From everything you say above, it is clear that you are a collector, with no
real intentions of rehoming the animals you take in. I certainly would not
want to support this organization. There will just be more and more animals,
and something will eventually have to give--which is why you are resorting
to soliciting funds online.

thread has been posted to a newsgroup on Google Groups.

I would also like to suggest that before you decided to solicit funds in
newsgroups, you should probably have made an effort to understand what
Usenet is. There is no such thing as "Google Groups," but Usenet is an
international, unmoderated forum in which all may participate.

So you are not a shelter, with a focus of rehoming animals.  You are a
sanctuary.  Again, I ask, why should a highly adoptable animal have to live
in a sanctuary?  IMHO, sanctuaries are for animals that have absolutely no
other chance of having a forever home.
Our shelter also has fairly strict guidelines, and we see about 3-4
adoptions a week, sometimes more.  We also readily publish where we are
located so people can f'n VISIT the shelter.  Yes, we do get dumped animals
sometimes.  But you know what?  I'm glad that people at least knew where we
were and didn't take them to the municipal shelter or drown them in the
river or something.

What about the cats and bunnies that do not meet your criteria, or do not
come with a handy $50?  How does it cost $700/ year to support an animal
that comes in fully vetted?  At the shelter I'm with, we give priority to
the stray cat who's not spayed/neutered and probably never seen a vet
before, whether they come in with a donation or not.  We look at it like
this:  by taking that intact cat off the streets, we saved that cat and any
babies it may have produced.  The owner turn-in who needs a new home because
baby developed allergies or whatever can wait.  We can work with them to
keep the cat to a confined area until we have room, or some other solution.

Look, just about everyone who regularly participates on this newsgroup is
either a volunteer or paid staffer at a shelter, or has a shelter they know
and trust with their donations.  You can't come on here and post, expecting
an outpouring of support and money without people being suspicious.

You must be very new to both rescue and the internet indeed if you feel that
a spam of newsgroups is the best method to raise funds for your animals.
What other fundraising programs do you have? Certainly you receive some
community support, yes?  If not, then why not?  Surely you have applied for
grants from the PetSmart Foundation, the PetCo Foundation, Maddie's Fund and
others?  If not, why not?

Anyone who posts in cyberspace and isnt' a kook had better be willing to
back up their statements with verifiable facts.  That's just common sense
and good security measures for someone to fact check. It is incumbent on the
person stating the fact to provide verification of that fact, not someone
who questions the information.  Thus far, the only facts that you have
provided have been that you are a 501 c3 organization. Fine.  Lots of groups
can get registered.  Not that many make over the long haul. With your
unwillingness to provide public information about your group and it's
policies, it's fairly easy to see that you'll probably be one of those
statistics that just don't make to the 5 year mark.

I will repeat the questions I posed in another thread in hopes that you will
be more willing to share information about your group.  It is public
verified information that succeeds in drawing both volunteers and donors.  A
group that ducks questions while repeating that they are "certified" implies
that they have something to hide.  A non profit can NOT afford to have that
reputation.  So, please do share with the public the answers to my
questions.

What are your adoption statistics?  I'd be more than happy to tell you
our shelter's. 80% of the animals that come through the door find homes,
with 10% being euthanized for health reasons, and 10% for overcrowding.
And we work damn hard to keep that rehomed figure that high.

How many cats do you take in and how many go out?  We took in 282 cats last
year and 450 dogs.  80% of them found homes.

How many cats are you currently housing? What is your adoption criteria?
What is your adoption fee?  How long does it take for a typical adoption to
occur?  What methods do you utilize to be sure that you find homes for these
animals?  None are listed on Petfinder and you don't have any information as
to how to view the pets at all.  Do you do remote location adoptions like at
PetSmart?

Just how can one adopt an animal when there is no information about any of
the animals or adoption proceedures?

Many "no kill" shelters are covers for collectors who take in far more
animals than they can adequately provide care for, even with donations from
the community.  If "adoption doesn't happen often", then you have to ask
yourself if you are in it for the animals benefit or not.  Because it's not
beneficial for any animal to *live* in a shelter situation.  All animals
deserve to own their own people to provide them with individual loving
attention.  And the fact that your group isn't very successful at doing this
is a huge red flag.

Where can one go to see a copy of the minutes of the meetings of your
organization as well as the required financial report information?  That is
required to be public information for any 501 c3 and ours is available at
our shelter.  Where is yours?  A PO box isn't an acceptible location. Care
to tell us how much money in fees were taken in last year?  How about
donations?  Donations in kind?  What were the outgoing expenses?  What was
the largest slice of that pie?  I can tell you that veterinary expenses were
approximately 85% of our approximately $34K budget, and our primary income
was from
adoption fees and one or two large donations.  Care to be that candid about
your group in public where it counts?

HSUS guidelines on feline housing will tell you exactly how much square
footage a cat should be allotted.  (Are you aware of what that figure is?)
Any organization that does not abide by that is inhumane in it's housing
policies.  On that, we agree. Our shelter utilizes a cattery for our longer
term residents as well. *We* spay and neuter and vaccinate the animals
before they're allowed to run in there though.  Every animal that comes
through our doors leaves up to date on shots and spayed or neutered.  These
are just the costs of running a rescue.  Where is the money going if you are
not paying for vaccines and spay/neuter?  You certainly can't have that big
a light bill.  Food is available by donation from grocery stores and chain
stores. Cat litter is too.  We get all of the burst bags free and therefore
only have to purchase kitten food and backup litter supplies.  If we can beg
like this, surely your group can!

If you don't take any animals in that need spay/neuter or shots or testing,
then you're not really running a rescue.  And if
you can't afford to provide these services to the animals that need them,
perhaps you'd best reassess whether or not your group has the financial
savvy to run a real rescue group.  It's just like finding an animal a
responsible home.  It takes more than love.  People  who "love animals" and
take in  large number of them but don't provide them with any medical care
from their own pocket or personal attention because of the large number of
animals are COLLECTORS.  And the really do believe that they are "saving
animals".  But the reality check is, they're actually creating more animal
suffering, not less.

Yet none of the really relevant questions have been answered.

Methinks thou protests too much.

Here's the website of one of our local cageless shelters.
http://www.hhforcats.org/
Note obvious instructions for adopting, up-front fees, links to their
petfinder listings (which actually have cats listed - 78 when I checked
today), info on fundraising, and so on.

Here's another, even better, site.
http://www.felinesinc.org/
This one also has their adoption application right on the website.
They have 82 cats on petfinder.

None require vet checks or fees to take in cats.
They both post a real address for people, right on the sites. They both rely
on pure donations.

I'm not even going to go into the design of the site.  ;)

From the President, Last Resort Animal Sanctuary's post & mass e-mailing:

Actually, the thread was neither. Anything posted on usenet is subject to
opinion. You received several opinions which were based on the information you
chose to share. You are welcome to offer further information in order to
dispute any opinion. It's called debate. It's what usenet is made of.

Imagine usenet as a street corner. Anything you post is subject to the opinions
of many, many people. Don't take it personally. If you do, usenet is not for
you. It is a discussion forum. You chose to *mis-use* the forum as a
fundraising tool. You have no right to feel furious, or hurt. With that choice,
you rather make yourself vulnerable to opinions.

Take off your rose-colored glasses and look at that picture. It appears, to the
otherwise un-enlightened reader, to be a dank, dark, room with dozens of cats.
Look at it through the viewer's eyes, and put away your self-righteous
indignation. Try *showing* what a lovely, spacious area you claim to really
have! I daresay it would improve your chances for public support.

Gina, you claim to be "ashamed" of people in the world like Edwin Hetrick, but
in reality, what are you doing? You're hanging on to all the negative, and it
appears you're using it as a selling tool on your website. And this thread?
You're bringing controversy to your shelter, nothing more.  Your animals, in
the long run, are the ones hurt. You could have chosen to graciously debate the
issues and provide more information, but instead you chose to
ADVERTISE it on your website and send a mass-mailing e-mail. You're fueling the
fire. Being familiar with the nature of usenet, I would not be surprised to see
that thread ignite very quickly. And there will be no one to blame but
yourself. Negativism, and controversy, will damage a shelter's credibility very
quickly.

I wish you the very best in your sheltering endeavors.

Sherry

(...)

Welcome to Usenet.

You might want to work on your web site a bit. It's doing you no
favours as it stands!

HTH,
Steve.

     Complaints Hotline for PA Bureau of Charitible Organizations.

     ST-CHARITY@state.pa.us

     By Phone
     1-800-732-0999 (within PA)
     717-783-1720 (outside PA)

     In Writing
     Bureau of Charitable Organizations
     212 North Office Building
     Harrisburg, PA 17120

The Last Resort Animal Sanctuary, Inc.
P.O. Box 194
York New Salem, PA 17371

I'm sure they appreciate a couple of phone calls asking them why this group
with their hand out soliciting funds refuses to provide any information
about themselves, including Board meeting minutes, or financial records, or
adoption statistics, or even their location.

I sent a small donation, despite the look of their web site.

I have not received any thanks for my donation. Maybe it wasn't big enough to
generate a 1 line E-mail thanking me for it....?

Very, very poor manners.

I'd like my money back; I have very little to spare....