Good old "Heifer International". After visiting their website, it's nice to see that they've cleaned up their act.
For many years they've been sending out glossy catalogs making people think that they were buying specific animals for specific countries. But unless you read (or could even FIND the fine print), it turned out that all the money was going into a pool, & after administrative expenses, Heifer International bought whatever animals they wanted to buy & sent them where they wanted to send them. And then they added "celebrities" to their glossy catalogs to add insult to injury.
Granted, while I'm sure the donated money went "somewhere" good, I always felt that it was slick marketing to make people believe they were buying specific livestock when, in reality, they were just donating to a pool. And Heifer International liked it looking like that. It made for nicer "gift certificates". Folks liked the idea of buying a "cow" or a "trio of rabbits", etc. That's what made it so annoying - that Heifer actually made it look like you were buying that increment of animals - aka a "trio of rabbits". When in reality your donation wasn't buying a "trio of rabbits". Frankly, it was fraudulent advertising.
A couple of years ago I sent them an e-mail about their practices, as did a number of other like-minded folks. And they responded confirming exactly what I outlined above.
However, I just visited their website, & it looks like they've mended their ways & you now can donate to purchase specific types of animals. This is how it should be if that's how your marketing strategy presents itself. If they decide to do it differently, it should be presented differently.
I donate to a number of charities, & I investigate them thoroughly beforehand. I want my bucks going to where I want them to go, not into someone's greedy little pocket.