Only cats. No dogs. Just casts. Lol jk. I guess they use them for anything. (Even tho I specify no dogs)

thats why I give it is devastating to visit the shelter knowing that most of those poor animals will be dead in a few days. You can give directly to the shelter.

It has to do with direct marketing via bulk mailings. I can assure you that no matter how much it costs them to mail your particular package, it is more than offset by the amount of $ they are generating from the tens of thousands of other people whose names appear with yours on their house file.

One reason you get multiple mailings is because people tend to donate when their own finances are good. Sending out three mailings over the course of a few months gives them a better chance of catching you on a "good day" financially. Had you responded to the earlier mailing they would have dropped you off the subsequent mailings.

Marketing 101 says that it costs ten times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to sell to an existing customer. You are an exiting customer. It's nothing personal, nor is it a waste of resources. It's simply the method and cost of doing business.

is once you donate, they bombard you with mailings and phone calls. It is really offensive and does not show a very good use of the money they receive.

Also ASPCA has a reputation for financial waste:

It’s about the money, not the animals. The independent watchdog CharityWatch finds that ASPCA spends up to 35 percent of its budget on overhead, and 38 cents to raise every dollar, giving the organization a middling “C+” rating. Charity Navigator calculates that ASPCA spent a whopping $52 million on fundraising in 2012. CEO Edwin Sayres was getting nearly $600,000 in compensation annually when he left in 2013.

/snip/

Despite having $115 million in contributions in 2013, the ASPCA only found homes for 3,400 dogs and cats, according to its annual report. That’s a cost of $34,000 per animal adopted.

The New York Times reported on an instance of fiscal irresponsibility that irked board members. In 2006, the ASPCA had budgeted $125,000 to work with a consultant and his firm. However, the ASPCA ended up paying $771,000 in total to both, including $400,000 for a fundraising dog walk—an event that netted just $14,000. A former ASPCA board chair called it “a washout,” while the board’s then-treasurer deemed it “an inappropriate expenditure” and was incensed by “failure of management disclosure to the board.”

Questions about finances aren’t just recent. The ASPCA fired 4 officials in 1994, including a senior vice president and a vice president, after it was discovered that some workers earned up to $131,000 a year in overtime. Further, the Manhattan District Attorney opened an investigation after the ASPCA’s new shelter at the time had design flaws that endangered hundreds of animals. The animal-rights newspaper Animal People noted that this was just the latest in a series of faux pas for the organization.

https://www.activistfacts.com/organizations/american-society-for-the-prevention-of-cruelty-to-animals-aspca/


It is probably better to donate directly to local shelters.