From Puccini to pit bulls and pugs: NH Humane Society names new director

LACONIA — Charles Stanton’s career as an opera singer paired well with his ability to write grants. He could perform in the evening and raise money for nonprofits during the day. He started writing grants for arts organizations, then found a larger market for health-related organizations. He believed in the causes, but after writing many grants for similar organizations, he found himself with writer’s block. That’s how he stepped onto a path that led him to being the new executive director of the NH Humane Society.

“I was sitting one day in Portland (Oregon),” he said. He was writing a grant for a health and human services nonprofit, and instead of sounding compelling, the story he was telling was coming out stale and uninspired. “I was stumped. I said, I need something new. I looked down at my dog, Polly.” Blind in one eye and scarred from her previous life as a bait animal in a dogfighting circuit, Polly had required surgeries and therapies – as well as lots of time and patience – to get her to a place of comfort, health and confidence.

“I said, I should tell the story about her,” Stanton said. When he finished with that grant, he turned his talents to animal welfare, which ultimately led to him being the executive director of the Yakima Humane Society in Washington.

“The humane society in Yakima, Washington, is a high-volume shelter, so it has a different business model by necessity,” Stanton said. Yakima, a city of 90,000 situated in some of central Washington’s most productive agricultural regions, had some wealthy winemakers and hops growers, and a lot of rural poverty. That resulted in a significant population of people who weren’t able to provide basic spay/neuter or vaccination services for their animals, and the humane society had many animals to handle.

“Looking at the numbers here, it looks like a vacation – until you look at the model of care,” Stanton said. The NH Humane Society applies what he called a “holistic care model – what does this specific animal need?”

Stanton, who started his new job on Monday, is a native of North Carolina. Growing up, he split his time between his parents’ home in the small city of Cherryville, and his grandparents’ farm in a rural part of the state. He studied music, business and communications at Wingate University in North Carolina, earned his master’s in music from the University of North Carolina, and completed doctoral studies in music at the University of Houston.

His music career took him all over the world. One of those places was central New Hampshire, where he taught at Plymouth State University for three years starting in 2004. Stanton’s partner, an antiques dealer, also had ties to New Hampshire, and the two had wanted to relocate to New England for some years, he said. So, when he saw that the Humane Society was looking for a new director, he applied. Stanton and his partner – and their two dogs – have moved into a 200-year-old home in Sutton.

The NH Humane Society had been without a permanent director for a little more than a year. Tony Matos, chair of the board of directors, said the nonprofit organization wanted to be deliberate and exhaustive in their search. They hired a national search firm that delivered more than 100 candidates. The firm then began, with the board’s input, to winnow the field.

Stanton, said Matos, stood out because of his proven ability to raise funds and friends for the previous organizations he’s worked with – he has raised more than $360 million in revenue for a wide range of charitable causes.

During his first week, Stanton said he was trying to get to know the staff and volunteers at the shelter.

“The thing that I’ve found so far, in having the chance to meet with staff, we have a very dedicated group of folks,” Stanton said. They come from a diversity of backgrounds, he said, but share something in common. “The core is that they’re here because they want the best for the animals. It’s been wonderful to see not just that passion, but also the knowledge base.”

His next phase is to meet with the organization’s “significant stakeholders,” to introduce himself and thank them for their continued support. After that, he plans to get to know the local community better and to find more ways for the NH Humane Society to serve its neighbors. He also wants to revive some of the organization’s signature fundraising events, Paws for a Cause, and Wags, Whiskers and Wine, which have lain fallow in recent years.

Stanton doesn’t since much opera anymore, though he will take requests. Just have your checkbook ready, because these days he’s more interested in helping a cause than winning fans.

“I’m happy to sing anything you like, what would you like to donate to our organization?” is his standard response.