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[Squirrel Killer]

From what I understand of the organisation, they use donations as they see fit to help in various situations. So if you donate $100 to help hurricane Harvey victims, maybe only $50 of it goes there and the rest is stockpiled to help for future disasters or ones in different areas.

Did anyone else see this post with a read Account Approvals poster name?

 

[guess]

Did anyone else see this post with a read Account Approvals poster name?

Yes

 

[KSweeley]

Did anyone else see this post with a read Account Approvals poster name?

Huh????

 

[Trouble]

Can you defend the fact that half a billion USD in donations only got 6 homes built in Haiti by the American Red Cross?: https://www.propublica.org/article/...a-billion-dollars-for-haiti-and-built-6-homes

Yes, the Red Cross isn't in the business of building houses. The very vast majority of their aid is doing immediate disaster response (water, food, shelters).

They responded to the propublica article explaining this.
http://www.redcross.org/news/press-release/American-Red-Cross-Responds-to-Recent-ProPublica-Report-on-Haiti
http://www.redcross.org/news/press-release/13-Facts-about-the-Red-Cross-Response-in-Haiti

It's extremely disingenuous to attack the Red Cross for "only building 6 houses" because that sets the idea in the reader's head that they literally did nothing else.

 

[MIMIC]

Do not donate to the Red Cross they are no longer a reputable organization.

Goodness gracious. It's not the No. 1 charity in the world, but this a ridiculously extreme opinion. A quick Google search shows that it is highly rated and very reputable.

 

[Remmy2112]

That article was posted when that particular person was operating in an incredibly stressful and tiring situation, so I'll forgive him for not having the exact figure on hand. The question, by the way, was answered the very next day on MSNBC. I'm trying to find the specific segment.

Edit: Goddamn browsing MSNBC's site is ass. I can't find any sort of guest list on their site and they have a ton of Harvey-related videos so actually finding the one I heard while driving is a pain in the butt.

 

[ISOM]

Stuff like this puts a bad name on all charities. I hesitate to donate sometimes because, in the back of my mind, I'm wondering how much will actually go to the people who need it.

 

[Ogodei]

That's frankly a gotcha question from Grassley.

It depends, first of all, on whether people donated to the Red Cross in general or to Harvey Relief in particular. Just because you donate to the Red Cross today doesn't mean it's going to help Harvey people, you have to click the link specifically for Harvey donations.

Money designated for Harvey relief has to be spent on Harvey-related expenses, i'm pretty sure that's the law, or if it isn't, it's a deeply-held standard for every charity. You don't spend restricted money on something other than what it was designated for.

Which also doesn't mean that the money is going directly to physical outputs. It pays for wages and salaries for workers in the company who are spending time working on Harvey relief.

Large charities are going to do better on their "percent for programs" ratio because of economies of scale. Homeless shelters, for instance, typically do poorly on those ratios because an individual shelter can only handle a few dozen to a hundred people, but have to pay a lot of overhead on the facilities because it doesn't actually cost that much to directly shelter people.

 

[kmfdmpig]

That type of information is tracked and available to those thinking about donating to various charities:
https://www.charitywatch.org/ratings-and-metrics/american-red-cross/360

http://charity.lovetoknow.com/What_Percentage_of_Donations_Go_to_Charity

 

[Earthbound64]

EDIT: Meh, nevermind.

 

[ISOM]

That type of information is tracked and available to those thinking about donating to various charities:
https://www.charitywatch.org/ratings-and-metrics/american-red-cross/360

http://charity.lovetoknow.com/What_Percentage_of_Donations_Go_to_Charity

Thanks for this.

 

[SaviorX]

Something my grandfather told me about his time in WWII that still resonates with me today.

"Back at base the Red Cross would charge us for coffee. At least the salvation army was there to help!"

Put your hands together for Sally...

I made a thread about the Cross yesterday. Old news, but the point still stands. They did nothing for Haiti, and they won't do a thing now.

 

[RS4-]

The way Haiti was handled in general was fucking disgusting.

 

[Earthbound64]

I made a thread about the Cross yesterday. Old news, but the point still stands.

There were 7 replies in that thread - 6 of them pointing out issues with the thread.

--->

There are many problems with all national Red Cross organizations but this reticle is based on research from 2011. Post something more recent. I'm not being a dick it's six years old. Loads of garbage has happened since then.

If you're going to source the Red Cross Haiti story, you should use the ProPublica link as they were the one who originally published this story in 2015 (Huff Post first line links to the original story).

https://www.propublica.org/article/...a-billion-dollars-for-haiti-and-built-6-homes

Red Cross is also stellar when it comes to emergency situations. Long-term situations, not so much.

Red Cross have also responded to this - http://www.redcross.org/news/article/The-Real-Story-of-the-6-Homes-Answering-Questions-about-Haiti

And don't forget these:

http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-565

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-corporate-takeover-of-the-red-cross

 

[Conor_Fool]

Wow. I asked the Walgreens employee if she knew how much of my donation would go and she said she didn't, but someone had asked before. I was like meh, Red Cross seems reputable.

The more ya know I guess

 

[OG Shaka Zulu]

The Red Cross built those 6 homes in Haiti out of diamonds right?

 

[mugurumakensei]

The Red Cross built those 6 homes in Haiti out of diamonds right?

They set up temp shelters and provided food, water, and flew in personnel.