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It'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 i
by dogruck 9y ago
It'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.