Humane Society planning major organizational changes
When Molly was rescued she had a choke collar imbedded in her skin.
After spending almost a year in the shelter she found her forever family.
When you go to the Petfinder site, enter “Dubois County” in the search bar above the images and Molly’s image will appear with a “Vote” button. You will have to provide some basic information to vote.
The Dubois County Humane Society plans on changing the 39-year-old Articles of Incorporation in a membership meeting next week. Approximately 300 members should have received invitations to the meeting to be held at the The Timbers on March 21 at 6:30 p.m.
During this meeting, the goal is to vote to amend the organization’s bylaws to reflect how the board has actually operated for many years.
When the organization was formed, the articles of incorporation and bylaws designated its board members be appointed annually by a quorum of 25 members of the Humane Society. According to Mary Saalman, current board president, the board rarely, if ever, had the participation to appoint the board appropriately. Thus, the board, acting as members, continued to appoint new board members without the required 25 members present at the annual meetings.
According to Scott Wylie, CEO of the Vanderburgh County Community Foundation and a non-profit attorney, many organizations were formed under this membership organization structure many years ago. But membership boards are designed for groups like trade organizations, in which the boards specifically represent the interests of its membership.
The Dubois County Humane Society was never designed for that cause, it was put in place to support the growing population of neglected, abused and abandoned animals in the county.
“It should never have been incorporated as a membership board,” Wylie said. “We have assisted in the reorganization of at least seven of these membership boards to governing boards in Vanderburgh County.”
According to Wylie, these organizations find themselves in the same situation the Dubois County Humane Society has found themselves in; a lack of membership involvement and a stagnant board.
Recognizing the issues and subsequently having to deal with some issues on tax payments, two members of the board began meeting with Brad Ward, CEO Dubois County Community Foundation. Ward recommended the group seek consultation with June Miller, Southern Regional Director, Indiana Nonprofit Resource Network, and an attorney to advise the organization on how to proceed with correcting the obvious issues they were experiencing.
According to Ward, the Community Foundation is there to support the feasibility of local non-profit groups and to perpetuate their continued success in the community. “Our goal is to help them with these much needed changes,” Ward stated, “Especially an organization that hasn’t looked at its governing structure for 39 years.”
In November, a granting committee for the Community Foundation awarded the Humane Society with $4000 to contract June Miller and Attorney Eric Schue with the firm Bingham Greenebaum Doll LLP, for their services in the reorganization, and Krueger and Associates to assist with the tax-related problems.
This is the second time members of the board have sought to amend the Articles of Incorporation. A current board member, Stacey Patton explained she and two other members were appointed to a committee to explore the options in 2008. “When I was on the board in 2008, we did have a committee of three board members that were assigned to focus on long term planning which included bringing on a part-time executive director,” she explained in an email.
Unfortunately the committee dissolved when two members had to stop their volunteer efforts to deal with personal problems.
Fortunately the organization is in good financial standing thanks to continued membership support, fundraising activities and a large endowment it received from an estate in 2012.
According to the organizations 2011 and 2010 IRS Form 990’s (a required yearly tax statement for non-profits), the organization has maintained about $400,000 in assets (nearly $200,000 in property and nearly $200,000 in cash, savings, and investments according to the 2011 Form 990) with an income of about $60,000 and about $60,000 in expenses, during that time frame.
In addition to these funds, late last summer the organization received about $453,000 from an estate.
Betty Fendel, long-time board member and one of the original founders of the organization, was named as the trustee of the two checks from the estate. According to Fendel, due to concerns about holding the checks at her home, she deposited the funds into a money market account in the Humane Society’s name with Springs Valley Bank and Trust without the board’s approval or knowledge about two days after receiving them.
Fendel provided the board with the information regarding the account she established after she announced her resignation and, allegedly, the money remains in that account to this day.
Now the organization plans on reorganizing through the meeting to be held next week. Ward stated in an email this is typically a positive thing, “most boards that make significant changes to their organization become extremely tight afterwards, thus creating tremendous synergy within the community, attracting attention and talent quickly.”
According to Saalman, this is the organization’s goal and she plans on continuing with improvements with the organization’s services. “We are only open a few hours, two days a week,” she explained. “How are we being effective if we are only available on that limited amount of time.”
To accommodate the changes in the organization, an executive director will likely be hired to guide the organization’s daily activities under board direction, but first the current members must approve the changes.
“The acting volunteer board is asking its members to formally approve this change, evolve the organization into a governing board that focuses on building long term sustainability with donors and volunteers rather than members,” Saalman said in a press release.
Through this amendment, the current board of directors, despite their inappropriate appointments, will likely become the first board of directors under the new Articles of Incorporation. This move will legitimize the current board and allow for future growth through board diversification and new appointments of members within set term limits and revolving responsibilities.
“The Humane Society has been operating under the premise of a governing board with limited membership involvement for years, but without the by-laws and articles to support such action,” Ward said. “If the members vote to make this change, the Humane Society’s governance will finally reflect their Articles and Bylaws, which has not been the case for a number of years.”
If the changes are adopted, the board will continue to oversee the financial operations including fundraising and donations, maintain legal and ethical standing, and ensure that the Humane Society is accountable to its donors and the general public. A quarterly newsletter will continue to update donors about the Society, but members will no longer appoint the board of directors.
“We are excited for the prospect of evolving our outdated by-laws and articles,” Saalman said. “If it weren’t for the Community Foundation grant and the ability to work with nonprofit experts and legal counsel, we might not have ever created this pathway for evolving the organization.”
Ward has stated that after the bylaws are amended, the Community Foundation would like to assist the Humane Society in establishing an endowment with portions of the current assets the organization holds.
The annual meeting is closed to the public, but any members who have contributed within 30 days prior to the annual meeting are urged attend.
We added the statement “in the Humane Society’s name” to the statement regarding the deposit of two checks to clarify Fendel’s actions were not to the detriment of the group.
Good for them! Some of these issues have been a problem for many years now, and the community has been estranged by the very closed system there. Time to do what is right for the animals: allow more volunteers from the community to help, get the animals more exposure (and more playtime with people and other animals!), and make the shelter a place people WANT to go to find their next family member (this includes expediting the paperwork procedures–which tend to drag on and on–and being open convenient hours). There are so many animals in this community that need help. Sounds like they are taking steps in the right direction!
The Dubois County Humane Society is a wonderful organization that has helped countless animals since it was organized over 38 years ago. This organization would not exist if it hadn’t been for the ongoing efforts of its co-founder Betty Fendel. Since its conception, Betty had been instrumental in the direction of organization, and because of her diligent efforts over the years; the organization is now in an ideal position to expand and help even more animals in need. Please don’t forget that any changes made to the shelter now are only possible because of the stable foundation that Betty and other volunteers established many years ago.
I am a former board member, and it’s disappointing to read the many inaccuracies in the above article concerning the Dubois County
County Humane Society and Betty Fendel. Particularly the line, “Fendel provided the board with the information regarding the account she established after she announced her resignation and, allegedly, the money remains in that account to this day.”
Because I was present at the August 2012 board meeting, I know for a fact that Betty announced, in August, to the board that the humane society had been left $453,000. It wasn’t until the September 2012 meeting that Betty officially resigned, one full month AFTER she informed the board of the gift. It would have been so easy for the reporter to request the board meeting minutes (everyone has that right, they are public record) to double check the dates. He could have then reported accurate information.
What bothers me the most is why the reporter wrote the money is “allegedly” in the account that Betty Fendel set up for the humane society. This is a very strong statement and before printing this I would have done everything possible to find out where the money was. Reporters have an obligation to the public to report the facts, and not make misleading statements. The reporter could have easily confirmed the money was intact by contacting someone at the humane society.
Hopefully Mr. Crane will make the effort to report the FACTS, apologize to Betty Fendel, and amend his article to reflect his findings.
We interviewed Betty Fendel directly. In regards to Betty Fendel’s statement to me during an interview, she was the treasurer at the time of her resignation. She stated that she held onto the checks for no more than two days before depositing them into a money market account at SVBT. She further stated, upon my questioning, that she provided all the account information regarding this account and other accounts to the Humane Society the day after she resigned.
We confirmed this information, however, we were unable to confirm the status of the account at the time of the writing of the article.
I would gladly vet any other discrepancies in the article if you would name them.
Several people that have read your article have approached
me questioning what happened. Because of way you have written the article it sounds as though Betty withheld information about the gift of money. Betty informed the board about the gift at the August
board meeting. After she resigned in September she handed over all information related to her duties a couple of days later. If you were “unable to confirm the status of the account”, why didn’t you state just that. By writing the money is “allegedly” in the
account, you’re providing suspicion, where there isn’t any. I think the average person would agree with me on this.
This may be a case of semantics but when your attaching
someones name to almost a half million dollars you should be more sensitive.
If the Dubois County Humane Society has as much money as it has been stated then why haven’t there been any improvements? Why do they act as if they are broke and can’t afford to give that place a face lift? Just asking.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for what they do for the animals but they desperately need a make over, new people and to be open more often. One things for certain, that place has needed a change for a long time.
Can someone please tell me what the goal is with all of this? Will the same people still run that place or will they let some fresh new blood take over? I heard that they were turning it over to the city.
From what I’ve read and saw on WJTS they are holding a membership drive to get the 25 of members present to vote to amend their bylaws and be a governing board instead of a membership board. So they are bringing on new members to vote for abolishing memberships and their right to vote? Someone told me that this meeting next week should just be for a proposal and that every member should receive a letter by mail with their vote after the proposal is accepted according to Indiana Code 23-17-17-2. If I have been mislead please feel free to set me straight. I’m just a concerned citizen who’s curious to know where this is all headed.
I wanted to respond to Pepper’s comments. I’m a past board member, president and current volunteer. In regards to needing a facelift, the DCHS did have a facelift in 2004. The outside of the building was totally revamped along with the inside of the building outfitted with a new office, meet and greet area and improvements to both the dog and cat areas.
As with any non-profit organization that relies solely on donations, it’s in their best interest to invest funds where possible to ensure money is available for continuing operations. There is never a guarantee that enough donations would be received each year to cover yearly expenses or sustain the organization. The board has always been fiscally responsible by ensuring the necessary funds were available for several months of operation; this is no different than any business would operate. As the article noted, it costs about $60,000/year to operate the facility. Concerning the recent generous donation, it was given to ensure that in another 30 years there will still be a humane society serving the county. The board does make the financial decisions which are taken very seriously as the board is accountable to their organization and the community. The DCHS is doing the right thing by involving a non-profit expert to review the current operations and assist in moving the organization forward to better serve the community. The DCHS is also working with a board consultant to assist with diversifying the board of directors, thereby, bringing new people with different backgrounds on the board, which will hopefully assist the adoption center with future growth. There is a plan to also hire a part-time Executive Director and one of the first duties will be to re-institute a volunteer program, hopefully bringing on new, energized volunteers to assist with current needs and future growth. The DCHS will not revert back to the city; the organization will continue operations and hopefully grow stronger each year.
Concerning the upcoming meeting, the Articles of Incorporation note the organization as a “membership board” which requires a certain amount of members to be present for the annual meetings. However, for many years, members haven’t come to those meetings and the DCHS hasn’t been in compliance with the Articles of Incorporation. Members have had the right to come to the meetings and vote but that has been a rare occasion in the last 30+ years. The amendment calls for changing to a governing board as the DCHS has been really operating that way for many years. Numerous local non-profits also are governed this way. Anyone that paid their 2012, 2013 or life memberships received a letter encouraging them to attend the upcoming meeting. There was no membership “drive” to get new members.
This all volunteer board is accessing its operations and creating plans for the future. I commend what they are doing. If you want to be part of the positive change, please get involved. At the end of the day, it’s all about living the mission of the DCHS: helping homeless animals find forever homes and reducing the pet overpopulation through spay/neuter programs and community education.
Stacey, I do believe it was stated on WJTS by, I think her name was Linda that DCHS was having a membership drive.
Perhaps they would consider changing their name and distancing themselves from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), too. That would raise their standing in the community.
Why would anyone want to be associated with the President and CEO of HSUS who would prefer that all hunting be eliminated and that there were no pets in the entire world. In the 1994 book Bloodties, he said, “In fact, I don’t want to see another cat or dog born.” Is that the kind of person/organization that the Dubois County Humane Society wants to be associated with?