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agitprop
Joined: 14 Jun 2005
Posts: 895
Location: town called Malice
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 Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 1:10 am Post subject: Question about Red Cross |
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| I've gotten several emails from various sources saying that we should not donate to TRC as funds earmarked for the crisis are often not dispersed for the intended purposes. I haven't heard this and I've been planning on donating to them for NO. What have you all heard and what is the truth? |
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brantgoose
Joined: 14 Jun 2005
Posts: 482
Location: America's Attic
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| Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 1:19 am Post subject: Re: Question about Red Cross |
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| agitprop wrote: |
| I've gotten several emails from various sources saying that we should not donate to TRC as funds earmarked for the crisis are often not dispersed for the intended purposes. I haven't heard this and I've been planning on donating to them for NO. What have you all heard and what is the truth? |
There has been a history of this. Whether they still do this or have cleaned up their act I can not say.
Also, the speed of response and other factors vary from charity to charity and crisis to crisis. Some charities are slow responders and some are quicker. There is often a play-off between values--for example, shipping large amounts of grain to a famine zone by ship is slow but cheap, while flying it in is quick but enormously expensive and inefficient.
If you want donations to go to a specific purpose you should expressly say so--some online donations have a drop-down list.
Write "For victims of Hurricane Katrina" on a cheque, for example. You can write a note requesting that the money be used for immediate relief, long term recovery, etc.
Charity Navigator is a site I have mentionned several times on alfrankensense.com and afw.com. It is an organization that evaluates charities. They can provide you with detailed information on how they evaluate charities and point out which charities are technically efficient (low administrative costs, low salaries, etc.) They also offer advice on how to deal with telemarketers and how to determine if a charity is legitimate, efficient and effective.
I have been trying to find biggest-bang-for-your-charity-buck information and this is one of the best although there are other sites for philanthropists and charity news which can be useful if you really do your research.
www.charitynavigator.org
_________________
We're all descended from Primal Chaos but I have the genealogy to PROVE my line of descent.
Last edited by brantgoose on Sat Sep 03, 2005 1:22 am; edited 1 time in total |
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mostomotus
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Posts: 10414
Location: Among Friends
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| Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 1:20 am Post subject: |
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After 9-11, the Red Cross used some of the funds collected for purposes other than 9-11 relief-- meaning that it would go into a general fund to take care of smaller disasters. There was a big outcry about that, which led to Bernadette Healy (who was then chair) stepping down,
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/01/31/rec.liberty.fund/
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| The Red Cross came under fire from donors and lawmakers late last year for its plan to distribute some of the money the fund collected for purposes not directly related to the attacks. Burned by the criticism, the agency regrouped and asked Mitchell, who led peace negotiations in Northern Ireland and a committee examining the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, to oversee fund distribution. |
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"Americans are suffering in the Gulf while Republicans apologize to Big Oil." - Nancy Pelosi. |
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agitprop
Joined: 14 Jun 2005
Posts: 895
Location: town called Malice
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| Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 2:06 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for the info. and the charity navigator site, BG. Just what I was looking for!
I tend to trust TRC, I have friends who are volunteers for them and they are exceptional people. |
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