Charity begins at home

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1996:

“The Elinor Patterson Baker Foundation makes
grants for the general charitable purposes of organizations
that fulfill the airms, principles, goals, and purposes of the
Humane Society of the U.S.,” proclaims the purpose statement
filed with the foundation’s 1994 IRS Form 990-PF.
Indeed it does: of 129 grants made in the fiscal
year ending May 31, 1995, totaling $1,390,000, the six
largest were $250,000 to HSUS itself; $100,000 to the
Humane Society International, the umbrella for HSUS and
subsidiaries; $50,000 to the National Association for
Humane and Environmental Education, an HSUS subsidiary;
$50,000 to EarthKind USA, another HSUS subsidiary;
$35,000 to the World Society for the Protection of Animals,
whose vice president is John Hoyt, HSUS/HSI chief executive
officer since 1970, with HSUS board secretary Murdaugh
Madden as treasurer; and $25,000 to the Center for
Respect of Life and Environment, an HSUS subsidiary. The
Animal Rescue League of Fall River also got $25,000. Other
grantees with which HSUS had no representation got an average
of $7,008 each.

The Baker Foundation Form 990-PF did not state
who made the grants, but other information indicates they
may have included Putnam Trust Company vice president
W.F Mancuso, a member of the HSI board; Putnam Trust
tax officer Dennis Lesko; HSUS vice president Randall
Lockwood, also on the CRLE board; HSUS New England
representative Arnold Baer; and Robert Cummings, treasurer
of WSPA and secretary/treasurer of the Massachusetts
SPCA, whose president, Gus Thornton, heads WSPA.
The Baker Foundation Form 990-P stated that the
“officers, directors, trustees, etc.” were paid $274,995
among them, but omitted listing such personnel and their
salaries. Lockwood was paid $71,546 by HSUS in 1994, and
Baer is believed to have been paid circa $30,00-$35,000.
None of the others drew salaries from HSUS or subsidiaries.