Dorchak & Theil Get A Pay Raise...

The Board of Directors for Grey2K USA need to be called to task for neglecting their duties. The purpose for a tax-exempt Board of Directors is to:

1. Determine mission and purpose. It is the board's responsibility to create and review a statement of mission and purpose that articulates the organization's goals, means, and primary constituents served.
2. Select the chief executive. Boards must reach consensus on the chief executive's responsibilities and undertake a careful search to find the most qualified individual for the position.
3. Support and evaluate the chief executive. The board should ensure that the chief executive has the moral and professional support he or she needs to further the goals of the organization.
4. Ensure effective planning. Boards must actively participate in an overall planning process and assist in implementing and monitoring the plan's goals.
5. Monitor, and strengthen programs and services. The board's responsibility is to determine which programs are consistent with the organization's mission and monitor their effectiveness.
6. Ensure adequate financial resources. One of the board's foremost responsibilities is to secure adequate resources for the organization to fulfill its mission.
7. Protect assets and provide proper financial oversight. The board must assist in developing the annual budget and ensuring that proper financial controls are in place.
8. Build a competent board. All boards have a responsibility to articulate prerequisites for candidates, orient new members, and periodically and comprehensively evaluate their own performance.
9. Ensure legal and ethical integrity. The board is ultimately responsible for adherence to legal standards and ethical norms.
10. Enhance the organization's public standing. The board should clearly articulate the organization's mission, accomplishments, and goals to the public and garner support from the community.

*References: Richard T. Ingram, Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards, Second Edition (BoardSource 2009).

Grey2K USA is a tax-exempt organization. (They are not a charity and donations to them are NOT tax deductible.) In these 10 basic purposes, as outlined above, the BOD for Grey2K USA have failed & they have failed miserably.  We shall address their failures individually, starting with...

1. Determine mission and purpose. It is the board's responsibility to create and review a statement of mission and purpose that articulates the organization's goals, means, and primary constituents served.

The mission statement as provided on Guidestar is...

"GREY2K USA is the largest greyhound protection organization in the United States. As a non-profit 501(c)4 organization, we work to pass stronger greyhound protection laws and to end the cruelty of dog racing on both national and international levels. We also promote the rescue, rehoming and adoption of greyhounds across the globe."

Since Grey2K was formed 11 years ago in 2001, they have not been successful in banning the act of greyhound racing in any state!  That's right... not a single state contrary to their claims.  In 2001, it was legal to race greyhounds in 49 states and it is still legal to race them in 49 states.

Grey2K likes to claim that greyhound racing is banned in Massachusetts, but it isn't. It isn't a victory...  The only thing banned in Massachusetts is WAGERING on greyhound races. It is still legal to race greyhounds there.

A goal of Grey2K which is NOT mentioned in their mission statement is the eradication of gambling. That really needs to be added by the BOD.  But, of course, Carey Theil keeps denying that part of their goal. He keeps saying that "Grey2K has no position on gambling."  Well, if that's true,

Why is the anti-gambling advocate, Rev. Tom Gray, Stop Predatory Gambling & the National Coalition Against Gambling on the Grey2K BOD?

Why does Carey Theil, Executive Director for Grey2K, sit on the BOD for Stop Predatory Gambling?

Why did Grey2K contribute more than $19,000 to a Florida gambling ballot initiative, No Casinos, in 2004?

Why does the South Florida Business Journal in Jan 2008, "Anti-gambling coalition No Casinos Miami is urging voters to reject the ballot issue. Its members include the Christian Coalition of South Florida, the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling and greyhound rights group Grey2K USA."?

And, finally, WHY are there statements like this...

November 30, 2004, Grey2K Press Release by Carey Theil - “The fact that at least one racing greyhound recently tested positive for cocaine is very troubling, and calls into question the integrity of wagers being placed at Massachusetts dog tracks."

AND

May 14, 2005 in the Boston Globe by Bray Hiawatha - "Critics of legalized gambling, already appalled by the spread of online casinos, view the coming of cellphone wagering with undisguised dread. "Anytime you are expanding gambling on an electronic platform, I think there are concerns about gambling addiction," said Carey Theil, a Brighton resident who sits on the board of the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion. "Studies have shown that the faster [the] forms of gambling are, the more addictive they are."

Then, the other part of the mission statement which is not being met...  supporting greyhound adoption.  Up until very recently, Grey2K has not supported Greyhound adoption efforts and, in fact, it is STILL VERY DEBATABLE as to whether the single webpage they have erected is an HONEST EFFORT to support adoptions. After all, in 2008, letters were sent to both GPA and other racing neutral groups in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut demanding info, which is publicly available, and then follow up letters threatening the groups with exposure to fines up to $10,000!  How is that supporting greyhound adoption?  Grey2K USA, with all their hundreds of thousands of dollars, donates NOTHING to provide services to greyhounds in need.  Instead, they pay lobbyists, attorneys, and others who do not provide any services to greyhounds.

Grey2K USA does pay their Executive Director, Carey Theil, and the President, Treasurer, and General Counsel, Christine Dorchak, salaries. Theil & Dorchak are husband & wife and they did, in fact, receive a pay raise of nearly $4,000!  Not too bad for not accomplishing anything!


And the greyhounds...  How much did they get from Grey2K?   $0.00 - not a penny...


So, as LuLu so appropriately stated, 

"I think we need to ask the public this question: Would you rather see $343,362 go towards helping Greyhounds in reputable adoption groups with the resources they need & helping the Greyhounds who land themselves in horrible situations such as the FT Worth 28, animal hoarding/backyard breeding situations & Giles Express to name a few?   

Or, would you rather see that money go towards salaries from $79,000 to $83,000 to line someone else's pocket, lobbying expenses, supporting/endorsing politicians, paying someone else's phone bills, paying for someone else's expensive travel trips, paying for someone else's expensive awards banquets, paying for ties to a federally recognized known domestic terrorist groups who want NO animals to walk this earth with us, causing the loss of thousands of jobs, not donating 1 dime to help the Greyhounds themselves & purchasing hundreds of website domains that all point to 1 domain?
It's your choice... 

I support the 1st choice. Which choice do YOU choose?"

These monies are monies diverted from real welfare providers. Which is interesting, as Grey2K loves to accuse greyhound adoption of being a factor in displacing other adoptable dogs who would erstwhile find homes were it not for the yearly "glut" of retiring greyhounds. 

I think the Grey2K BOD needs to start asking some hard questions of their employees, Theil & Dorchak.  Questions such as...

1. What plans are in place to ensure the welfare of the dogs that will no longer race when the adoption system can't handle the thousands of dogs that will flood the system all at once? 

2. Will our organization spend the hundreds of thousands of dollars we raise each year to help maintain and care for those dogs until they can be placed? If not, why not?

The greyhounds affected by Grey2K's litigation and lobbying need to take priority over the salaries of Theil & Dorchak and their wining and dining of politicians. If it doesn't, then it isn't about the dogs after all.

One has to ask, how does Grey2K support greyhounds and greyhound adoption, especially when one reviews their history. I think most of us, regardless of which side of the fence we are on, would agree that hundreds of thousands of dollars has been wasted and much of it has been used to hamper the adoption and welfare effort of ex-racing greyhounds.

Truly, the Grey2K BOD has failed in its purpose and it has failed miserably.

Yours in greyhounds...