My Nonprofit Reviews

Shelter policies unclear, director seems to be perpetually angry.
I was coming in most Sunday afternoons for an hour or so to socialize with the cats, since I am living in the area while on a contract engineering assignment. I saw from the first time I was there that the director always seemed to be angry about something, but I let it pass as I enjoyed the chance to work with the cats, as I've done on many other contract assignments over the last 30 years. Most weeks I would make a donation to help out the shelter.
It was suggested that I brush some of the cats, and so I bought a brush that I brought with me every week. This continued for several months, until last Sunday(11th of August), when the director noticed that I had the brush. She asked me if this was my brush? I replied that it was, and she became very angry about using my own brush. Another volunteer remarked that she had forgotten to tell me that this wasn't allowed. Yet I had been doing this with no objections for several months.
I had earlier made a donation; the first time I've been asked. If I had known that the director was going to get so angry, I would not have made the donation. When my contract ends in late September, I was going to make a much larger donation. Obviously, that is now out of the question.
I like the cats, and will miss the chance to spend time with them. But I won't tolerate being harangued over a policy that I was not aware of.
I think that the shelter's policies need to be made more clearly, and most importantly, I think that the director needs to either be replaced by someone who isn't always angry, or remove the lemons and prune juice from her diet. Until then, I urge people considering either donating to or volunteering to find another shelter with a calmer director.