Pet Charities: Is your money supporting a good cause? Not in the case of the RSPCA.

The RSPCA is a charity for pets in the UK. You might be interested in this article. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...d-dog.html

In 2010, £115 million was donated to the RSPCA. That is an incredible amount of money. Yet, according to this article, so many animals have been neglected, abused, and sometimes... killed. Unfortunately, the police won't do much to help when the RSPCA can't be bothered, and, guess what? They refer you to the RSPCA.

A commenter mentioned that all of the money goes to the head offices, who are probably rolling in cash. I imagine this is true. Whereas the people on the ground, some of which who are working hard, are not getting paid a penny. Therefore it seems the head offices aren't allocating enough volunteers to regions of the UK where they are needed. It's quite disgusting, really. There have been various other controversial reports about other charities like Oxfam.

In any case, do you question any other animal charities in your country about where your money goes?

This is a heavily loaded question in the US. The most misleading organization in the U.S. is the Humane Society of the United States, HSUS. They are a national group that primarily lobbies in Washington D.C. for various legal reforms. They have absolutely no affiliation with any animal shelter in the country. They play all of those ads on TV with the sick and injured dogs and cats, and make it seem like that is where your donation will go. When in fact, if I remember correctly, the last year there tax statements were analyzed, less than 4/5ths of 1 percent went to any form of shelter, animal care,or rehabilitation. That plus many of the people in high positions at the HSUS are former higher level members of the People for the Ethical TREATMENT of Animals, (PETA). Which openly opposes the use of animals for companions or pets. It appears that they are the "pretty face" for the animal liberation/animal rights front, though that is next to impossible to prove. They have traded a number of employees over the years, and there are numerous subsidiary companies underneath them, so it is hard to even know where the money goes. I don't remember all of the exact numbers, but I think they put more than 10x the amount of money into their pension system than went to shelters, have dozens of people who make more money each than goes to any animals, etc... After the Michael Vick/dog fighting fiasco, there was a bit on their website encouraging donations that would go directly to helping the rescued dogs. But the HSUS had nothing to do with caring for the dogs themselves, ad were actually already on the record with an opinion that the animals should be euthanized.

I really have nothing against different ideas, and open debate, but playing ads on television, clearly aimed at animal lovers and animal owners, that generate hundreds of millions in tax free donations, that are never directly used to help any of the animals shown, in any shelters, with the funds being all but impossible to track, is pretty despicable. And depending where all of this money filters down to, it is possible that animal and pet lovers are actually funding lobbyists that are trying to ban pet ownership altogether. I am actually amazed they can continue on as a "charitable organization", legally speaking.

Do some internet searches on the subject, there is allot of info out there. They claim they are for companion pet ownership, but any time any pet comes under attack, they are all for banning it.

All of this has nothing to do with any of the local humane societies in the US. They have absolutely nothing to do with the HSUS. If you want to help out a shelter, go there, or call, and donate directly. Most will happily give you a tax deductible receipt if that is your purpose, or just leave the money if you wish. At least then you can be fairly certain that the money is going towards funding the shelter.

And, I really think you should research any charity before donating. At last a little bit. I could set up a .org website, claiming to help the elderly with day to day needs, take 1 old lady shopping a week, and take my family to Aruba for a month.

That's the problem with the large charities. A large portion of the donations go towards ads, promotion materials and the pockets of the high muckity mucks. You see all of the ads on TV or in print but the great majority of people never research in to where their donations really go.

Agree with Fishbone in if you want to donate to a chairty, go to their office or local shelter and give them your donation. You can see what the donations go towards. Whether building a new wing for kennels or to buy new equipment they need, the money is put to use for the good of the animals.