by Pajarita » Sat May 28, 2016 9:20 am
The man says he has spent millions on it and I, for one, believe it 100% because I know how much my husband ended up spending on the rescue I used to have... And, if I had died then, he also would have said that he was not going to continue funding it (just because one party of the marriage is a bird person, it doesn't mean that the other party is, too).
The board of directors is usually nothing but names on paper. You need a certain number depending on the state (usually three) to become a corporation (which is the first step before you apply for your Federal tax exemption) and people who start a rescue normally recruit relatives or friends for this but they never actually take part or responsibility on any decisions.
As to having a plan to leave it to somebody... yes, that is the ideal, of course. But it doesn't work most of the time because, usually, you choose from people who have the same interest as you, namely, a volunteer, because it has to be somebody who is not only willing but also able and knowledgeable enough about the running of the rescue but there aren't that many people that would stick with it for years and years. And then, you have the 'hoarding' streak involved in running a rescue... I've said it many times and I know that most rescuers would not agree to this but rescuers do have a mild hoarding streak in them and, when you have been doing rescue for a long time and people call you 'an angel' or some other form of praise all the time, it ends up going to your head and you start thinking that there might not be anybody else out there that can love them as much as you do or that, even when you are not taking real good care of them, they are still better off with you than with anybody else so you either don't make an effort or make such a half-hearted one as to be useless...