How do you tell ANIMALS 24-7 from Donald Trump?

(Beth Clifton collage)

For starters,  we disclose our tax forms.

(We also don’t hand you “alternative facts.”)

If you can’t tell ANIMALS 24-7 from Donald Trump,   probably you won’t be reading this. But in case you need a hint, Trump famously does not disclose his tax returns.

ANIMALS 24-7 makes a point of disclosing ours, early in each and every year, as part of our commitment to truth, accuracy, and accountability, even when––as now––the numbers are a bit embarrassing and scary.

Donald Trump demonstrates the Big Lick. New walking horse protection rules were put on hold as one of the first acts of the Trump regime.  (Beth Clifton collage)

And, here they are, on our third annual filing of IRS Form 990, posted below.

We have no billionaire friends

Unlike Donald Trump, ANIMALS 24-7 does not have a lot of billionaire friends, or even know any billionaires or millionaires who will pretend to be our friends if we do them favors.

ANIMALS 24-7 depends for our existence upon the mostly very small contributions of people who care about animals, including about finding non-lethal, non-violent solutions to conflicts between animals and humans, whether pertaining to diet and health, cultural issues, or public safety.

In the three years since ANIMALS 24-7 debuted, our audience and donor base have each annually increased by 50%.

But over those same three years, about two-thirds of our sustenance has come from just two very generous but now depleted sources, a foundation that dissolved in 2015 and a legal settlement.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Stretched every cent

Now––though we stretched every cent as much as possible––that money is gone.

Election year fundraising competition appeared to hurt us, in particular. We had half again more individual donors in 2016 than in 2015, but received only one donation of more than $1,000.

Donations picked up somewhat after the primary election campaigns were done, but then came the frantic stretch drive, when even some of the biggest animal charities laid off staff while trying to keep Trump and the anti-animal views of many of his closest allies out of the White House.

Reality, as our IRS Form 990 filings affirm, is that keeping ANIMALS 24-7 up and running, posting original investigative articles, reviews, and commentary almost every day, costs about $10,000 a month.

Most of that goes toward employing our very small but highly experienced news, photography, and research staff. None of us are paid much more than minimum wage plus mandatory health coverage.

There just isn’t much way to cut back. And from a lifetime in nonprofit news work, mostly on behalf of animals and the people who care about them, I guarantee there is no way to do more with less.

(Beth Clifton photo)

We need our friends

For ANIMALS 24-7 to survive and thrive, we need something Donald Trump doesn’t have, that all of his money and that of his henchmen cannot buy: we need our friends.  Our true friends.  And we need more of them.

We need more of your small contributions, from what little you can set aside each month from your wages as vet techs, shelter workers, and animal control officers, after meeting your medical and veterinary costs as dog attack survivors, and from your fixed incomes as retirees.

Even more, we need you to introduce your friends to ANIMALS 24-7 so that we can earn their friendship too.

From those few of you who can afford to make large donations, we need your appreciation that you get a lot more bang for the buck here than from contributing to the glitzy charities with coteries of millionaire and even billionaire supporters, among whom nobody knows your name.

Finally, much as we hate to lose any of our friends, we need you to remember us in your estate planning.

Merritt & Beth Clifton

ANIMALS 24-7 is not going to check out soon, come hell, high water, and the worst that the Trump administration might inflict on animals and those who love animals. One way or another, we will be here for you, helping you to sort out whatever is going on involving animals, from the White House to the Black Forest to the deep blue sea.

But we really do need your help to be able to keep doing it more than full-time.

P.S. –– ANIMALS 24-7 doesn’t grab pussies. We pick them up and hold them gently, even when cleaning their ears.

https://www.animals24-7.org/donate/