LettersLetter from (Name Withheld) Concerning Heifer International - 31 Aug 2004
Letters From All-Creatures.org and The Mary T. and Frank L. Hoffman Family Foundation

Letter from (Name Withheld) Concerning Heifer International - 31 Aug 2004

Greetings,

I used to work for Heifer International.

While Heifer does a lot of good projects around the world and some not so good. One reason I left was that the literature that promotes heifer in no way reflects the realities of animal agriculture. Raising livestock means killing livestock. Certainly our US culture does not reflect this reality either, as most people have no idea where food in general comes from.

The soft underbelly that most points in the articles in this web site are missing is how Heifer distributes the funds that they get. They have found the Holy Grail of direct mail and continue to grow. But by the time funds have moved from HQ to overseas offices to projects, there is very little left for the people that are supposed to be supported. They could do a much better job in managing the resources that they do have.

Another issue is that while passing on the gift is good, if Heifer tracked what it placed and asked for a “pass back” they would not even need more money for animal purchase. Most projects don’t have an end point and follow up is lacking, but certainly there is no shortage of belly button examination and meetings at Headquarters.

Now Heifer is building a new $30 million headquarters next to the Clinton Library in Little Rock and along with that will be their “Global Village” which will be more of the Old MacDonald approach to things. Again, it’s not all bad but the organization overall does not want to tackle issues of animal welfare on a large scale. And if you dare to question the status quo…watch out..you’ll be shunned! [The reason for withholding the name.]

In summary, if it looks too cute to be true, it probably is…

Hope you can keep the pressure on them…they need it!

Reply from Frank L. Hoffman

Thank you very much for your letter. It's nice to hear the confirmation of many of our own feelings about the organization, and some new things, from someone who was on the inside.

In the Love of the Lord,

Frank


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