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A Mary T. Hoffman Commentary from All-Creatures.org

 

"Joyful Curmudgeon" An oxymoron?
No! I see all the beauty of God's creation and I'm joyful.  At the same time, I see all the suffering and corruption going on in the world, and feel called to help expose and end it so that we may have true peace and compassion.

 


Donating Wisely – 24 April 2008
By Mary T. Hoffman

If you’re an animal advocate who really cares abut nonhuman animals, sooner or later (hopefully sooner than later!) you realize that all organizations that profess to be for animals are not necessarily what they claim to be. For example, many people don’t realize that they are donating to environmental groups that support hunting or to large, wishy-washy organizations that appeal to pet owners who have selective compassion.

It took me a while before I started to learn about these things. As the saying goes – been there, done that! Probably most of us have muddled along for a while after our first awakening to the fact that most of those who cannot speak for themselves suffer immensely. We learn that responding to mailings from many large organizations by sending money may actually be a mistake and a waste; and that we would do more good by learning more about the organizations soliciting our money.

Along the path to learning and changing, we subscribed to Animal People – News For People Who Care About Animals. Their annual Watchdog Report on Animal Charities gave us valuable facts about the finances, policies, spending, leadership, etc. of those who claim to care about the environment and nonhumans, so that we could make up our own minds where our contributions would do the most good. Also included in the Watchdog Report is a page titled “How to make your donations do the most for animals” which has some excellent advice on giving: For example. “Your money will be better used if you settle on a handful of charities that you have solid information about, whose work is a high priority for you.”

It is saddening to realize how many well-meaning people spend their hard-earned money on “charities” that they would never support if they knew the truth about them. One such case involved a deceased woman whose will left money to what she had thought were two animal advocate organizations – one really was, but the other was a “wildlife” organization that actually supported hunting!

I think you’ll agree that we all need to “do our homework” and learn how to donate wisely. Right?

Go on to: Romain Rolland – 25 April 2008
Return to: Fat Epidemic – 23 April 2008
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