“Rebranding” at the Humane Society of the United States

Did you know the Humane Society of the United States has changed their name?

No, that’s not a joke; it’s true.  

HSUS is now calling itself “Humane World for Animals”.  

See >> https://www.humaneworld.org/en/about-us.

By whatever name, the organization has always been a bit of a con job. How big a con job became evident to me when I was quoted in a cover story of their magazine.  

The article was entitled “The Pure Breed Paradox,” and the quote was fine and the article excellent, but it was odd…. HSUS claimed a membership of over 11 million people, but this article vanished into the ether like cigarette smoke on a rainy night.  

Surely *someone* had read it?

I tell the story here >> https://shorturl.at/ay40N , but the short version is that HSUS did not have 11 million members.  Or 5 million members.  Or 2 million members. Or 1 million members.  

It had less than 450,000 members.

That’s not lying by 2-3 times. That’s lying by 25-fold.

As I noted, “My best guess is that no more than one in ten people read the magazine's cover story -- 45,000 people or so.  No wonder that article made less noise than a penny thrown down a well!”

So why lie?  What's that all about?

Simple:  Lying is how the Humane Society of the U.S. claims unearned political power.

And now they’ve changed their name?

Why?

They do not offer much of an explanation, but I would suggest one:  to wash away a stench, the same reason a woman might revert to her married name after she divorces a narcissistic abuser.

In the case of the Humane Society of the US, there was (and is) the $15.75 million they paid to make a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) case about their direct mail shenanigans go away.  See >> https://shorturl.at/xxgmr

When caught lying about their direct mail, HSUS lied again, telling their donors the RICO settlement would be paid "by insurance," all the time knowing that too was a lie, as the insurance companies had cancelled HSUS's policy four years earlier, and would not pay.  

Then, there was the very awkward firing of their longtime, and very public CEO, Wayne Pacelle, in 2018 for rather shocking sexual harassment charges.  

As I noted at the time, “All of the money that new donors give to HSUS goes to finance more direct mail; direct mail only turns a ‘profit’ on renewal or upon response to the third or fourth ‘special appeal.’  Donate once, and you will be dunned forever.”  

Nonetheless, I noted, “HSUS keeps about $20 million in accounts in the Cayman Islands and pays CEO Wayne Pacelle over $380,000 a year -- money that mostly comes from senior citizens on fixed incomes. Almost no HSUS money actually goes to help dogs and cats in local shelters.” See >> https://tinyurl.com/3dry58th

The same year that HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle and Vice President Paul Shapiro were fired under the weight of sexual harassment charges, the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) lost its accreditation with the Better Business Bureau’s charity-accreditation arm, the Wise Giving Alliance.

Charity Navigator had previously downgraded the Humane Society of the U.S. to just 2 stars out of 4, including just 1 star for financial metrics, an indication that the nonprofit wasted a great deal of money on nonproductive costs (such as direct mail).

Losing accreditation from the Better Business Bureau is remarkable in that the the BBB has very weak standards for charities, and is itself funded by fees paid by the the charities it accredits -- a clear conflict of interest.

Anyway, a new CEO by the slightly amusing name of Kitty Block took over in 2018, and I have not reported on any HSUS shenanigans since then.  

Which is perhaps not too surprising, as Ms. Block had herself sued HSUS for sexual harassment and financial impropriety more than 20 years earlier. 

She was coming in as a clean boot, and now it looks like part of her remaking of the organization is a rebranding.  

Ironically, the term “rebranding” originates with pushing hot metal “brands” into the hides of stolen cattle to alter the owner’s original brand.

New donors to the “Humane World for Animals” probably do not applaud that kind of practice. Never mind.  Let’s hope the organization just stays honest. Fingers crossed.