Research recently released by the Animal Agriculture Alliance showed charitable donations to animal rights groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) up 11%. The report was based on 2007 numbers, the latest reporting period available for review.
Donations to Humane Society for the United States (HSUS), the largest animal-rights activist group in the USA, remained about the same as indicated in the previous report when including subsidiary organizations such as the Fund for Animals and Doris Day Animal League (DDAL).
On the international front, according to the report, the World Society for Protection of Animals (WSPA) increased its donations by 80%, displacing PETA as the third largest activist group targeting modern animal agriculture. However, in terms of assets, PETA and FSAP combined still rank as the third largest animal rights group with assets of $34.5 million. UK-based Compassion in World Farming raised revenues 60%.
A significant increase of 443% was reported in donations to Acton, Calif.-based Animal Acres, founded by Lorrie Bauston, a co-founder of the East Coast animal rights group Farm Sanctuary.
Total donations to the most significant domestic and international animal-rights groups, as reported by Animal Alliance, reach $330 million in 2007, with total assets expanding 31%.
The Animal Alliance reports using a variety of sources for the research including independent examinations of some groups’ Internal Revenue Service Form 990 and the 2008 "Animal People Watchdog Report on 150 Animal Charities," the newspaper Animal People’s annual review of animal charity budgets.
