PRESS RELEASE: Humane Society of the United States Still Stiffing Nation’s Pet Shelters

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Watchdog Report: Humane Society of the United States Still Stiffing Nation’s Pet Shelters
HumaneWatch.org Analysis Finds HSUS Continues to Share Less than One Percent with Hands-on Animal Shelters

Read the full report here (PDF).

Washington, DC – Today HumaneWatch.org, a project of the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), released its second 50-state report, “Not Your Local Humane Society,” highlighting the failure of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to significantly share its multi-million dollar budget with local hands-on animal shelters.

HSUS’s advertisements employ the images of downtrodden dogs and cats to tug at the heart strings and wallets of America’s pet lovers. But CCF’s new analysis finds HSUS is a “Humane Society” in name only, sharing a meager $527,566, or 0.4 percent of its $120 million budget with sheltering organizations nationwide in 2010. In the same year, HSUS spent an astounding $47 million in fundraising-related costs (37 percent of its total budget) and parked $32 million in hedge funds.

“Not Your Local Humane Society” includes an accounting of all grants to pet shelters made by HSUS during the years 2008, 2009, and 2010. The data is drawn directly from the animal rights group’s tax returns.

“The Humane Society of the United States would like Americans to believe it provides significant monetary support to local hands-on shelters, but their financial records tell an inconvenient truth,” said Rick Berman, CCF’s executive director. “As local shelters struggle to keep their doors open, HSUS is raising millions of dollars a month from unwitting donors to bankroll an animal rights agenda and fund a huge staff of lawyers and lobbyists, a bloated executive pension plan, and exorbitant fundraising expenses. Meanwhile, HSUS doesn't run a single shelter for the abandoned dogs and cats that are so plentiful in its ads.”

HSUS raised a staggering $131 million in 2010, mostly from Americans who believed their donations would filter down to local pet shelters. According to a recent national poll, over 71% of Americans mistakenly believe that HSUS is a pet-shelter umbrella group, while 59 percent incorrectly believe HSUS contributes most of its money to local hands-on pet-care groups.In August, HSUS earned a “D” grade from the American Institute of Philanthropy, a respected charity watchdog that analyzes how well charities use donations.

“With over $215 million in assets HSUS could clearly afford to live up to its undeserved reputation as a major contributor to local shelters,” continued Berman. “By continuing to drain precious resources from local shelters, HSUS is only proving it’s not a true humane society.”

For more information go to www.HumaneWatch.org or contact Allison Miller at 202-463-7112

The Center for Consumer Freedom is a nonprofit coalition supported by restaurants, food companies, and consumers, working together to promote personal responsibility and protect consumer choices.

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PRESS RELEASE: Consumer Group Files Attorney General Complaint Against HSUS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Consumer Group Files Attorney General Complaint Against Humane Society of the United States
Deceptive “Doggie-Dollar” Fundraising Fuels Call to Action

Washington, DC – Today the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) sent a letter to the office of California Attorney General Kamala Harris requesting that the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) be included in any possible investigation into deceptive fundraising in the Golden State. In May, the State Humane Association of California, which represents more than 100 animal welfare and control organizations in the state, filed a complaint with the Attorney General alleging unfair and deceptive fundraising by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

The State Humane Association of California alleges that “ASPCA’s unfair and deceptive fundraising practices harm local humane societies and SPCAs by capitalizing on and reinforcing the widely-held mistaken belief that the ASPCA is a parent or umbrella organization to the thousands of humane societies and SPCAs across the country.” CCF believes that these complaints also apply to the Humane Society of the United States.

“HSUS relies on and utilizes the popular misperception that it is a pet-shelter umbrella group, or that it is affiliated with local humane societies,” stated CCF executive director Rick Berman. “While its ads consist almost exclusively of dogs and cats, HSUS doesn’t run a single shelter for abused and abandoned cats and dogs. HSUS’s tactics suck dollars out of communities and away from local pet shelters.”

According to recent national polling, 71 percent of Americans mistakenly believe that HSUS is a pet-shelter umbrella group, while 59 percent incorrectly believe HSUS contributes most of its money to local hands-on pet-care groups.

“This deception has gone on for too long,” continued Berman. “It’s high time for the Attorney General to rein in HSUS’s fundraising tactics and require the organization to divulge the truth in its ads: That HSUS is not a pet-sheltering organization or 'humane society' umbrella group, and that less than 1 percent of its budget is sent to pet shelters.”

A copy of the letter can be read at http://www.humanewatch.org/images/uploads/CaliforniaAGLetter.pdf

PRESS RELEASE: Watchdog Group Urges Humane Association to Expand Attorney General Complaint

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Watchdog Group Urges Humane Association to Expand Attorney General Complaint Against the ASPCA

Humane Organization Should Also Target HSUS For Deceptive Fundraising

Today the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) is calling on the State Humane Association of California to expand a May 3 deceptive-fundraising complaint it filed with Attorney General Kamala Harris against the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Through its “HumaneWatch” project (www.HumaneWatch.org), CCF has uncovered evidence that the fundraising practices of the wealthy Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) are equally unethical.

The Humane Association alleges that the ASPCA’s deceptive ads drain animal lovers’ money out of communities without informing donors that only a tiny fraction will return to California-based SPCAs and other pet shelters.

“Targeting deceptive animal fundraising campaigns is a great idea, but it shouldn’t stop with the ASPCA,” said CCF Executive Director Rick Berman. “The ASPCA at least runs one pet shelter. HSUS is just a mammoth lobbying outfit that shares less than 1 percent of its money with hands-on pet shelters. But the pictures in HSUS’s fundraising ads are practically 100 percent cats and dogs.”