Hi all,

First off, I want to start with some good news. Our cover dog (Bentley) was adopted!  This is great news as this dude is awesome and those of us with close knowledge of the issues knew he was at risk, but he is safe in a new home. On a personal note, Mr. Bentley was among the most beloved animals with our team. We had even pledged to cover his adoption fees to get him out of there. We are so thankful to the couple who adopted him and so happy our B has a home.  Please adopt from shelters!  

On to the update! We have so many things we want to tell you, but we recognize you may not want to hear everything we learned about nonprofit accounting, tax filings, bylaws, and grants.  So, we will spare you those details and provide an executive summary of the main activity.

Summary:

• Since the initial invitation for discussions was sent to us by the President of the Board, we have responded twice indicating our desire to accept the invitation and schedule a meeting. They have not responded to either of these electronic messages. So, we decided to send a formal written letter to the Board of Directors via US Mail. The letter detailed all previous correspondence and reiterated a willingness to meet.  We have provided email, phone, and address information to the Board so they can contact us.

• We requested a copy of the organization's bylaws and the names of the board members in the same letter to support discussions. Recent information could not be located (publicly) and requests for data from the IRS are expected to take several weeks. Our research has indicated that making these types of requests directly is not uncommon, and organizations typically share this information with no issues (but it is solely their choice). We also provided a payment to cover any administrative / reproduction fees associated with the request. Given that we have donated significant time and resources in the past, we considered this to be a professional and reasonable request.  

• We were contacted by supporters of this campaign who highlighted the fact that the organization previously raised more than $375,000 in donations that were specifically designated for the construction of a new facility that was to start construction in 2019.  The facility has yet to be constructed and we could find no recent information/updates on the status of the project or the associated funds. The last public update we could find was in 2019 that stated it would be started “soon”. The letter requested an update on the status of this project (and associated funding). Since they publicly solicited funds for this specific purpose, it seems reasonable to request a status of the project, especially for those who have donated to the organization. Additionally, this organization has received taxpayer grants to support operations, so we consider the request for transparency to be reasonable.    

References / Background on these funds can found at the sites below.  

1. https://archive.triblive.com/news/humane-society-of-westmoreland-county-expands-kennels-2/ 
2. https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/humane-society-of-westmoreland-county-getting-new-kennel/      

That concludes the summary of the week if you want to stop here.  We are still hopeful we will be able to resolve our issues with a meeting. Thank you all for the support! 

The following is an editorial from the organizers.  

Organizers' Editorial:

We started this crusade as animals were being tagged to be killed (at a No Kill Shelter) and there was a clear issue with the way these decisions were being made and a cultural problem. There was no transparency on the rules being applied, and no mechanism to effect change or provide input. This lack of transparency was not something seen in similar organizations and was inconsistent with the mission that attracted many of us as volunteers, donors, and employees. That was the issue. Basically, it was "don’t ask me to give you money and time for X and then do Y". 

Now, add the fact that over $375,000 was specifically solicited for a new building, the building was never built, and the average person cannot find any updates on this project in the last five years.

COME ON! At best this is a terrible look and a self-inflicted blow to credibility. There is an issue here with governance. It is time to do the right thing and address these issues. We are not saying bad things are being done here relative to money, but we sure as hell cannot tell you there aren’t bad things being done. They are making it impossible with the lack of transparency and engagement. This is coming from the people who spent the last week interviewing experts and reviewing a decade of tax returns, balance sheets, and non-profit legal requirements. If we can't figure it out, how would we expect the common person to know? 

Do the right thing and be professional! Reform the governance, open yourselves up to discussions and assistance, add outside voices and diversity of thought, restore confidence and trust, and save animals.  

Once again.  Thank you all for the continued support and have a great weekend.

Go Bentley!