While it is a common enough practice for nonprofits to sell or rent donor lists, Charity Navigator deducts points for the practice. As documented in our latest available filings and audited financial statements, 77 cents of every dollar reported as an expenditure on the ASPCA's 2019 Form 990 advances the ASPCA's mission through lifesaving programs and services around the country. A housing crisis resulting from the pandemic is also a significant threat to animals. A generation younger, I was among those who stayed on the animal news beat for many years with small newspapers serving small towns in rural areas, gaining first-hand knowledge of animal use industries at the same time as helping to build a growing audience for animal advocacy messages. I love animals and dont want to see them suffer, but much of those salaries could be used to help the animals. Opinion contributor. By providing my mobile number, I agree to receive 2-4 text messages per month from the ASPCA, which may include requests for charitable donations. There is some colossal confusion here. You should give to both. Matthew received a Bachelor of Science degree from Ohio University and a Master of Business Administration from . Do you have any ideas on how to avoid giving the media, which is owned by a fraction of 1% of the public, a cut of the money people intend to donate to charity? Upon launching ANIMALS 24-7, in 2014, Beth & I initially hoped to continue this project in an online format. His compensation from ASPCA subsidiaries alone in 2020, the year the COVID-19 crisis hit, killing a million Americans, putting many millions out of work and bankrupting hundreds of thousands, was more than the top salary paid by the majority of U.S. humane societies and animal care-and-control agencies. Thank you for what you do!!!!! I would wager a guess that there are plenty of individuals who could, likewise, do the same level of work while earning a lot less. Originally the term SPCA specifically meant a humane society with limited law enforcement powers, but few such humane societies exist in the 21st century, and none are anywhere near Grand Junction, Colorado. Since 2008, the ASPCA has raised more than $2 billion for animal welfare, Axelrod summarized. GEE, I wonder why? Thats enough to make me almost vomit!!!! Darryl Hinton We often put in 15-hour days. The bad decisions that led to those payouts, however, were made two generations of HSUS leadership ago, and three generations of ASPCA leadership ago. According to information from the organization's 2019 tax forms, $7.75 of each $19 donation went toward hands-on help with animals across the country, and $6.88 went toward public education, communication, policy, response and engagement. There is no mystery or mumbo-jumbo about what we do, how we do it, and what results we get. The ASPCA says the vast majority of donor dollars go directlytoward its mission, Axelroad intoned, but a CBS News investigation found there arequestions about whether the money is going where donors expect.. Exactly! The heartbreaking commercials are almost impossible to ignore: Sarah McLachlan singing to images of suffering animals and making an urgent appeal for donations to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or ASPCA. "We receive no money from them at all.". And leadership does not have to take a vow of poverty. The Anti-Cruelty Group evolved from a fledgling team of responders to a robust, national program that confronts animal cruelty and suffering on all levels across the country. Those of you who work in shelters know first-hand the immense challenges this crisis created for your work and, in many cases, your very existence. Unfortunately, sources such as Charity Watch and Charity Navigator would not have caught the issues that ANIMALS 24-7 and CBS News noticed at the ASPCA, because their robots accept whatever organizations declare on IRS Form 990 at face value, and neither comb Form 990 for discrepancies, nor do on-the-ground program verification. For 23 years I did exactly what Anthony suggests, as editor of annual reviews of major animal charities published from 1991 through 2013. For the CEO, you need to return all that money and do just what you want us to do DONATE TO STOP THIS CRULTY TO THESE ANIMALS THAT CANT FEND FOR THEMSELVES. While Kaufelts entire comment reeks, I found the above sentence to be particularly deplorable. For that eight bucks a month, or whatever you can afford, you expect hard work, dedication, and performance on a multitude of fronts: on behalf of wildlife, farmed animals, dogs and cats, horses, animals in laboratories, marine mammals, and the list could go on for quite a while. As far as these birds not being liked, thats crazy! The song Arms of an Angel was originally released in the late 1990s and was meant as a tribute to a fellow musician who had died of a drug overdose. One good way to do that is to go onto the Charity websites Charity Watch, Charity Navigator, etc., select the animal charity you are interested in, and look at the ratios of yearly income, yearly expense (outlay), and the ratios of how much goes to salaries, how much to fundraising and administrative expenses, and how much to the programs for animals that are the reason for their existence. Thank you for your many years of alerting people to such grotesquely excessive financial compensation. Get Access to Matt's Email Address & Phone Number. Otherwise were just morally objecting to non-profits paying for qualifications. Matthew's relationship status is single. Are animal charity donors at risk from the Blackbaud data security breach? But why has the ASPCA been able to raise that kind of money in the first place, more than twice the combined annual budgets of every animal advocacy organization with a national presence back when we began reporting the news of the cause, back when the highest salary in the history of humane work was less than $100,000? Seven other ASPCA executives received compensation ranging from more than $300,000 to more than $400,000, in the pay range of the chief executives of the four other most affluent U.S. humane societies. Im guessing you have no problem with the above. I also see a sustained commitment to relocating animals by ground and by air. Text STOP to opt-out, HELP for more info. (Beth Clifton collage). The group is an advocacy organization that seeks to prevent cruelty toward animals. ANIMALS 24-7 extensively covered the Ringling debacle, after warning the late Animal Welfare Institute founder Christine Stevens and the late Fund for Animals founder Cleveland Amory that their star witness Tom Ryder was not credible more than two years before the case was filed against Ringling in 2000 that led to the eventual payout when Ringling counter-sued and then sued for damages. The State Humane Association of California complaint was dropped after the Better Business Bureau National Advertising Division in April 2013 issued an opinion favoring the ASPCA. My friends told me not to give a single cent. This staggering number includes over 9.8 million dogs and cats living in rental homes and 9.4 million dogs and cats living in owned homes. Most, like in Nassau County and Houston, had gotten nothing. As a business man, I know we have to pay serious money for special talent but close to a million USD to head a charity??? So I goggled what did the CEO of American Red Cross earn/get? What I found was that the most compensated Red Cross executive makes $720,000 a year. As of 2016, the ASPCA was founded in 1866 by Henry Bergh. Matts interviews and broadcast appearances have appeared in national media ranging fromThe New York Times,The Washington Post, andThe Wall Street JournaltoRolling Stonemagazine,The Today Show,andGood Morning America. On January 10, 2019, ANIMALS 24-7 discovered from the ASPCA filing of IRS Form 990, and promptly pointed out, that Bershadker took home $804,372 in pay for 2017, including a bonus of $276,000, and received benefits of $47,859, for total compensation of $852,231more than any two other animal welfare executives in one year ever. He has spoken before Congress in Washington, D.C. and given public testimony before the New York City Council on many critical issues, including ensuring proper funding for New York City shelters and advocating for legislation to protect dogs and cats sold in city pet stores. But this is not to bash Bershadker himself, though we have significant differences with several ASPCA policies, all of them long predating his tenure, and question both his competence and accountability as a manager of humane programs. Posting the ANIMALS 24-7 filing of IRS Form 990 in our leanest years was an embarrassment. Every one of them needs to be fired ASAP.and I pray for for their demise. By moving homeless animals from places of low demand to locations with high demand, we reduce the overcrowding that can lead to tragic and unnecessary outcomes. This puts tremendous stress on veterinarians who must balance their commitment to help a wide range of pets with their need to sustain their professional practices, which is why supporting themand their commitmentis critical. The same filing reveals that the "non-profit" took in $279 million in revenue in 2019, and had an operating income of $28.4 million, a robust profit margin of more than 10%. Whereas the CEO of ASPCA was given, from money donated to help animals, the staggering grand total of $853,232!!!!!! After 5 years I made $9.50 an hour. The ASPCA was established in 1866 by diplomat and animal welfare activist Henry Bergh in New York, where the organization still has its headquarters and offers the majority of its hands-on animal services, including sheltering, assisting with abuse investigations and spay/neuter surgeries. Matthew Bershadker is president and CEO of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), the first animal welfare organization in America and a national leader in the. It says the remaining $148 million is tied up in fixed assets, restricted donations and multiyear pledges. Our research and studies on behavioras well as our direct care work across New York City and at our Behavioral Rehabilitation Center in Weaverville, North Carolinahave produced innovative programs and processes proven to save lives. This sadness is compounded by the fact that the ASPCA gives viewers the false impression that the organization is literally rescuing dogs and cats from the cold, and finding good homes for them, whereas that isnt so. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. This is not something that can be discovered from public records. ASPCApro: How did you develop an interest in animal welfare? Steering donations away from these mega wasteful charities would be a benefit to the world. If we keep raising our children thinking that non-profits dont pay for experience and education, how else are we going to change the world? Bershadker declined CBS News' request for an interview, but in response to questions posed to the nonprofit, the ASPCA's Senior Vice President of Communications Elizabeth Estroff wrote, "the ASPCA's CEO compensation is evaluated and benchmarked every year by an outside consultant." We advertised it for four months, while discovering that keeping up with a 24-7 news cycle did not allow time for doing anything else as time-consuming (and non-lucrative) as the financial reviews of charities had been. And at that, the ASPCA adoption transport program in May 2019 had a disaster still inadequately acknowledged, let alone addressed in a transparent manner. They have become just soulless, money-harvesting machines that specialize in sappy television commercials about how they just help animals and your contribution can save a life. Anyone who sends them a dime is just throwing their money away. Contrary to what many people might think and despite the similar names and missions, the Houston SPCA, which operates a local shelter, a veterinary clinic and an animal ambulance amongst its services, isnt in any way affiliated with the national ASPCA. Animal abuse complaints in most communities must be made to either the county sheriffs office or the municipal animal control agency. News on dogs, cats, horses, wildlife, zoonoses, & nature, Beth and Merritt with our friends(Beth Clifton collage). Matt Bershadker. American Tortoise Rescue YUCK! We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous President and CEO of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). 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