the Form 990 tax return that the Fund for Animals filed with the IRS for fiscal year 2009.  

Total revenue: $7,404,911

Total expenses: $5,123,265

Net assets and end of year: $16,568,141

Download 2009 Fund for Animals Form 990

 This is the Form 990 tax return that the Doris Day Animal League filed with the IRS for fiscal year 2009.  

Total revenue: $3,151,698

Total expenses: $2,508,034

Net assets and end of year: $2,153,743

Download 2009 DDAL Form 990

 This is the Form 990 tax return that the Humane Society University filed with the IRS for fiscal year 2009.  

Total revenue: $182,847

Total expenses: $682,829

Net assets and end of year: $499,982

Download 2009 Humane Society University Form 990

This is the annual report that HSUS published to describe its program priorities in 2009. It contains a message from president Wayne Pacelle to supporters, testimonials from a selection of HSUS employees, and a summary of its program accomplishments and consolidated financial data.

2009 highlights included 121 state laws enacted to regulate animal treatment, a European Union ban on commercial seal products from Canada, undercover investigations at a cattle ranch and a medical research lab, an expansion of the End Dogfighting program in Atlanta, protests against commercial dog breeding operations, a program to protect wildlife from hunters, and broadening the reach of Humane Society International.

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.

Download 2009 HSUS Annual Report

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

Download 2009 HSUS Form 990

This two-page letter, titled "From the desk of Wayne Pacelle," was sent to HSUS contributors in 2009 in an attempt to induce them to renew their memberships.

The letter's language seems to indicate HSUS's full awareness that most of its members are primarily (or even exclusively) interested in animal welfare issues pertaining to dogs and cats. This is how Pacelle ends his letter (emphasis added):

I know that you are a person who is appalled and outraged about animal cruelty, abuse and neglect, and the terrible things that happen to puppies, kittens, dogs, cats and other pets. That's why you joined The HSUS in the first place!

So stay with us — please. We need each other.

It will take only a few minutes to renew your membership for 2009. By doing so, you'll be helping us continue to speak out for the animals who cannot speak for themselves.

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.

Download 2009 HSUS Membership Renewal Letter

In March 2009, a group of plaintiffs organized by the Humane Society of the United States filed a class-action lawsuit against the Petland pet-store chain and one of its pet suppliers (The Hunte corporation), alleging that Petland had orchestrated a scheme to defraud its customers by selling sick puppies that were raised in "puppy mills" and other environments where veterinary illnesses are pervasive.

Part of the complaint, which was drafted by HSUS lawyers, alleged violations of the RICO statute (racketeering).

In August of that same year, a federal judge in Arizona dismissed the entire lawsuit, but allowed the plaintiffs an opportunity to re-file the case. This document is the order granting the defendants' motion for dismissal.

The case was later re-filed and most of its claims were dismissed a second time.

Download HSUS Lawsuit Against Petland: Dismissed in its Entirety (the first time)

This is a copy of the lawsuit that Norman Pang filed against HSUS employees, stemming from a rescue operation at his animal shelter.

Realizing that he could not take care of 400 animals after his wife passed away, Pang accepted an offer from HSUS and the Oahu SPCA to transfer them elsewhere. Even though the purpose of Pang's shelter was to care for any animal—no matter how sickly—HSUS took the opportunity to film the rescue. It posted video footage on its website and accused Pang of animal cruelty.

But the Hawaiian prosecutor found no sign of abuse. Pang sued HSUS employees on September 11, 2009 for defaming him and depriving him of his rights. Among other things, Pang specifically alleges:

HHS [the Hawaiian Humane Society] and HSUS both launched a media campaign of vilification against [Pang], accusing him of animal abuse and neglect and other unsupportable acts of criminal conduct.

The case is filed in United States District Court, District of Hawaii (case number CV09-00434). HSUS staffers Scotlund Haisley, Inga Gibson, and Rowdy Shaw are named as defendants.

Download Norman Pang Lawsuit Against HSUS Employees

This is the "Pennies For Charity Report from the Charities Bureau of the New York state Attorney General's office. It consists of statistics covering telemarketing campaigns conducted on behalf of charitable organizations in New York during 2008.

According to this report, a professional telemarketing company called The Share Group raised $1,950,521 during 2008 on behalf of the Humane Society of the United States, but HSUS itself only collected $103,141 of this total (a "net" yield of just 5.29 percent).

Download 2009 “Pennies For Charity” Report, New York Attorney General

This is the Humane Society Legislative Fund's list of 131 members of the U.S. Congress given "Humane Legislator" awards in March 2010.

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.

Download 2009 “Humane Legislator” Awardees

This is a ruling issued by U.S. District Court judge Emmitt Sullivan in the case of ASPCA et al v. Feld Entertainment. It was issued on December 30, 2009.

Feld is the company that runs the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

The plaintiffs included the Fund for Animals (FFA, which later merged with HSUS); the Animal Protection Institute (API); the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), and a former Feld employee named Tom Rider (who worked for Feld between 1997 and 1999, largely cleaning up after elephants).

Rider, the animal rights groups' star witness, was declared "not a credible witness" by the Court. Judge Sullivan wrote that "Mr. Rider often gave conflicting answers and was repeatedly impeached on the witness stand."

Sullivan also found that the plaintiffs had paid Rider more than $190,000 "to secure [his] initial and continuing participation as a plaintiff." He wrote that Rider had lied under oath about the money he was being paid for his testimony.

Most of the payments to Rider were made through the plaintiff's own attorneys (the DC firm of Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal) and through a "Wildlife Advocacy Project" (WAP) organization which those attorneys used as a pass-through device. The plaintiffs even got a tax deduction for paying their witness, since WAP was a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

According to Sullivan's ruling, the FFA paid Rider $4,400 directly, and "donated" another $11,500 to the Wildlife Advocacy Project with the knowledge that it would end up in Rider's pockets. Michael Markarian, the FFA President who is now HSUS's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, played dumb in his own testimony. But Judge Sullivan wrote:

While FFA/HSUS (Mr. Markarian) testified that it was not certain whether WAP used its “donations” for other purposes as well, this testimony is undermined by the documents underlying FFA/HSUS’s “donations,” which indicate that the money was specifically for use in connection with this litigation. FFA/HSUS’s testimony also is questionable given that in 2003, plaintiffs’ counsel, Ms. Meyer, specifically sent an email to the representatives of the organizational plaintiffs, including Mr. Markarian, requesting funds to support Mr. Rider’s advocacy efforts regarding the elephants and the lawsuit, and expressly suggesting that the funds for Mr. Rider could be contributed to WAP so that they would be tax deductible.

The dismissal of this lawsuit ended nine years of pointless animal rights litigation against the Ringling circus, during which time millions of dollars in needless legal fees were spent on both sides.

Download Memorandum Opinion, ASPCA et al v. Feld Entertainment, 30 December 2009

This electronic invitation went out in December 2009 from the HSUS Hollywood Office to numerous Los Angeles-based entertainment celebrities. It shows the street address for the HSUS Hollywood Office as well as a photo of its building. Pets were not invited.

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.

Download 2009 HSUS Hollywood Office Open House Invitation