essential nonprofit
DANE COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY
Centennial Celebration
Helping People Help Animals by Jeanne Engle
“Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help, shall they be saved.” —Dr. Jane Goodall From the beginning, community members have rallied to help Dane County Humane Society (DCHS) save animals. Whether it was giving to Mrs. Ida Kittelson, their first president; contributing directly; or participating in a campaign, the community has been there when DCHS needed them. In 1922, the Madison Community Union (later Madison Community Chest) was incorporated with 14 agencies, including DCHS, to band together for donation collections from community members. The goal was to reduce the number of financial drives and campaigns in Madison. One solicitation a year would provide a time
savings for all agencies. In fact, their slogan was “Give Once for All.” In 1950, Community Chest turned over fundraising responsibilities to United Givers, a newly formed single fundraising group. Then in 1951, prior to the start of the fall giving campaign, DCHS was dropped. DCHS Membership Chair Evelyn Baas wrote in The Capital Times, “Its ‘governing body’ [Community Chest’s] says we are no longer entitled to share in any of its funds, which, by the way, are publicly donated. Therefore, we must depend on new memberships, renewals of our old ones, and contributions. ... The public at large perhaps does not
know that our work is not entirely confined to animals, but when so-called welfare agencies whose budgets have always been larger than ours fail to carry out their obligations, DCHS can be relied upon to at least not pass the buck, but make a concentrated effort to help and has yet to fail.” Evelyn’s husband, Alexius Baas, DCHS director of education and a columnist for The Capital Times, also blasted Community Chest/United Givers on several occasions for its action. The present-day United Way of Dane County became the organization’s new name in 1971, and DCHS is today a donor-designated agency. DCHS receives money only when donors designate their United Way contributions to go to them. DCHS’s budget is now nearly $5 million, with individual and corporate donations representing the greatest share at 35 percent, followed by program services and fees at 21 percent, bequests at 14 percent, municipal contracts at 6 percent, investments and miscellaneous income at 6 percent, grants at 5 percent, events at 3 percent, and thrift store and merchandise sales at 3 percent.
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