When determining whether a charity organization is worth your while to spend your money donating to, you must look at it in comparison with others. What does the organization do with its proceedings, are they receptive to other people, including religious based organizations, helping? These questions can be crucial for determining which a charity worth supporting is.
According to the Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax 1 for the American Red Cross, their CEO received a salary of $450,008 and additional benefits of $18, 591. All together, in 2004, Ms. Evans received $468,599 in salary and benefits. The American Red Cross is large, it runs blood drives, and does a lot of things that many other charities may not be able to do, but that is not enough reason for such a large salary. In contrast to the rather large salary of the American Red Cross’ CEO, the CEO of the Salvation Army only receives a yearly salary of $13,000 2. There is just a bit of a difference there.
But how much of their donations does the American Red Cross or the Salvation Army give to the victims? The Salvation Army gives 100% of their donations to victims. Whether you choose when donating for it to go to Hurricane Katrina relief, General disaster relief in your area, or a place of the Salvation Army’s choosing, it will be used in relief. The American Red Cross, on the other hand, just increased from 11% to 26% the percentage of donations they keep for administrative duties.
The final thing I want to mention is the American Red Cross’ behavior toward other people aiding in disaster relief. The American Red Cross is not alone in this, FEMA is equally guilty. Neither FEMA nor the American Red Cross are assisting faith-based organizations. They need the help of churches, for instance, in housing victims, yet when the churches ask for cots, both FEMA and the American Red Cross refuse them, on the basis of “separation of church and state”. Must the fine lines of politics be debated when lives of victims are at stake? If you ask a church to house victims, and you have the supplies needed, it’s your obligation to help provide what is necessary to the church.
Salaries, donations, and faith-based organizations – do they really change what the organization is about? How important is it to not support a charity that turns it back on churches? What difference does it make whether the CEO has over $400,000 in salary and benefits? Does it matter whether or not they give 100% of donations to the victims for whom the donations are intended? That’s up to you to decide, and I hope that you seriously consider the organization behind the curtain when making your decision.
- http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2004/530/196/2004-530196605-1-9.pdf
- http://www.mercola.com/2005/jan/5/tsunami.htm
Funny…the Southern Baptist Convention is assisting the Red Cross. They gave us a standing ovation during a disaster relief meeting (no, I was not present). You’d think they’d do something in return.
I would reccomend giving to the Southern Baptists, not because I am one, but because they were the first on the ground, and give 100% of what you give to the victims. I’ll have more on my site on this later.
The IOCC is doing a lot too. They’ve got people in the afflicted states and the Gulf Coast especially, bringing food and clothing that is needed in. So, it’s not quite hopeless. :)