street wisdom (or they...) says that roughly 95% of charity/help donations go to management and delivery of those donations, and only 5% is spent on actual good

street wisdom (or they...) says that roughly 95% of charity/help donations go to management and delivery of those donations, and only 5% is spent on actual goods (be it medicine, blanket, food etc.) that help people. it seems a bit over-the top statement, but then you realize how massive organizations (or corporations?) like UN are, employing thousands and thousands of people in most expensive parts of the world (New York, Geneva... seriously WTF?). Here in Geneva, there are gazillions of non-profit orgs, then there are various organizations grouping those non profits and so on. Still talking about one of most expensive cities in the world. Yes, those people probably don't have private bank-levels of salary, but I know a people or two who are curently buying high-priced properties over the border in France, so they are more than OK. Friend in quite high position in Red cross hates UN with passion, stating they are useless in real crysis scenarios, just bureaucrats etc. Not sure if that's an objective statement, but there is probably at least some truth there. What I decided to do, at least for now - Amnesty International. Rather than putting bandage where bleeding, it might lead to improvement of system. And I pay directly organization of lawyers who actually try to do good stuff, not bureaucrats who travel all around the world and check some spreadsheets and do presentations. But what one poster says here is probably one of best things - directly invest into treating people, no useless middlemen who, like it or not, also need to be payed.