5 Non-profits to leave out of your holiday donations

Around the holidays we often take a moment to count our blessings and share with those who are less fortunate.

If you want your holiday donations to help shelter animals, donate locally instead of falling for the tricks of these national organizations.

There is nothing that breaks my heart more than to find out that someone’s heartfelt donation didn’t actually go to accomplish what the donor thought it would.

Unfortunately, there are several organizations in our world who prey on the good intentions of generous people and falsely advertise what the donations they receive are used for.

I’ve compiled a list of 5 organizations that oppose what my family does for a living: provide your family with a safe, healthy and affordable food supply.

I hope you’ll leave these organizations out of your holiday donations!

5 Non-profits to leave out of your holiday donations

1. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)

I’ve written about HSUS before because I honestly feel that they are the most misleading non-profit out there.

Since their name is “humane society,” many donors falsely assume that their donations are distributed among animal shelters nationwide. In reality, HSUS does not operate or fund a single animal shelter.

In fact, only 0.45% of their more than $99 million annual operating budget goes to animal shelters.

If you’d like your holiday donations to help shelter animals, I’d recommend donating directly to your local animal shelter!

2. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

PETA is open and honest about what they are against: anything that gives animals less rights than humans.

Please realize, I am not saying that animal abuse is acceptable. I’ve written before about how disgusted I am by the despicable people who abuse animals and allow animal abuse to continue.

The problem with PETA is that they think that anything short of allowing animals to roam free is considered animal abuse.

Therefore, in PETA’s opinion animal abuse includes: raising animals on family farms , eating meat, wearing fur, breeding purebred animals such as dogs and cats, rodeos and the use of household mouse poisons and pesticides.

Unless you agree with all of those opinions, you should reconsider your donation to PETA.

3. American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)

If you’ve ever seen one of ASPCA’s famous commericals featuring Sarah McLachlan, chances are you thought ASPCA was an organization focused on helping companion animals such as cats and dogs.

In reality, ASPCA uses some of their donations to aid other animal rights extremists groups who oppose meat consumption and family farmers.

One of the issues ASPCA has been most vocal about opposing is a family farmer’s right to give antibiotics to our sick animals.

Growing up on a farm, I’ve seen first hand how much discomfort our calves can have from  simple respiratory infections (what we humans call a “cold”). I’m proud of the fact that my family rushes to make sure that our cattle are given the proper medications to treat these illnesses as soon as possible so that they don’t suffer.

I don’t understand why ASPCA supports legislation that would make it illegal to give sick farm animals medications!

Why would anyone want to force an animal to suffer through an infection that one simple medication could heal?

Furthermore, if for some reason you don’t want to eat meat from the animals that were given medication when they were sick, you don’t have to! There are already food labels (such as Certified Organic) that distinguish which meat products came from animals who were never given antibiotics.

On a more local note, the ASPCA’s national website features a page specifically dedicated to contacting the Kentucky Livestock Care Standards Commission about the aspects of their proposed animal care standards opposed by ASPCA!

Not exactly what you’d expect from a group that’s focused on helping puppies and kittens, is it?

4. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM)

Though the name makes them sound like a reputable and non-biased source for health information, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The PCRM uses this misnomer to make blanket statements about health and nutrition with little or no factual evidence to back them.

PCRM advocates against meat, milk and egg consumption and the use of animals in medical research.

In fact, PRCM actually works to discourage people from supporting well respected health charities like the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the American Foundation for AIDS Research and the American Red Cross because these groups do not oppose medical research on animals.

5. Sierra Club

Many people support the Sierra Club because they think their donations will be used to protect the natural beauty of mountain landscapes and endangered wildlife.

They may be surprised to learn that the Sierra Club is actively working to eliminate modern food technologies such as the use of genetically modified organisms in food production.

In 1999, the Sierra Club united with Greenpeace to sue the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for approving genetically modified crops.

They also petitioned the EPA strictly regulate genetically modified corn known as “Bt corn” because they said it would kill the Monarch butterfly. In reality, “Bt” stands for bacillus thuringiensis, a naturally occurring toxin that kills one of corn’s most devastating pests, the European corn boer, but has no affect on Monarchs.

After both the EPA and United States Department of Agriculture launched their own investigations and concluded that Bt corn posed no risk to Monarch butterflies, the Sierra Club continued to insist that it did and to this day promotes that false claim.

In recent years, the Sierra Club has started to work closely with other animal rights extremist organizations such as the PCRM and PETA.

They have added anti-farming goals to their mission and have filed suites against the opening of several dairy and swine operations because they do not support the modern farming practices being used.

So what organizations should you donate to this holiday season?

My advice is to give locally, whether that means you local animal shelter, food bank or free clinic.

By giving locally you have the opportunity to talk face to face with the organization’s employees and can gather as much information as you want about how your donations will be used.

In today’s tough economic times, knowing that your donations are actually helping those in need is more important than ever.