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?
