Sue Beaulieu | Sept. 27, 2011
Political Research Editor
The Tides Foundation and family of closely related organizations are a driving
force behind social change in this country, for better and for worse. The Tides'
money trail is intricate, involving countless affiliate projects and providing
funding to other groups. (See
http://tidalwaveerosion.blogspot.com for further reading about Tides.)
The Tides Foundation works primarily as a money clearinghouse, receiving money
from various sources, including other foundations, non-profits and individuals.
Organizations or individuals can donate money to the Tides Foundation which will
then forward the money to the intended recipient per specific request. These
are known as "donor assisted" funds because the original funder remains
anonymous. Still other groups that do not want to set up a 501(c)(3) or (c)(4)
will allow Tides to manage their money. The Tides Foundation makes a percentage
from these organizations' profits and these are known as "Tides projects.";
The Tides organizations are instrumental in orchestrating social change in many
key political arenas. Their influence can be felt across a wide range of
current ideologies
including
direct donations to animal rights groups as
documented in the Tides Foundation 990's. But keep in mind that the animal
rights groups may take that money and pass it on to other like-minded
organizations through Donor Assisted transactions. The reverse can hold true
for all of the donations listed on the Tides Foundation 990s. It is quite
possible that monies donated from Tides to seemingly unrelated organizations
ends up in the hands of animal rights groups.
From 2005 - 2010, Tides made relatively small grants of $1,000 to $2,000 a year
to the Animal Alliance, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Doris Day Animal Fund, In
Defense of Animals and the ASPCA. A few other groups received one time grants of
various amounts under $5,000 such as the Animal Place, Best Friends Animal
Sanctuary, East Bay Animal Advocates, Espanola Valley Humane Society, Friends of
Santa Cruz Animals, Hopalong Animal Rescue, and the Native Animal Rescue. The
Wildlife Animal Orphanage {1}) got 1,942 in 2006, then went bankrupt
and closed down. There were similar one time grants to other animal
organizations.
The East Bay Animal Advocates, based in California, were very active in the cage
free eggs campaign. So is the Humane Farming Association which received nearly
$11,000 from Tides. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) received
$8,000 in 2006 and $5,000 in 2009 from the Tides Foundation, possibly for their
work in this same campaign. And indeed, after years of working to change public
opinion on the subject, the animal groups were successful. California and
Michigan have passed laws to outlaw the cage confinement of hens, and California
passed a law requiring all whole eggs used in the state to be cage-free by 2015.
Numerous corporations succumbed to the new political correctness and are now
committed to using only cage-free eggs. These include General Mills'
Haagen-Dazs products, Kraft, Otis Spunkmeyer, Sara Lee and Hellmann's
mayonnaise. Restaurant and supermarket chains joined the ranks to court
consumers of a new age. Subway, Burger King, Wendy’s, Denny’s, Sonic, Quiznos,
Hardee’s, Carl's Jr. and Red Robin, Wal-Mart, Costco and Safeway increased
cage-free egg sales. The cost for these changes will of course be passed on to
the consumer.
Mercy for Animals received $33,000 during 2009 and 2010. This group is focused
on eliminating cruelty to farm animals by promoting a strict vegetarian diet.
Animal rights groups and animal welfare groups still debate the definition of
cruelty. Common sense should dictate what "cruelty" is but often does not. To
groups like these, with a definite political agenda, i.e. vegetarianism, cruelty
is subjective and most anything can be spun to create the illusion of cruelty
to animals. The demands will never end until there are no animals left to
regulate!
Which brings us to PeTA - the mother of all animal rights groups. PeTA received
the most direct funds from the Tides Foundation. In 2005 and 2006 the amount
was small - under $2,000. But then PeTA received $32,953 in 2007; $149,336 in
2008; $73,790 in 2009 and $150,483 in 2010.
There are no records to tell us what these specific donations were used for.
With total assets of $22 million or more (and this does not include the closely
related monies of their affiliates PCRM (Physicians for Responsible Medicine)
and FSAP (Foundation to Support Animal Protection), these donations could be
used for any number of campaigns.
Was the money used to help make the 2007 HBO documentary, "I Am an Animal:
The Story of Ingrid Newkirk and PeTA, or
was the money used instead for video "investigations" made during ALF raids -
some of which led to lawsuits or pressure on government agencies to enforce
changes? Or maybe the money was applied to the payroll of directors, vets,
attorneys, consultants and professional fundraisers?
PeTA even receives money for mailing list royalties! A few of the groups that
pay for this list are the Humane Society Legislative Fund, Bay Area Organic
Express, American Anti-Vivisection Society, California Human
Farming, Obama for
America and the "Committee to Restore..." which may be another Tides related
organization. PeTA transfers approximately $6 to $8 million dollars each year
to their affiliate FSAP. However, FSAP's 990s are rather vague as to where that
money actually goes.
http://tidalwaveerosion.blogspot.com
{1} http://www.rexano.org/WAO/
