Humane Society of the United States 2022 Tax Return Shows Only 1% of Money Given to Pet Shelters

We obtained the latest tax return for the Humane Society of the United States, a national organization that raises money to save homeless animals. The tax return, covering 2022, shows HSUS wasting millions.

Despite its name, HSUS is not affiliated with local humane societies. And it generally only gives about 1% of its money as financial grants to pet shelters–which once again appears to be the case in 2022, based on reported grants.

Here are more highlights from the 2022 tax year:

CEO Kitty Block made over $600,000 in salary and benefits. Overall, HSUS executives pulled in nearly $5 million.

140 employees made more than $100,000 in compensation.

HSUS spent over $900,000 on its fancy New York City gala last November. The event was held at the ritzy Cipriani. The (vegan) food and beverages alone cost $60,000.

Overall, HSUS spends about 45% of its budget on overhead, including over $60 million on fundraising-related expenses.

HSUS is hoarding close to $100 million offshore. HSUS reports having $83.5 million in the Caribbean and another $8.2 million in Europe.

Overall, HSUS is sitting on a huge pile of money: $338 million in investments. That's money sitting around not helping needy animals. You know, like the ones in HSUS commercials.

CharityWatch, a top nonprofit evaluator, recently gave HSUS a "D" grade. Based on these numbers, another bad grade looks to be in HSUS's future.

Notably, HSUS states that "caring for animals in crisis" is only about 30% of its spending. Much of that spending appears to be giving dog food to local shelters–dog food that HSUS apparently got donated from Chewy, an online seller of pet products. (It wouldn't surprise us if this food was close to expiration date.) In other words, it appears HSUS didn't spend its own money on buying the food for shelters–it just acted as a middleman.

The tax return, which is written by HSUS, has a lot of puffery. It's written like a marketing document. But crunching the numbers reveals a truth HSUS doesn't want people to know: HSUS wastes donations intended to help animals.

National groups like HSUS and the ASPCA are top-heavy and act like fundraising factories. (That's part of the reason their ads are so prevalent.) If you want to help pets, give to your local pet shelter directly.