My Nonprofit Reviews

The World Animal Awareness Society - WA2S and specifically me; Tom McPhee Founder, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director appreciates the platform that is GreatNonprofits.org. It operates on a similar basis as our own, to look at ourselves - to see our own evolution, and to assist us in our ability to grow and learn.
The Society was built from a vision I had while producing the award-winning documentary, An American Opera (Google it). I believe we can see our own human evolution when we observe the myriad intersections between animal and human-animal. In August 2010, Hollywood Philanthropist Ady Gil graciously allowed me to invite ourselves to use his house for a Halloween fundraiser - INTO THE WILD HALLOWEEN MASQUERADE BALL (photos of the party are on the WA2S.org Facebook page)scheduled for October 22, 2010. I had never met Ady before, yet he allowed us use of his home for a couple of days. I and the WA2S are forever grateful. In September of 2010 the WA2S hired the PR firm Evolotus PR to develop and implement a campaign to get people to the party and help the WA2S raise money. The price on the contract with Evolotus was $1,000. This was a ticketed event. There would eventually be more than $3,800 dollars in expenses, with less than $2,000 in ticket sales. There was a 50 - 50 raffle as well as a couple of items that were auctioned off for nominal amounts. Ady Gil was a very gracious and open host although he was at that very moment going through a very heated exchange with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society over the sinking of his namesake boat. Karen O’Toole was the most generous of supporters over the course of the evening and the too kind, very warm-hearted Nathan Runkel of Mercy For Animals donated his portion of the 50 - 50 raffle (approx. $140?) back to the WA2S once I pleaded with him that we were broke and the party/fund raiser would have us more broke. I believe I am an excellent salesman. I also believe I am a terrible social Fund-Raiser. I do not truly understand the social/mechanics of it. Primarily because of this party - INTO THE WILD HALLOWEEN MASQUERADE BALL, and 2 other "celebrity" World Animal Awareness Society fund raisers, the WA2S has stopped using this method to raise funds. It does not work for us and has cost us precious money to run our operations. Grants and licensing are the current focus. When I contracted with Kezia Jauron and Gary Smith of Evolotus I was very clear on how broke we were (not uncommon for a non profit start up). They also told me that it would be difficult to accomplish what we set out to do - raise money. I could write a book on how absolutely painful it is to try to run a 10 hour party and get people to give you money when they don't fully understand your mission (my bad). Michelle Way from the WA2S did a marvelous job assembling so many components to the evening going back many weeks. However, the evening was a train wreck on so many levels. The WA2S invited many others (authors, filmmakers, activists, leaders in the animal welfare realm, and yes Oscar winners) to attend, and they did (in part probably due to the efforts of Evolotus). We gave these people a platform at our party to help provide awareness to their efforts and as a way of building some new relationships. Many got up and gave a presentation about their missions and work, some showed videos because we invited them too. Few said thank you to the WA2S for the opportunity we gave them, and some even used our invitation to speak about their cause and soliciting money from our audience without even once thanking us. It became apparent weeks after this event that it was a party for many of Evolotus's friends and clients. Many of the tickets we sold to Evolotus's friends and clients were done so at half price or 2 for one. Not a soul in the group of people and orgs that were invited by Evolotus donated a dime. Evolotus could never produce a press release for the event that they said went out and the World Animal Awareness Society has never seen one. There was no audit of the work they actually did, there was no time. Kezia & Gary spent the early part of the evening out in front of the house with Michelle Way greeting guests at the check in table. Never did Gary or Kezia approach me to introduce me to anyone in the the room. Gary and Kezia when done greeting people at the front then spent time schmoozing with their own clients and not involving themselves with making sure the WA2S had a successful fund raiser. For months after the fund raiser I spent countless hours explaining to Kezia that we were broke, could not pay for their services - never once saying anything about their performance because I was too embarrassed about our own. It pains me to no end not to be able to pay a bill. The Society still owes Town & Country Rentals more than $500 for that same party and have been truly understanding of our predicament. Evolotus harassed, than threatened the society will legal action. I did in fact suggest to Kezia that it would be ill advised to take legal action because there was no money to get. It would be throwing bad money after good, and I would appreciate her continued patience. For the record, the WA2S still lives hand to mouth. We owe 2 other contractors that we are very fond of from 2010 - our start up year - and expect to resolve these outstanding bills yet. They have been so patient, and we are so grateful. Since this fund raiser / party, the WA2S has developed a grant strategy to raise funds and has been somewhat successful. There have been many downs with a few ups. I have personally been loaned thousands to give to the WA2S to continue on with what we believe is a noble mission. I have donated more than $100k to the cause to date, mostly with money I did not have. My salary has been less than $15k for the last 3 years - since founding the WA2S. As for the suggestion that the WA2S has/had funds to pay this bill, we haven't. Any money we have received has gone into the Expeditions/Programs the money was raised for. The amount of impact (Return On Investment) the WA2S achieves with what little money we do have is astronomical This post by Evolotus PR was made only after they saw the World Animal Awareness Society has achieved a perfect rating on the GreatNonprofits.org site - because we sent them an email. Here is the email the WA2S received from Kezia before the above post: To WA2S Volunteer, You may not know WA2S signed a contract with us for services, never paid their bill, avoided collection letters, etc. We eventually gave up on Tom ever doing the right thing. He even told me that it would just cost me more money to try to collect what we were owed. It's the only time we've been cheated by anyone, and it's ironic that it was an "ethical" organization who did. I've never exposed this to others in the animal protection world, because I'm not a vengeful person. However Great Nonprofits should hear that WA2S is a deadbeat org. Please do not contact me again unless it is regarding the debt your organization owes us. Kezia Jauron Evolotus PR 2012 Vegan Business of the Year When one of our supporters saw the post here on GreatNonprofits.org they immediately got in touch and told us they would donate the money to cover this bill. When we reached back out to Evolotus they were more interested in being "vengeful" than actually having the bill paid. Here is our email to Kezia: Thank you for reaching out. It has been noted, the comments to the GreatNonprofits.org site. It is our sincerest hope that your needs our now complete. The World Animal Awareness Society is still broke, we receive money for specific things that are granted and have to use those funds for those things specifically. Further, Tom has since this matter put another $100k (borrowed) into this endeavor that he did not have. It is our sincerest hope that you find comfort in your post, we think you should have listed your companies name though. If you are so inclined to still hope to get paid, a supporter saw this post and offered to give us money to pay you. We are not so keen to accept their generosity though. We believe there is more to be gained from allowing your post to stand. end. I do believe the WA2S can gain so much more from allowing this to "air-out". We put forth a great deal of effort to accomplish the mission we have set out on, it is a hard, yet noble mission we have accepted. This story should serve to communicate to all our constituents and supporters and future supporters just how hard the task at hand is and just how efficient we try to be with the money we do raise. Every dollar we raise goes to the "Mission!" It does in fact appear that Evolotus PR is more interested in exacting vengence than getting paid. I have declined the generous offer from our donor and hope this experience helps the World Animal Awareness Society mature into the powerful, responsible corporate non profit that we expect of ourselves. I am happy to respond to any questions in regard to this or any other matter revolving around the World Animal Awarness Society. Please feel comfortable mailing me directly, you can find my email address at the WA2S.org under Executive Director. Thank you GreatNonprofits.org and Evolotus PR for giving the World Animal Awareness Society an opportunity to grow. Cheers! ~Tom McPhee Executive Director World Animal Awareness Society