Mental wrote:I'd better hit the bank up tomorrow and deposit my paycheck so i can donate to the Red Cross...
*sigh*
I'm not trying to sounds like a bad person here, but i must make it clear that donating money to a charity, even the Red Cross, is going to get very little to the victims.
In American not-for-profit tax returns, you must categorize your expenses as either Program (your purpose), Fundraising (advertising), or Management and General (other). Unfortunately, a LOT of expenses can legally be called "Program Expenses". Thus, when you ask the person on the phone who asks for a donation from you, "How much of my dollar goes towards needy people?" they can legally respond with a number like 80-90%, or whatever the total "Program Expenses" is divided by the total expenses. With that high a % you are satisfied that most of your money will help and you donate.
In the 2004 tax return of the American Red Cross, 90% of all expenses are categorized as program expenses. Logically, you would think that 90% of your dollar goes towards the cause, but that isnt really the case. When you look at the breakdown of the $2,891,973,863 that the ARC calls "Program Expenses" you see enourmous numbers like :
$91,000,000 occupancy (rent)
$48,000,000 shipping and postage
$380,000,000 other contractual services (whatever the fuck that means)
$1,120,483,525 salaries and wages
$175,000,000 other employee benefits
and the things that matter?...
$118,000,000 specific assitance to individuals
$6,000,000 other assistance
$517,000,000 supplies
When i used to be an auditor for not-for-profits, our audit fees would be categorized as "Program" since we were auditing the numbers that mostly went to "Program". That kind of shit shows how gray the area is between what can be called "Program" and what should be called "Management and General". Rest assured that if something is on that gray line it will be pushed toards "Program" in a heartbeat. Wouldnt you think things like occupancy (rent) should be M&G? "Noooo, our office helps support the program, so its a "Program Expense"."
Now, i know the ARC needs employees, and many of those emplyees are EMT's and such who help the people, but i refuse to believe that $1,120,000,000 of the total $1,250,000,000 salary expense is salaries of people who are DIRECTLY supporting the program.
Page 2 of this PDF shows the Functional Expense Statement of the 2004 Tax Return.
http://www.redcross.org/pubs/car04/TxFm990.PDF
What can you do? Find places that will accept donations of blankets, clothing, or canned food, etc. It is impossible for a charity to skimp or miscatagorize a physical donation. You can easily rest assured that 100% of your donation will be helping the needy people with items like this.
Either that, or put a restriction on your donation. If you are donating a large sum, you are allowed to say "I want this to go toward food to the people who lost their homes." You can get as specific as you like and they charity must honor it, if they are honest. Usually there is a threshold on restricted donations, so they can tell you, "Sir, you are not donating enough to place a restriction on this donation." if you arent donating enough. Since 95% of all cash donation are usually unrestricted, that is the pot they will skimp from, it is too tempting for them not to.
Do everyone a favor and donate physical goods. Obviously, if all else fails, donate money, but i think giving a bum $100 would go farther than $1,000 would go in the hands of the Red Cross.
