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In Search Of The Red Cross' $500M In Haiti Relief (2015)
- dogruck 9y agoIt's astounding how powerful the Red Cross brand is. I'd like to read a study how how much the brand influences donors. For example, try to raise money using identical mechanisms under a different header. Also, I liked this: "I'm not a big mathematician, but I can make some additions. It doesn't add up for me."
- jackemupguy2 9y agoLegit question - what's the alternative?
- mistb0rn- 9y agoDoctors without a frontier? It's sad though, I think many europeans would like to donate money for people in need, but when you find out things like this ... Americans really managed to ruin this as well.
- jacalata 9y agoAlready said in this thread, but to make sure you see it: > The American Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross are independent organizations, with very different reputations.
- austinheap 9y agoCharities around the world are run unethically. It's far from an American-exclusive thing.
- orf 9y agoSure, but the extent of it seems to be American exclusive. Are there not a bunch of cancer charities that simply do nothing but enrich the owners?
- MistahKoala 9y agoMystified as to why you seem to think this is in some way an American problem. We have lots of fake charities in the EU.
- jopsen 9y agoIn the EU charities aren't as big... Or as well branded. At least not the sketchy ones. Most big charities I know in the EU have good records... Particularly the state-sponsored ones. - to be fair I could be uninformed :)
- mcv 9y agoSome EU charities are huge. The Red Cross has branches everywhere in the EU. Greenpeace's main office is in Netherland. Those are two massive brands.
- MistahKoala 9y agoI don't think that's at all true. There are many large organisations that spend a significant amount on staffing and marketing, masquerading as charities. The state-sponsored ones are some of the worst, as they're recycling taxpayers' money to lobby the governments that pay them, with a revolving door of lucrative executive and lobbying jobs keeping it all afloat.
- maxander 9y agoThere are a few organizations that try to quantitatively evaluate charitable organizations and similar- notably (and off the top of my head), CharityWatch [1]. Donating based on their metrics (although not the irrefutable truth of the matter, likely enough) is likely to lead to better "returns" from a donation than going by brand/marketing power. Notably, despite its prominence, Red Cross scores only a "B+" rating on CharityWatch. [1] www.charitywatch.org
- hackinthebochs 9y agoThe B+ rating seems to be at odds with the amount of vitriol being spewed at Red Cross in this thread.
- mcv 9y agoPerhaps Haiti was a particularly bad project for them. I've heard of other charities having problems in Haiti. Still, Doctors without Borders USA gets an A.
- wavefunction 9y agoInternationally and to a certain degree domestically in the US, Oxfam, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) and Save the Children are all efficient charities according to CharityNavigator. There are likely others but these are three solid charities imo. MSF/Doctors without Borders -> https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3628 https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summar... Save the Children -> https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4438 https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summar... Oxfam -> https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4288 https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summar...
- lostlogin 9y agoAre you conflating The American Red Cross and The International Commiteee of the Red Cross? I have in the past, and they are very different.
- dogruck 9y agoNo I'm referring to the Red Cross discussed in this thread's article.
- mcv 9y agoThe problem here seems to be that the American Red Cross uses the same brand as the international Red Cross. I'm no expert on the Red Cross, but it's entirely possible that most Red Cross organizations do excellent work, while the American Red Cross is a corrupt or incompetent mess. Or has recently become such a mess. But I also get the impression that Haiti is a particularly hard country to help.
- coupdejarnac 9y agoIt's kind of surprising people still donate to Red Cross, given their extremely poor track record. I suppose they have brand name recognition. South Park had a great jab at them, with all the 9/11 donations being stored away in an Indiana Jones lost ark style warehouse.
- dogruck 9y agoI'd say it's sad, but not surprising. People are sheep.
- whichdan 9y agoI wouldn't go that far - companies partner with The Red Cross left and right after every major disaster, and the mainstream media downplays the problems with the organization. For the average person, there's no reason to suspect that they'd be misusing/misappropriating funds.
- dogruck 9y agoI suppose it comes down to the semantics of sheeple. I personally do my best to scrutinize the message put out by major corporations and the MSM.
- salvar 9y agoI take it you are very smart, and not one of those stupid sheeple?
- hackinthebochs 9y agoSo what exactly are the problems with the Red Cross?
- kobeya 9y agoDownvotes because the truth hurts, I guess.
- slackoverflower 9y agoI always wondered how the global offices looked for these big charity organizations. With $500M, I imagine they have offices in those urban corporate office skyscrapers and Silicon Valley tech company styled HQs.
- jonknee 9y agoYou could always just look it up... https://goo.gl/maps/FqnvU95D2eK2 https://goo.gl/maps/FqnvU95D2eK2
- simonw 9y agoWorth re-iterating: The American Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross are independent organizations, with very different reputations.
- jackemupguy2 9y agoYUP ... 100% knew this, just forgot. VERY good point.
- pragone 9y agoCare to expand on this? Edit: Based on the downvotes, I'm guessing I wasn't really clear what I was going for - I hadn't heard about the International Committee before, so I was looking for some more information about how they differ.
- siddboots 9y agoThe structure of the international red cross movement is a bit confusing. There are completely independent national societies in most countries (E.g. The American Red Cross), as well international organisations based in Geneva (The ICRC and the IFCR). In the US, the phrase "Red Cross" often is used to refer to "American Red Cross", which is the national society who deliver blood services and local disaster response. They've come under some criticism for apparent lack of transparency around how donations are spent, and for allegedly having very high overheads. The IFRC (International Federation) is an international organisation that facilitates cooperation between the independent national societies. The ICRC (International Committee) is a large international organisation whose mandate derives from the Geneva Convention, and whose work is focussed on armed conflict. They work with war casualties, prisoners of war, refugees, civilian victims of all forms, on any and all sides of conflict. They also help coordinate disaster relief in lots of cases just because they have the organisational ability to do it. In my opinion they're among the most trustworthy organisations that you could give to.
- pragone 9y agoThank you! That's the perfect tl;dr (too long; didn't research?) I was looking for
- tlb 9y agoA plug for New Story (https://newstorycharity.org/ https://newstorycharity.org/), which has built 900+ homes in Haiti for $6000 in donations each. And they think a lot about building those homes into functional communities.
- provost 9y agoThat's really incredible. What's more fascinating is their 100% promise [1]: > We send 100% of all donations directly to hire local workers and buy local materials so you know exactly where your donation is going. Considering their Careers page lists they are hiring a software engineer, I dug a little further and found this info in their FAQ: > How Does New Story Fund Operational Costs With A 100% Promise? > We are committed to putting every cent of donor contributions to the building of homes. We fund our day-to-day operations by generous contributions from corporate investors and private individuals. Also, a majority of our incredible donors opt-in and add 10% onto their donation to fund New Story operations. If you are interested in investing in our organization, so we can serve even more families, email info@newstorycharity.org. The FAQ mentions an investment opportunity, though I'm not sure what the investment is, besides charity social goodwill -- which of course, is a great thing. [1] https://newstorycharity.org/100-percent/ https://newstorycharity.org/100-percent/
- maxerickson 9y agoThat's just bucket A and bucket B right? Like, the money going towards operations is still donated. The page about the operations money even puts it in terms of having 2 bank accounts: https://newstorycharity.org/the-builders/ https://newstorycharity.org/the-builders/ So fine, they are able to advertise that they are spending 100% of certain funds on programs. But it is just a marketing gimmick, they still have some overall efficiency, just like any other charity.
- tehwebguy 9y agoIt means everyone donating knows what their money is going to. If you want 100% of if to go to houses, it will.
- cowholio4 9y agoThis was widely reported back in 2015 when this was published. You might want to add (2015) to the title.
- cowholio4 9y agoThis report prompted a congressional report a year later. Ultimately Red Cross is a horribly inefficient way to give aid to areas in need of relief. https://www.propublica.org/article/senator-red-cross-misled-congress-refused-to-level-with-people-haiti-money https://www.propublica.org/article/senator-red-cross-misled-... https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2861873-Senator-Grassley-s-report-on-the-Red-Cross-June.html https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2861873-Senator-Gras...
- lostlogin 9y agoYour second link is clear, but the first one doesn’t make it clear that it’s the American Red Cross that’s the problem.
- Clubber 9y ago>But the charity will not provide a list of specific programs it ran, how much they cost or what their expenses were. Corruption, ineptitude or both? It's the American way!
- eots 9y agoThis pretty much happens all over the globe.
- dogruck 9y agoYes. I'd argue that it is more endemic in other countries. In particular, in many countries, bribery and corruption are a key part of the culture. It's a point of pride if you can bribe and cheat your way to the top.
- agumonkey 9y agoRecently read that fair trade procuder just spend the money in bigger cars and such. Charity.
- T2_t2 9y agoSo pick better charities: http://www.givewell.org/ http://www.givewell.org/
- dispo001 9y agoAs noted before, in Europe, the greatest union in the world GOD BLESS US</sarcasm> governments do a lot of the stuff that people in the US expect from charities. In theory, passionate empathic people should be able to outperform government projects 100:1 and no doubt many do to some extend, even without any formal organization. If you live next door the just being there for people is priceless. Its not like government will see you rebuilding your house and bring you a hot cup of tea when you look worn out while for a private citizen that would be a minimum effort. The obvious question is why haven't US law makers moved in for the kill with so many for-profit-non-profits? I think the answer is probably as obvious as the question.
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- designium 9y agoI wonder if there is a way to make non profitsmore accountable for the money they receive from big disaster donations.
- dogruck 9y agoWould be nice to put the management through the legal system and if found guilty to put them inside of a locked metal cage.
- austinheap 9y agoA director of a well-known 501c3 said to me: "Non-profit doesn't mean no profit." It truly is a buyer-beware situation from a legal standpoint.
- numanuma0007 9y agolegit question - why cant we donate a ton of lumber and nails and let the haitians figure it out?
- cowholio4 9y agoOne thing that gets overlooked commonly with the the Red Cross is that it is a congressional charter. [1] According to the charter the purposes of the corporation are: (1) to provide volunteer aid in time of war to the sick and wounded of the armed forces, in accordance with the spirit and conditions of: (A) the conference of Geneva of October, 1863; (B) the treaties of the Red Cross, or the treaties of Geneva, of August 22, 1864, July 27, 1929, and August 12, 1949, to which the United States of America has given its adhesion; and (C) any other treaty, convention, or protocol similar in purpose to which the United States of America has given or may give its adhesion; (2) in carrying out the purposes described in clause (1) of this section, to perform all the duties devolved on a national society by each nation that has acceded to any of those treaties, conventions, or protocols; (3) to act in matters of voluntary relief and in accordance with the military authorities as a medium of communication between the people of the United States and the armed forces of the United States and to act in those matters between similar national societies of governments of other countries through the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Government, the people, and the armed forces of the United States The problem is that sure we can donate to other organizations but the Red Cross still is in a way a representive of America. And if they are so bad at delivering aid to Haiti; I wonder how effective they are at their other duties. I wonder if congress can revoke their charter? Or force reform? But that seems like an almost impossible task. [1] http://www.redcross.org/images/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m4240124_charter.pdf http://www.redcross.org/images/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m4...
- craftyguy 9y agoGiven their brand recognition status, any attempts by Congress to revoke their charter would be a career-ending move for the politicians involved.
- opportune 9y agoIt could happen, it just couldn't come out of the blue. Someone would probably need to pay for a nation-wide awareness campaign (the irony) about the evils of corrupt charities such as The Red Cross or Susan G Komen.
- Overtonwindow 9y agoAsk the Clintons
- mkstowegnv 9y agoSince you provide no links, one must assume that you are motivated by a vague awareness of controversies tied to the Clinton Foundation. However, these controversies do not involve Haiti or missing money, and for balance I suggest readers look at last fall´s and recent comparisons of the controversies surrounding Clinton and Trump associated charitable activities https://www.google.com.mx/search?q=comparing+clinton+trump+charities&num=100&rlz=1C1SKPC_esMX399MX399&source=lnt&tbs=qdr:m&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjznaPv-r7WAhWGbbwKHbqSAlQQpwUIIA&biw=1242&bih=580&dpr=1.1 https://www.google.com.mx/search?q=comparing+clinton+trump+c... and https://www.google.com.mx/search?q=comparing+clinton+trump+charities&num=100&rlz=1C1SKPC_esMX399MX399&source=lnt&tbs=qdr:m&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjznaPv-r7WAhWGbbwKHbqSAlQQpwUIIA&biw=1242&bih=580&dpr=1.1 https://www.google.com.mx/search?q=comparing+clinton+trump+c... eg http://www.npr.org/2016/10/17/498154413/theres-really-no-comparison-between-the-trump-and-clinton-foundations http://www.npr.org/2016/10/17/498154413/theres-really-no-com... and https://www.google.com.mx/search?q=comparing+clinton+trump+charities&num=100&rlz=1C1SKPC_esMX399MX399&source=lnt&tbs=qdr:m&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjznaPv-r7WAhWGbbwKHbqSAlQQpwUIIA&biw=1242&bih=580&dpr=1.1 https://www.google.com.mx/search?q=comparing+clinton+trump+c... eg http://fortune.com/2017/09/17/trump-inaugural-donations-missing/ http://fortune.com/2017/09/17/trump-inaugural-donations-miss...
- 3131s 9y agoActually, the theories connecting missing Haiti donation money and the Clintons don't so much refer to the Clinton Foundation, but to Hillary's tenure at the US Department of State during which the Haiti earthquake occurred. I won't claim to know much about the situation, but major news organizations have reported on what appears to be similar mismanagement of the ~13 billion in funds donated to Haiti [1]. And Bill Clinton found himself co-chairing the commission that handled these funds. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/what-does-haiti-have-show-13-billion-earthquake-aid-n281661 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/what-does-haiti-... The conspiracy theories around the Clintons and Haiti are persistent from a number of angles. Emails from the Podesta leak added fuel to the fire, among them this one featuring a close Clinton associate mentioning "Tony Rodham ... hustling gold mining deals in Haiti." https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/6900 https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/6900 Anything involving the Clintons merits extra scrutiny, IMO.
- danielvf 9y agoI built an internal system reporting on billions of dollars of project spending for a large NGO family. People inside the family of organizations could see financial budgets, actual financials, and progress information for any of thousands of projects. Every project had a person responsible for it, written out goals and risks, at least quarterly progress updates, and funding organizations checking up on the projects at regular basis. Even when partnering with local organizations to get work done, the NGO had permanent people in the country keeping an eye on things. There are definitely organizations that do a good job of handling this stuff.
- wavefunction 9y agoThanks for your work on their behalf and your optimistic message. Even a bit of progress or positive change is priceless.
- martywm 9y agoThis doesn’t suprise me :\ I think YC funded a non profit that was designed to avoid corruption like this.
- madengr 9y agoYou can find it in the same place as the Clinton Foundation $100M
- fencepost 9y agoIf you're referring to the stink a few years ago about (#s from memory) it bringing in 150 million but only distributing 9 million, that was because it's not the kind of organization that fundraises for other charities - its money is generally spent directly on programs. If you want an aggregator charity there are plenty of other options out there.
- masters3d 9y ago"The point is that the concern we should have is not just about the $500,000,000 donated for Haiti for which the good hearted donors received just six $400 shacks. The concern is about billions of donated dollars intended to help people all over the world. The Haiti data demonstrates that for each billion donated to the Red Cross we get a total of 12 each $400 shacks which we wouldn't put our lawn mower in. The greatest mystery for me is why the major media outlets keep advising well intended Americans to give to the Red Cross. If any of us operated like the Red Cross has for years the media would be screaming for our prosecution as it should. Why not the Red Cross? And worse, why do they encourage hard working and generous Americans to give to an organization about whom there is public knowledge of extreme abuse of billions of donated dollars ?!" - Hotes Foundation Reference: https://hotesfoundation.org/500-million-for-6-shacks-in-haiti-a-drop-in-the-bucket-of-red-cross-donation-abuses/ https://hotesfoundation.org/500-million-for-6-shacks-in-hait... https://hotesfoundation.org/red-cross-haiti-relief-scandal/ https://hotesfoundation.org/red-cross-haiti-relief-scandal/
- yeukhon 9y agoGood question. There is Salvation Army, which accordingly to the comparison to Red Cross, has done extremely better job, delivering its mission well. But why didn't orgs like FB or Google (I forgot which) advertized SA? SA is well-known too. I think there is a social effect, but more likely because the people working at Red Cross has better reach to the big organizations and media outlet, despite the backlashes. The same with World Health Organization (WHO). Top officials still buy luxury first-class ticket and hotel room. Why? Whatnis wrong with an econ seat?
- will_hughes 9y ago> But why didn't orgs like FB or Google (I forgot which) advertized SA? SA is well-known too. I don't know the actual reason. But it could be because of the religious connection. While I've seen that the Salvation Army has done a lot of good, they also connect it with their belief system. This makes me uneasy. Fundamentally I'd be happy to donate to a charity that I knew would: - Responsibly manage the funds - Ensure that those in need actually get the funds or directly funds activities for those in need (i.e shelter, food, etc) - Not turn around and then spend significant fractons (or, in some cases, multiples) of the donated amount in trying to get more donations from me/other donors. - Not connect the donations / activities with a religious belief system Unfortunately those seem few and far between.
- meri_dian 9y agoIt doesn't help the Haitian cause that the rampant corruption in their country prevents aid money given in good faith from ever reaching the people or projects for which it was originally intended.
- dmix 9y agoConsidering the per capita is $719 then I could see $50 to each Haitan would have been a better use of the money ($500M / 10M population). Or that per family...
- fencepost 9y agoPerhaps not as much as you'd think. Just handing out lump sums of money like that could really result in jacking up of prices to handle that windfall. Where and how the money is distributed can make a huge difference in how much impact it has.
- intrasight 9y agoI give to UNICEF
- joe_the_user 9y agoHaiti is a complex and contradiction-ridden place. As the poorest nation, per capita, in western hemisphere, Haiti is often the "face of poverty", with photographs of its most unfortunates featured on fund-raising newsletters of every sort but with the failures of efforts at reform being featured on every debunking of I have a personal friend, white, who served as something of a liaison, moving goods, between the random (white) Americans who showed up on Haiti after the earth quake and the people (black, Haitian) who needed assistance. She helped some substantial number of people but naturally only a drop in the bucket. Haiti has a complex structure of repression which has held power for quite some time. The multitude of corrupt processes in the nation naturally don't help either. But as is visible, charities are remarkably unconcerned with these subtleties, being bureaucracies like all bureaucracies, they plow ahead with pouring X dollars into Y problem with consultations with Z experts. Literally, you can find groups of people in America, Houston in particular, doing 100x as the Red Cross with considerably less - because they are people actually walking into the situation and trying to figure out what's needed. Bureaucracy once has its strength relative to such efforts but this strength seems entirely lost now. I'd chalk it down to the general decay of this society. What I know of Haiti comes from above, meeting just a few Haitians and the following texts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Jacobins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Jacobins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Duvalier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Duvalier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Comedians_(novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Comedians_(novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Serpent_and_the_Rainbow_(book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Serpent_and_the_Rainbow_(b... http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=9966 http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=9966
- grecy 9y agoIt's got nothing to do with the place. I'm in West Africa now. Same story here. Same in the East too. I have met hundreds of UN and NGO workers making $1000/day, doing absolutely and completely nothing. Mostly they are proud of it. Many, many NGOs spend millions to build for example one shed or deliver one truck, which is abandoned less than 2 months later for lack of maintenance. In the same way healthcare is for profit in the US, many "donations" are for profit.
- jswizzy 9y agoThis is why I give to religious charities
- deepnotderp 9y agoIs there any non religious charity that does well?
- nether 9y agoGiveDirectly. They give cash, no strings attached. So hardly any overhead. NPR Planet Money tried to have a guy build a school in Haiti. They were flush with donations. After all was said and done, a year later they barely had a concrete foundation. That was it. They asked the guy, a highly experienced American contractor/builder/etc. if, starting over, he'd have just given them cash. He said, "Definitely." GiveDirectly was started because charities like Red Cross do so badly.
- Nursie 9y agoThe international Red Cross....
- campuscodi 9y agoFor all the younger people reading this. This is just one of the numerous media stories on how donation money always ends up paying multi-million salaries for top execs. Sadly, charlatans are everywhere. The Red Cross is just a another brand used to con gullible and well intended people.
- Nursie 9y agoThe American Red Cross might be. The Red Cross/Red Crescent in the rest of the world is a very important humanitarian response organisation.
- FabHK 9y agoYes, undifferentiated across-the-board cynicism doesn't help either, and could discourage donations to charities that do make a difference. There are organisations that evaluate charities, and they show that you can easily save lives by donating: http://givewell.org http://givewell.org http://www.thelifeyoucansave.org http://www.thelifeyoucansave.org
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- richardknop 9y agoThere is an interesting book called Lords of Poverty from Graham Hancock. It's from 80s when he used to work as a correspondent for the Economist in Africa. He claims that foreign aid and charities that raise tons of money from Western people for different projects in Africa are a total waste of money. The amount of corruption and waste is so huge that majority of the money people from US or EU donate ends up going directly to local strongmen who buy new cars etc and almost none of the money ends with the people it was intended for. This is why I don't donate to charities. I believe for every dollar I would donate perhaps $0.1 would actually reach the destination and be spent on helping people. I'd rather donate directly to people in need after I meet them and can see that they are legit and there aren't several layers of middlemen leaching off the donated money.
- bkmartin 9y agoCheck out charitywater.org I had the same concerns, but these guys are legit and get it done for the people who need it.
- scandox 9y agoHe currently gets quite a roasting on Wikipedia for his "unscientific theories". It does appear his main interest after that book is The Orion Correlation Theory and let's say "exciting" Archaeology.
- richardknop 9y agoYeah he is otherwise famous for his "alternative" archeology with books like Fingerprints of the Gods etc. Which by the way is a great book and although there is a lot of outlandish claims I wouldn't say it's totally crazy. Nothing wrong with speculating and exploring non mainstream ideas. But I still think Lords of Poverty is a legitimate book and he had a lot of on the ground experience in Africa to observe how foreign aid is distributed and wasted. So I don't like dismissing his earlier work even if you find his later, let's say fictional work, dubious.
- scandox 9y ago
- haywirez 9y agoMight be of interest: https://www.centreforeffectivealtruism.org/ https://www.centreforeffectivealtruism.org/ It's a project to evaluate and rank NGOs based on how effective they really are. They have managed funds based on topics of interest as well.
- baldfat 9y agoAS a cancer dad about 5 years ago the American Cancer Society (The largest cancer fund in America) got a lot of heat from parents who's children had cancer. The ACS would have pictures of Children for their donations champagne and less then $0.005 for every dollar would go for Pediatric Cancer Research AND they cut funding for all other Pediatric funding (AKA Camps and assisting families). They finally changed a LITTLE bit in 2016. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-agin/friends-dont-let-friends-_2_b_2759403.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-agin/friends-dont-let... http://shelterislandreporter.timesreview.com/2013/08/12/camp-in-funding-challenge-with-american-cancer-society-gone/ http://shelterislandreporter.timesreview.com/2013/08/12/camp... Federal Funding of Pediatric Cancer Research funds. People age 0-18 get 4% of the funding and do not benefit from research for adults since 0-18 your normal good cells are also dividing and growing. Research for Pediatric Cancer benefits EVERYONE since they tend to be less side effects and effective for all. Children went over 20 years before their with only two new Chemotherapy drugs for them while they were advertised by different organizations to get funding. St Baldrick's funded research came out with a one that ends up being VERY effective. https://www.stbaldricks.org/blog/post/breaking-news-the-fda-approves-childhood-cancer-drug https://www.stbaldricks.org/blog/post/breaking-news-the-fda-... https://www.stbaldricks.org/filling-the-funding-gap/ https://www.stbaldricks.org/filling-the-funding-gap/ We as a family support St Baldricks 100%
- velox_io 9y agoWhenever I see a charity ad that tugs on my heart strings, I check their directors salaries* and my conscience is pretty clear. I have no issue with capitalism, but for people who do want a high salary (many don't), then perhaps the charity sector isn't the best option. I'd like a similar scheme as food labelling colour codes. So key facts such as % to cause, % to management team, top salary K. This would greatly aid in transparency, rather than trying to read their financial's which are often little more than a glossy brochure. Plus, more auditing on the bigger ones to investigate large inefficiencies/ backhanders wouldn't be a bad idea. *That's not including their expenses, which I bet are astronomical. PS: I get that some charities have higher operating costs (e.g. medical research). Especially when I myself suffer from quite a rare condition called CRPS (unfortunately one of the most painful conditions known..), yet I struggle to recommend a charity that is making a difference. I'd love something to go viral like the ice-bucket challenge, but I don't see a way that wouldn't result in serious injuries.
- JoBrad 9y agoThere are a few sites that do this, but one that I use to evaluate charities is Giving Matters. You can access quite a lot of information for free, and it's reasonably well designed.
- velox_io 9y agoOoh some downvotes, care to explain? Or should everyone one one this website share the same opinion? Edit: I was merely making the point that if charities were more transparent. More people would donate (whilst possibly becoming more efficient in the process). As for regards to mentioning the illness. To have something that makes a major impact on one's life, yet not be passionate about related charities, illustrates that there is a problem with many of today's charities.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]