Over $576,000 of Contributions in 2015
For a foundation that has no website and no readily apparent way for the public to make donations, the BFF Foundation was able to raise over $576,000 of contributions in 2015. One can only wonder if Howard and/or Beth Stern contributed money to the foundation or if the money came from other donors. Regardless, the donor(s) were likely to have been able to reap a tax deduction for a contribution to this charitable organization.
Minimal Expenses in 2015
With such large amounts of contributions, one may have expected the BFF Foundation to put the money to good use in order to save lives (of animals, not people). However, it surprisingly reported only $2,648 of expenses in 2015, including $989 of legal fees and a generous grant of $1,659 to a Harlem animal hospital. I wonder how the cost of the shoes that Beth posted in a recent picture compares to the amount of the grant to the animal hospital.
The BFF Foundation does not seem to have any employees and each of the named officers and directors puts in an average of 0.0 hours per week.
Investments in Publicly-Traded Securities
The BFF Foundation's annual report reveals what the foundation did with the hundreds of thousands of dollars of contributions - rather than funding animal-related charities, the money is mainly in cash accounts and invested in publicly-traded securities.
Certainly an interesting use of funds, although maybe the BFF Foundation will use some of that cash to pay for the NSAL kitten wing once construction finally starts.
Bianca's Furry Friends - Update
Nearly 4 years after the project was first announced, a Newsday story indicated that the North Shore Animal League finally received preliminary approval to build Bianca's Furry Friends.
The Newsday article mentioned that "the league did not receive full approval because the staff has to submit paperwork proving that they would abide by six special construction requests from the town." It's unclear whether the NSAL submitted said paperwork, when the project will actually get started or when it is expected to be completed.
In the meantime, there are still fund raisers for Bianca's Furry Friends, and Beth proudly announced that a middle school kid donated his allowance and it will be used to build this gaudy addition - the lucky youngster received a wonderful prize in his school's contest, as he got to name one of Beth's foster cats.
As usual, commenters in Beth's Instagram post praise the young kid instead of asking why Beth and Howard don't just pay for the kitty wing themselves rather than spending a fortune on their lavish homes. Too bad they couldn't have also thrown in some additional prizes, such as one of Howard's great drawings or a gift bag similar to the generous swag that the Stern show gives to guests.
And after all that she still left the "Beth" part of the name at the end of every Instagram post featuring this kitty. She must not have liked the name Bonnie because the cat became BonnieBeth thereafter. The poor kid donated his whole piggy bank and Beth just couldn't drop her name and let him have the cat be named after his mother :-(
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