© 2001 |
Editor: Judith Stone Webmaster: Projinfo |
Animal
Advocates of B.C. A registered charitable organization dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating animals that official agencies will not help. |
WHERE DOES THE
MONEY GO?
IS IT BEING SPENT THE WAY YOU THINK IT IS?
The SPCA
admitted that Vancouver Regional SPCA CEO, Douglas Hooper (now fired), made (with
benefits) at least $203,000 a year. It has been revealed that the head executive of the BC SPCA, Douglas Brimacombe, makes $132,000 a year. What of other SPCA employees? The revelation of Hooper's earnings in the Vancouver Sun created the opportunity for the SPCA head office to get control of Vancouver Regional SPCA's money and power. Why have there been no further revelations? The BC SPCA hired the firm of BDO Dunwoody to investigate the Vancouver Regional SPCA - what were its findings? Will the President and board of the Vancouver Regional SPCA ever been held accountable for the secrecy and huge salaries? Will the board of the BC SPCA be held accountable for allowing Vancouver Regional to not provide the financial information they were supposed to for so long? Or for "not knowing" that their executive did not respond to decades of complaints from branch employees, directors and volunteers that the SPCA was not carrying out its mandate? The BC SPCA head office has been giving the impression that they were kept in the dark about the salaries of executives at the Vancouver Regional SPCA. This is disingenuous at best. All CEO Douglas Brimacombe and President Michael Steven had to do is what we did - phone Revenue Canada, Charities Division and get the public financial reports. Form T3010 E, has a section (page 6, Section F: Remuneration and Benefits) that shows the salary ranges of the five most highly compensated employees in the charity. Vancouver Regional SPCA's Forms T3010 E clearly show the escalating salary of someone there. Someone at the Vancouver SPCA earned a minimum of:
This is the same form that the BC SPCA is also required to complete every year, so we find it not believable that the BC SPCA was unaware of the increases at Vancouver Regional. The presidents and directors of the BC SPCA had a legal duty to find out what Vancouver Regional branch presidents and directors were paying their executives, the first time Vancouver Regional refused this information to the BC SPCA. How many years has this gone on? It is vital to know that. The BC SPCA has used the public disclosure of the compensation paid Vancouver Regional SPCA's CEO, Douglas Hooper, to break the power of Vancouver Regional branch, to take it over along with its ten million yearly budget. Very convenient.
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| BC SPCA PROVINCIAL OFFICE: 32 Branches in B.C.
Charitable tax # 11881 9036 RR0001 (call toll-free 1-800-267-2384) Budgets overspent by as much as 40%. Salaries went from 81% of revenue to 112% of revenues.* Salaries increased 54% in this period. Humane Education expense decreased from 17% of revenues to zero%. Three top employees combined made up to $270,000. *
VANCOUVER REGIONAL SPCA charitable tax # 11881 9036 RR0019 POUND CONTRACTS; Abbotsford, Aldergrove, Anmore, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam,Delta, Langley, Maple Ridge, North Vancouver City, North Vancouver District, Pitt Meadows, Port Moody, Richmond, Surrey, and three more.
Revenues of 7 to 8 million. Salaries and wages as much as 75% of revenues.* Education expense less than 1% of revenues. Shelter expense just 2% of revenues. Five top employees combined were paid up to $430,000.* *Because of the method of accounting used, we do not know if this includes personal use of vehicles, travel, or other benefits. We have been told that all shelter managers, and some management staff, have the personal use of new vehicles such as SUV’s. This use of donated funds to SPCA’s in B.C. would not be so open to criticism if the animals weren’t housed in miserable, lonely, cold, comfortless, concrete cells, and the SPCA didn’t excuse this by crying poor.
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| When defending the SPCA’s dismal pound-keeping
track record, Brian Nelson, the Director of Field Operations for the Vancouver Regional
SPCA has said: "We could do a lot better with a lot more money". Here are some figures: In their 1998 Statement of Earnings, the Vancouver Regional SPCA reported $9,000,000 in revenues. Approximately 58% of this revenue went to pay for salaries and benefits, 7% for medical, veterinary and hospital supplies, 3% on repairs and maintenance, 1% for supplies and shelter costs and just over ½ of 1% on education and publications. Approximately one third of that nine million came from pound contracts, and yet for years the SPCA has said in it’s fundraising material "we don’t get a penny of government money".Many people are quite shocked when they come to realize how little of the $9 million went to improving the areas in which animals are housed, or providing for their physical and emotional needs and necessary training for animals that may prove difficult to rehome. Many people are also shocked when they realize that they don’t have, as they thought, an SPCA in their municipality at all, and haven’t for years. No local SPCA, no local board of directors, no local control, and donations given to what they thought was "their" SPCA, going to Vancouver head office and into general revenues.How much more money is needed? Where do they propose to spend it? Someone at the Vancouver Regional SPCA is making a minimum of $150,000* and who knows what extra perks, such as gold card travel, personal vehicle use, bonuses, etc. The SPCA has many times insisted that they are open and transparent and nay member can see the books, but then they refuse to say who gets what and those details and many others, are hidden. |
* IT TURNS OUT THAT SOMEONE, VANCOUVER SPCA CEO, DOUGLAS HOOPER, WAS MAKING $203,000 A YEAR! |
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