Red Cross informative info..

[Robert]

Never really looked into the Red Cross as of late and this report is not current. I thought they were at least above board but with this recipe for corruption below I wonder why anyone would give to them. One thing that presented a real red flag was that the report said the Red Cross attempted to terminate the GAO audit and successfully limited its scope.

I dont know if anyone here knows this but I found it interesting.  

In reading this and knowing the corruption that has plagued not only our government but also private corporations, along with the Federal Reserve I wonder when the milking of the United States is going to stop? How much money has just gone missing or misused or used against us? Do we really work for ourselves and does the government really represent us or are we the cows being milked?

Follow the money like a funnel that is wide at the top and all goes into one container.  



Here is the Senate report link if you want to read it but the NPR highlights are enough that you can get the idea.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2861873-Senator-Grassley-s-report-on-the-Red-Cross-June.html

Red Cross report from Senator Grassley's office and reported by NPR:

Grassley's office found that 25 percent of donations sent to Haiti — or nearly $125 million — were spent on fundraising and management, a contingency fund and the catchall category the Red Cross calls "program expenses."

The Red Cross sent the bulk of the remaining donated money to other nonprofits to do the work on the ground. Those other nonprofits then took their own cuts — as high as 11 percent — for their own expenses.

One internal evaluation of one of the group's water and sanitation projects found there was "no correct process for monitoring project spending."

Another assessment found that the group's figures on how many people were helped by a hygiene project were "fairly meaningless."

The Red Cross has about 20,000 employees, but its ethics office — which investigates waste, fraud and abuse — is composed of three people, according to the Grassley report. That is down from roughly 65 staffers after Hurricane Katrina a decade ago, the report says.

American Red Cross President and CEO Gail McGovern attends a roundtable with President Obama regarding the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans on Aug. 27, 2015.

https://www.npr.org/2016/06/16/482020436/senators-report-finds-fundamental-concerns-about-red-cross-finances

[cookiedough]

I worked 2 years for the American Red Cross disaster relief in the office and can say they honestly do good stuff for the majority of Americans in terms of disaster relief and the other side where I worked not involved in being the blood giving side.

That being said,  when I had to pay HUSH MONEY with no backup coming from a small office of 30 or so to an older lady who was worthless IMO 10K of money that is provided by our public donations even after I asked my boss the CFO who told me basically just DO IT NO questions asked,  I left soon after that.  Found out that older useless lady after she got that 10K payment left there soon after before I left of course.  Things went downhill after that so left.

There is corruption in even non profit organizations all over the USA no question about that.  That is why I say charity starts at HOME with family first.    Yah, if I had money to blow away to charities, fine, but I do not.   Sick of anywhere I work they ask to give to this and that charity which is fine but pay me MORE what I am worth then maybe I could afford to do so. 

[Oss]

use charity navigator

You can tell which charity filed forms, what executive compensation is and how much is fundraising how much goes to the programs

Navy Seal Foundation is oustanding is this regard

St Jude's Childrens Research Hospital and some of the many Ronald McDonald House are (I believe) 2 where almost everything goes to the programs

If only 5% goes to administering the program and 10% or less to the fundraising (which actually it costs a lot to raise a lot of $) that is job well done

Wounded Warrior Project raised a few hundred million. That the executive compensation is about 300k as a # of what comes in may seem high to some, but that is 1/1000th of the income  I do not pretend to understand the administrative expenses as opposed to program expenses Perhaps someone can enlighten us.

[Willow]

Uh?  You're reacting to a report from the Senate that has no implication of corruption or misdirecting of funds?  Didn't we recently express how much we don't trust many elected officials?  Do we have a problem with expecting there is no expense to maintaining a large organization and major fundraising operations?  Are we completely out of meaningful things to talk about (about which to talk)?

If you don't wish to give to Red Cross don't.  I normally give my blood but not often money.  I have other charitable organizations to which I give money.

Give where you want to give but why should you be using your VRCC message board to run down organizations that have done you no wrong? 

[Sorcerer]

At my church they do a fall festival. The preceding years they had it out side with big rented tents’ chair, tables. Top local bands, kids rides, car raffle. There were those who looked at the the amount of money expended and felt that the percentage of money spent to profit was way off. So this year a new team decided to move every thing inside the church. A few kids games in the school hallway. Dance and beer garden in the school gymnasium. Last year they took in $53,000 with a profit of just under $21,000. This year on the cheep there profit was $10,000. The profits go to help support the church school. The church administration is in panic mode trying to figure out how to make up the short fall. It takes money to make money.

[Robert]

Uh?  You're reacting to a report from the Senate that has no implication of corruption or misdirecting of funds?  Didn't we recently express how much we don't trust many elected officials?  Do we have a problem with expecting there is no expense to maintaining a large organization and major fundraising operations?  Are we completely out of meaningful things to talk about (about which to talk)?

If you don't wish to give to Red Cross don't.  I normally give my blood but not often money.  I have other charitable organizations to which I give money.

Give where you want to give but why should you be using your VRCC message board to run down organizations that have done you no wrong? 

 The reason for the report was, questioning the Red Cross on the handling of funds. It affects me and all others in a few ways, not only was I considering giving but have given to them in the past, and so have many other people. All charities vie for a dwindling base of donors.

 Good charities that use money wisely will sometimes go underfunded because the money is scooped up by ones that dont. Sometime by sheer size and history ones that misappropriate and not use funds wisely, look better than newer and smaller charities. This affects the economy, peoples thoughts on giving and can ruin the idea of many to give thinking all charities are on the take.

The guide lines are 10 to 20 percent for expenses the rest going to the cause.

This board has always been about givers and those givers are a collective on giving. I had never heard of this before and wondered how many actually had. In addition to this in my looking into them I found out a few things I did not know that were in the report like the following.

Out of millions of dollars raised for Haiti and a pledge of 700 permanent homes to be built and hundreds of employees listed only 7 homes were built.

The Red Cross receives government money because the government has contracted the Red Cross to carry out some aspect of relief efforts. Because it is a non-profit, charitable organization, the Red Cross is tax-exempt.

 The organization runs under a Congressional charter that has been in place since 1905. Under this charter, the Red Cross acts as an "instrument of the government," carrying out the duties and responsibilities of the Geneva Convention and other tasks that the federal government delegates to it.

While the Red Cross has done some good over the years, currently it has little accountability and it seems that this organization is not helping like it has in the past. Accountability is paramount to keeping things running smoothly and efficiently and making sure that the money follows the correct path. This is something the Red Cross stonewalled in the Senate report and the question is why?

I am very surprised by what was in this report, even though I have heard that there were problems in the Red Cross and I will consider giving my money somewhere else, but dont you think that there would be others that may be interested to hear of the problems that even Congress cannot get answers for?

[hubcapsc]

I'm not associated with the Red Cross, I don't have anything to say about them... I bet a lot of
us are members of the NRA... what about  Wayne LaPierre's extensive use of private jets
and fancy clothes and expensive hotels?

-Mike

[Willow]

... but dont you think that there would be others that may be interested to hear of the problems that even Congress cannot get answers for?

No, not really.  I've lost much, or whatever, belief I had that Congress can seek and find the truth.

My issue is not whether or not you give to the Red Cross.  My issue is that you used a public Valkyrie forum to berate an organization over a three year old report, an organization with which you have no reason to have a personal beef or personal history of wrong.

No, I don't think our members are, or at least should be, interested in a three year old report of alleged problems with the Red Cross. 

[scooperhsd]

If you dig deep enough into any charity, you'll find a certain percentage goes for fundraising expenses and administrative expenses. THe idea is to maximize the amount going to the actual charity , and someone else already posted the guidelines on that.

[bscrive]

Back in 2017, over 7 million was collected for flood victims in my area by the Red Cross.  People had a heck of a time getting money from them and in the end the Red Cross kept most of the money.  It was only because the local politicians got involved is why that much was paid out.  The Red Cross gave all kinds of bogus reasons why they are holding the other funds back.  Another corrupt not-for-profit organization.  I am sure that the board of directors got a nice bonus that year.
My wife used to work for Scouts Canada and the waste at that place was horrendous.  Spending 250k for a tent to be used for one jamboree.  Getting said tent shipped to Canada from China and then shipped to Japan and then shipped back to Canada. Why not just ship it to Japan in the first place.  Also, the hush money that they paid out to the victims of the pedophiles that they had working for them was ridiculous.  It amounted to millions of dollars each year.  The upper management make crazy salaries while the low paid workers and volunteers do all the work.  She got sick of the mismanagement and left after two years.

[Jess from VA]

Back in the Air Force, overseas, I had a young Airman that needed a small loan of only a few hundred dollars which would go a long way to keep him out of trouble with the authorities (or mitigate it anyway).  He had most of his tour left to serve, and plenty of time to pay it back (we even offered to set up an allotment with his military pay).  I took the Red Cross mission statement and explained how the young Airman met most of those factors.  They absolutely refused to help him in any way.

I never had anything to do with them after that.  And this was before it became widely publicized that they took one of the highest percentages of donations for administrative costs of any charity extant.

If you have extra funds to donate to charity, there are always better choices IMHO.

It does take money to make money, but a lot of good charities do it for less than they do.