Little of charity's money going to help animals

Page last updated at 07:56 GMT, Friday, June 15, 2012 - 12:56 EST

CNN:

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A charity that raised close to $27 million to help animals worldwide spent nearly all of that money on fund-raising expenses paid to a direct-mail company.

In addition, CNN found that the charity, SPCA International, misrepresented one of its programs called "Baghdad Pups" on its tax filings and hired an officer for that program with a questionable background.

In 2010, SPCA International owed $8.4 million to Quadriga Art LLC and its affiliated company, Brickmill Marketing Services, according to publicly available Internal Revenue Service 990 tax records.

Quadriga Art is one of the world's largest direct-mail providers to charities and nonprofits. It is the same fund-raiser hired by two veterans charities that spent tens of millions of dollars for its services -- triggering a Senate investigation last month into whether one of the charities should retain its tax-exempt status.

That charity, Washington-based Disabled Veterans National Foundation, collected nearly $56 million in donations over the past three years yet paid Quadriga Art more than $60 million in fees, according to a CNN investigation into the charity's tax records.

Read the whole story: CNN