St_Andrews_Lodge

in 2018 Big Cat Rescue raked in a staggering $4,429,347

$191,000 in executive pay

$524,000 in salaries and other wages

$353,000 in legal fees

$233,000 in other fees

$110,000 in advertising (could be paying herself as a youtuber)

$239,000 in annual office expense (ROI on that real estate) That is a super expensive trailer

$209,000 in IT expense (again likely her)

$40,000 in conventions

$189,000 in depreciation of assets

$600,000 in animal care that is vague as fuck compared to other sanctuaries.
Unlike Big Cat Rescue, sanctuaries like the Wildcat Sanctuary don't mask the amount of money they spend on their animals. As detailed in their 2017 tax return, the Wildcat Sanctuary actually reported how much they spent on food ($69,177), veterinary care ($79,724), and maintenance ($52,893). ​

In a lengthy interview with Owen McGab Enaohwo, CEO of SweetProcess, Carole Baskin, CEO of Big Cat Rescue, let it slip that nobody is paid to feed animals, clean cages, and provide medical care.

Here is a quick recap for 2018:​​

• Total revenue: $4,429,347
• Total expenses: $3,201,985
• Salaries and benefits: $859,754 
• Total animal care/education: $663,401
• Total surplus: $1,227,362

Here are a few other highlights worth mentioning:

• Total assets: $11,546,866
• Revenue from 2004-2018: $37,258,315
• Animal care/education from 2004-2018: $6,780,721
• Surplus from 2004-2018: $10,500,073

Fact is there are many ways that you extract money from a non-profit and it is foolish to argue that all non-profits are good. Even if you belive in the mission statement, that does not mean they are doing good things. Not all money is allocated as advertised.

Where is Don?

It is not really ethical is why they fixated on it. She was clear that she has no clue who the people are, even the ones that had been there for years. Non Profits are not all volunteer based and when you use volunteers/interns where actual employees should fill those roles it is working around labor laws.

I realize you had a good experience and I am sure no volunteer was forced into it. That does not excuse the behavior. When the owner brags that they make 1m a year and uses interns it is a red flag. Note, there were slaves that remained on the plantation after slavery was abolished.

I can't say I would want anyone that was on the show as a friend of mine. Maybe the vaping campaign manager for some beers but that is it. Carol was a breeder. She used her husbands wealth to buy cats. She just pivoted better than the other freaks.

Department of Labor would disagree.

According to the Department of Labor, a volunteer is: an “individual who performs hours of service’ for civic, charitable, or humanitarian reasons, without promise, expectation or receipt of compensation for services rendered. To determine whether an individual is a true volunteer engaged in “ordinary volunteerism,” the Department of Labor considers a number of factors. No single factor is determinative. The factors include:

​

• Is the entity that will benefit/receive services from the volunteer a nonprofit organization?
• Is the activity less than a full-time occupation?
• Are the services offered freely and without pressure or coercion?
• Are the services of the kind typically associated with volunteer work?
• Have regular employees been displaced to accommodate the volunteer?
• Does the worker receive (or expect) any benefit from the entity to which it is providing services?

A volunteer position at your nonprofit is likely to be regarded as “ordinary volunteerism” and safely exempt from the minimum wage requirements of the FLSA if you can answer “yes” to the first four questions and “no”

Did you think she was abusing the volunteer loophole to avoid paying people?