How Many HSUS Members Are There?

When we launched this project, we knew it would be a David-versus-Goliath battle.  With our modest budget we’ve been going toe-to-toe with a group that brings in over $100 million a year. We were also aware that HSUS claims to have millions of backers—12,101,729 “members and constituents,” according to its 2010 Annual Report. (Curiously, though, HSUS continued to publicly put the figure at 11 million throughout 2011 and even into 2012.)

We’ve long noted that HSUS’s actual membership appears to be far less than its self-claimed, nebulous “constituency”—HSUS states on its 2010 tax return that its All Animals magazine, included with a $25 membership, has a circulation of just 450,000. 

So how much support does HSUS really have? It seems even HSUS can’t make up its mind.

We recently obtained dozens of samples of HSUS direct mail, and several seem to tell different stories about how many members HSUS has. Here’s how HSUS’s stated membership and membership goals have changed through the years:

July 2004: HSUS was hoping to reach 2 million members

June 2005: HSUS had “more than 1,000,000” members (apparently, the 2004 drive didn’t quite work out)

April 2010: HSUS had 1.5 million members, was hoping to get to 2.5 million

July 2010: HSUS had 1.2 million members, was hoping to get to 2 million

Notice the huge disparity in just a 3-month period in 2010. Also noteworthy: HSUS’s campaign in 2004, the year Wayne Pacelle took over, sought to grow the organization to 2 million members. HSUS still had the same target six years later under Pacelle.

How does HSUS's membership stand today? In an issue of All Animals magazine from last summer—certainly an authoritative source—HSUS stated it had more than 1.1 million members. So it appears HSUS’s membership has actually shrunk since July 2010.

It would also mean that HSUS’s claims of an 11- or 12-million-strong “constituency” overstate HSUS’s actual membership ten-fold.

What’s likely happening is that anybody who’s taken a positive action towards HSUS is counted as a “constituent” and is subsequently deemed as a “backer” in press releases. This probably means anybody who has used HSUS’s “send your friend this page” or “send your legislator an email” function, even as a one-off gesture. Any Twitter followers, anyone who’s signed up for HSUS’s email (including us…), Facebook fans, and so forth.

Two can play that game. Our Facebook page has almost 400,000 fans, so we can start saying we’re “backed by almost half a million Americans” in our press releases. (The Center for Consumer Freedom, which runs HumaneWatch, is probably at more than 1,000,000 backers given its other popular projects such as PETAKillsAnimals.com.) Considering how HSUS’s budget dwarfs ours, compared to the size of HSUS’s “constituency,” we’d say we’re more than pulling our weight.

Humane Bites #286: “The Money Doesn’t Trickle Down Locally”

Clippings culled from all over the electronic news world. (E-mail submissions for next time.)

• Animal shelter fundraising guru acknowledges “humane confusion”
• South Dakota newspaper eviscerates HSUS state rankings
• No shock: HSUS doesn’t tell the whole truth about pig farming
• Next HSUS target: “Pocket pets” like chinchillas
• Featured Shelter: New Jersey’s Humane Society of Ocean City (Donate. Volunteer. Adopt.)

HSUS: Token Help for Pet Shelters?

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is not affiliated with local humane societies, but it raises money like it is one by showing misleading ads full of dogs and cats. In reality, a minor fraction of HSUS’s efforts involve pets, and HSUS only gives 1 percent of the money is raises to hands-on pet shelters.

HSUS retorts that it provides services to shelters besides grant money. Sure—at a cost. But what does HSUS do for free?

We have noticed that HSUS is involved with the Shelter Pet Project, a series of PSAs encouraging adopting from shelters—a good thing. The project is a collaborative effort between HSUS, the Ad Council, Maddie’s Fund, and a firm called Draftfcb.

But how much of the effort is the genesis of HSUS taking initiative for local humane societies? Not very much, it would seem. Here’s how the head of Maddie’s Fund described the origin of the campaign:

It started in Chicago in 2007 with Howard Draft, a founder of Draftfcb, one of the world’s largest communications agency networks. A longtime animal lover, Draft was a great supporter of PAWS Chicago, the city’s largest No Kill humane organization, and wondered how he could help the No Kill movement could go national. He was on the board of directors of the Ad Council, and it was his idea to get them involved.  It was a little unusual; they had never taken on a project that wasn’t human focused before, but the rest of the board approved it.

PAWS Chicago didn’t have a national outreach, so they thought of Maddie’s Fund, a family foundation established in 1999 to help fund the creation of a No Kill nation. The Ad Council also wanted to have an organization that worked with a greater number of shelters, and selected HSUS as a partner because they have a huge network. With our funding and their network and the Ad Council’s expertise and Draftfcb’s creative talent, it was clear we would have a great partnership.

Just to keep this straight: This wasn’t HSUS’s idea at all, and HSUS was the last one to the party. You might not guess that from the press releases that HSUS puts out.

So what exactly has HSUS done? The ads were made by Draftfcb. The Ad Council specializes in getting donated airtime for PSAs. Maddie’s Fund refers to donating “our funding”--$1.8 million over 4 years, to be precise. (The Ad Council charges about $2.5-3 million for a three-year national campaign. Assuming that's the case here, is HSUS paying the remainder? We can't tell. But it still wouldn't equal what Maddie's Fund is chipping in.)

Maddie’s Fund says HSUS donated “their network,” apparently referring to HSUS’s knowledge of pet shelters. You’d think Petfinder could have helped out in a similar way. (In fact, Petfinder is the basis for the Shelter Pet Project’s website search engine.) Petfinder is certainly less controversial—there are plenty of good folks in the sheltering and rescue community who don’t have the highest opinion of HSUS.

Meanwhile, HSUS is saying things like “We launched the Shelter Pet Project with Maddie’s Fund and the Ad Council.” Isn’t it the other way around? They launched it, and HSUS was a bit of a “me too”?

We’ll just leave you with this quote from the late Cleveland Amory, a former HSUS board member a while back who left to found the anti-hunting Fund for Animals, where a young Wayne Pacelle cut his teeth before moving to HSUS:

“I’m not an admirer of HSUS. They’ve always been primarily a direct-mail operation, and what’s known in animal rights circles as a credit-grabber.”

HumaneWatch Turns Two

This website has been around for two years, so it’s worth asking how we’re doing. Our executive director once told 60 Minutes, “If the other side thinks I’m all of these bad things, the one thing they must think is I’m effective, or they wouldn’t be bitchin’ about it so much.” It’s good, then, that one of our sources inside HSUS tells us CEO Wayne Pacelle is furious with this little watchdog project.

And why not? We’ve heard from scores of HSUS donors who had no idea that only 1% of their donations gets to pet shelters, or that HSUS feeds a massive pension plan and employs loads of lawyers and lobbyists. A quick look at the more than 100 complaints against HSUS pending before the Federal Trade Commission reveals dozens came from people who have given money to HSUS.

It was no shock, then, to see Pacelle bash us on his blog (yet again) last week. Pacelle was writing to brag that HSUS earned a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator. But it’s really not much to crow about: Charity Navigator isn’t a true “watchdog” and does little analysis, but simply takes tax returns at face value. As we’ve explained before, there are certain accounting tricks that classify fundraising costs as program costs.

So when a real watchdog like the American Institute of Philanthropy takes a hard look at HSUS’s tax return, it gives HSUS an “unsatisfactory” grade of “D.”

But another measure of success is in seeing how HSUS has changed its language. For example, Pacelle used to claim that HSUS “provides hands-on care to more animals than any other organization.” After we proved this ridiculous puffery wrong, Pacelle sang a new song: HSUS is “consistently at the top among hands-on services provided by any humane organization.” (Read: Among the best. And HSUS’s 2011 “direct care” figures are way down from the previous year.)

We’ve also seen Pacelle take a much more conciliatory approach toward giving to pet shelters. Usually his media replies to us consist of something along the lines of “screw them.” (We paraphrase, of course.) Now, we’ve seen at least a begrudging “please support your local animal shelter” line that Pacelle throws in.

Hey, it’s better than nothing.

The past year saw Congressmen demand a federal investigation of HSUS, a rebuke for HSUS in Missouri, and strong political statements in Nebraska. The grassroots movement is strong and growing against HSUS. Our Facebook page is almost at 400,000 fans, people we can communicate with daily.

Things are trending in the right direction, and we already have a few things up our sleeves for this year. It’s a fight for the long haul. And we’re looking forward to reaching three.

Humane Bites #285: The Unintended Consequences of Listening to HSUS

Clippings culled from all over the electronic news world. (E-mail submissions for next time.)

• More evidence that the HSUS-backed domestic horse slaughter ban reduced horse welfare
• HSUS “can’t comment” on reports that its former “poster child” horse is unwell
• Got a talk show? Want an HSUS Genesis Award nomination? Promote veganism.
• Featured Shelter: Alabama's Mobile SPCA (Donate. Volunteer. Adopt)

Another ALF Supporter in HSUS’s Leadership?

We’ve written before about the questionable pasts of HSUS leaders Michael Markarian and Paul Shapiro. Now meet Patrick Kwan, the New York state director for HSUS. He’s the founder of the Student Animal Rights Alliance, a group which demanded total animal “liberation,” and was apparently in high enough regard that PETA published a glowing interview with him.

In the 1990s, Kwan was an organizer for the so-called New York City Animal Defense League (ADL), a radical “direct action” group. According to the NYC ADL’s publication (page 8), Kwan was arrested on multiple occasions in 1997 and charged with inciting a riot (a felony), disorderly conduct, trespass, and resisting arrest. That’s quite a record. (Kwan is listed as a contributor and photographer for the publication.)

Additionally, Kwan was reportedly arrested in Northboro, Massachusetts in 1999 for malicious destruction of property, being a disorderly person, disturbing the peace, and threatening to commit a crime. The group he was with was protesting outside the private home of a medical researcher. The Telegram & Gazette reported:

According to court documents, Akita, in his 911 call to police, said the group was chanting, "Animal rights! Hang 'em high." Akita said the group then chanted what he considered to be a direct threat: "Their freedom, your death." …

Police said all the suspects wore dark clothing or camouflage. They allegedly vandalized Akita's mailbox and smashed the rear window of a car at his house. No one was injured. …

Arrested were Patrick Kwan,18, of New York…

Here’s something else important: The NYC ADL openly declared its full support of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), an officially recognized domestic terrorist group. By 1997, ALF activists had already been involved in multiple instances of arson and deploying incendiary devices. And the NYC ADL wrote that it “does, and always will, support the Animal Liberation Front.”

According to former NYC ADL co-founder Ryan Shapiro, the group “work[ed] closely” with the DC-based Compassion Over Killing, then run by his brother Paul Shapiro (now with HSUS), and that the ADL sought to “combine…aggressive militancy” with “strategic and tactical planning.”

Interesting, the ADL’s publication also includes an interview with John “J.P.” Goodwin, then with the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade and a former “spokesperson” for the North American Animal Liberation Front. Where’s Goodwin now? He’s at HSUS with Kwan. (Kwan’s bio also states that he was “an organizer” for CAFT. And Goodwin’s employment with HSUS apparently dates to 1997.)

Interestingly, Kwan’s Student Animal Rights Alliance founded the “Demand Liberation” conference. “Demand Liberation” counted the Fund for Animals, which merged with HSUS, as a sponsor. The “Demand Liberation” speakers list for 2003 looks like a list of future HSUS leaders: Paul Shapiro, Miyun Park, Michael Greger, and Matt Prescott.  The 2004 speakers list included HSUS VP Wayne Pacelle (now CEO).

Starting to see a trend? A lot of fringe activists in small, largely irrelevant groups have converged on one big, wealthy group called the Humane Society of the United States. Not that you could tell from HSUS’s fundraising appeals.

After NYC ADL dissolved, some of the activists went on to saucier endeavors. Sarahjane Blum and Ryan Shapiro were arrested for burglary and pled to misdemeanor trespassing. And separate chapters of the ADL also housed well-known radicals. The Los Angeles ADL was founded by Jerry Vlasak, who has endorsed the idea of murdering doctors who use animals in research. The Long Island ADL is described by fundamentalist No Compromise as a “grassroots animal liberation group.” And the New Jersey ADL was co-founded by Darius Fullmer, who later received a one-year prison sentence for violating the Animal Enterprise Protection Act.

We’d sure like to be a fly on the wall anytime the NYC ADL has a reunion.

Just to keep this straight: A guy who was an “organizer” for a group that openly supported terrorists and who helped organize “Liberation Now” conferences is now HSUS’s NY state director? We wonder what he sees in HSUS.

Less Meat is “Good News” to HSUS

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), not to be confused with a humane society pet shelter, puts up a façade that it actually supports “humanely raised” food products. In reality, HSUS is a vegan group—it just won’t say so because 99 percent of the public doesn’t have an ideological problem with eating cheese.

HSUS’s mask slips every now and then, however, such as when HSUS Food Policy Director Matt Prescott gleefully wrote last month that a decrease in meat consumption is “good news.” (Not surprisingly, Prescott’s piece was quickly tweeted by former PETA VP Bruce Friedrich.)

Prescott was writing to promote HSUS’s Meatless Monday campaign, which is named after a similar movement started by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health a few years back. That’s the joke, of course: HSUS wants Meatless Monday through Sunday. It just uses the limited “Monday” angle to appear moderate.

Here’s some food for thought: The goal of the Meatless Monday campaign is to, essentially, reduce meat consumption by 14 percent by getting people to eat 1/7^th of what they currently consume. Prescott reports that meat consumption is expected to have fallen by 12 percent this year compared to 2007.

So haven’t the goals of Meatless Monday basically been met? Will HSUS pack up its Meatless Monday campaign once the magic “14 percent” is hit?

Not a chance.

Remember, the goal of HSUS is to eliminate using animals for meat (or eggs, or dairy). An HSUS VP was very clear: “We don’t want any of these animals to be raised and killed.” Even if meat consumption dropped by 90 percent, Prescott and HSUS would still be saying “eat less meat” and still trying to bankrupt the few livestock farmers left. Yes—even the family farmers HSUS claims to favor. (And of course, they’d be cheering the “good news” of bacon’s demise all the way to the salad bar.)

HSUS deflects claims that it has a vegan agenda by saying that 95 percent of its members are not vegetarian. However, soon after Wayne Pacelle (HSUS’s first vegan CEO) took the reins in 2004, he reportedly created a no-animal-products-in-the-office policy. Additionally, HSUS has a corporate policy not to serve any food products from animals—even humanely raised organic products—at any HSUS events. Employees aren’t supposed to expense food products from animals, either.

So let’s get this straight: HSUS won’t recognize 95 percent of its members’ own values (who have no problem eating meat), much less the values professed in public by HSUS’s leaders to support family farmers. Pacelle is all too happy to speak of “so many small farmers who are honoring that standard of animal husbandry and properly caring for their animals.” Just don’t expect HSUS to put its money where its mouth is. Or Pacelle to put his mouth where his mouth is.

If HSUS actually believed there is such a thing as humane meat or ethical eggs, it would buy some. It doesn’t.

Prescott himself is a former PETA activist. And now this guy is HSUS’s “Food Policy Director”? That shouldn’t instill confidence in any farmer—much less the 99 percent of consumers who don’t share the HSUS/PETA values for eating.