American Red Cross

[lilponygirl]

I received this e-mail today and I've been doing a lot of research on the American Red Cross and how much they actually give to victims...what I found hasn't been good. What do you all think?

"I heard the same story from my ex from his time in Vietnam - don't give to the Red Cross - give to Salvation Army. Read on . . .


Earlier in the year O'Reilly on the FOX Network stated that the supervisor of the Los Angeles Office of the Red Cross was being paid in excess of $300,000 per year, plus expenses of $150,000 plus a car rental. To my knowledge she did not appear to rebut or defend her outragious pay.

This is an example of what the RED CROSS pays their people across the United States. Takes a lot of $20.00 donations to pay their executives.

The Salvation Army is the one to donate to.

During WWII in the South Pacific the Red Cross charged us during WWII when they set up a canteen on those barren desolate islands that we Navy people were given liberty on for a couple of hours. They charged for coffee and coke if you could get past the officers hovering around the women. The cost was negligible, 5 cents or 10 cents, but when you are being paid $59.00 a month and having $4.00 taken out for the premium on a $10,000 National Service Life Policy, doesn't leave much.

I have totally no regard for the RED CROSS and have never given them a dime.

I just sent $250 to the Salvation Army for Katrina help. They are a good outfit.

WWII UNITED STATES NAVY SAILOR - USS DENVER (CL-58) an 11 battle star light cruiser."

I found on-line that several of the highest ranking empolyees at the American Red Cross makes hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, I also found that the highest ranking in the Salvation Army makes only $13,000. I don't know how much of this is actually true. Any thoughts?

[DCJenn]

There aren't many National Non-profits administrators that are paid under 100,000 to be honest. Don't be mistaken that it's all holding hands and signing Kumbaya. These people are under enormous pressure to raise money and to spend it wisely. Their counter-parts in the business world are paid MILLIONS don't forget. For the same skill set and the same job. Dear Lord, why SHOULDN'T they be paid a salary commersurate with their job responsibilities? Because they work for a non-profit? That's crap. Fact: I had a job as an administrator for 6 group homes. I made close to 50k. If I had been working as an adminsitrator for a for profit Nursing Home, double it. If I had been working as an administrator for a department of Marriott, or IBM or any other large corporation- easily over 100k. It's all a matter of perspective.

That said, the Salvation Army is a religious organization and are set up very differently than the Red Cross. The AIP (American Institute of Philanthrophy http://www.charitywatch.com) is one of those groups that rates charities in a variety of areas. They give Salvation Army an A for 3/4 regions (the 4th gets an A-) and the Red Cross an A-.

Jenn


[/b]

[DCJenn]

And another thing- exactly how much do MOST executives in Southern California make? In Los Angeles. What's the cost of living in LA? is it really outrageous for an executive in LA to make 300k? and have a car? My own friggin' boss in podunk San Antonio had a car provided for her. She made a lot more money than I did, too. and she busted her ass supporting 13 Group Home adminsitrators across the state of Texas AND was on-call 24 hours a day.

Again, it's all perspective.

Jenn

PS- this is a HUGE issue for me, so please excuse my vehemence in my replies. This is a Jennifer Hot Button Issue.

I'm ok with and executive director of a large non-profit organization being well-compensated; it's a difficult job. I would be more interested in seeing what percentage of funds goes towards overhead and administration versus programs.

I usually donate to organizations other than Red Cross because I think that is the first one that comes to peoples minds. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but other organzations have different avenues for helping people than Red Cross and a variety of approaches is probably good.

[SuzySunshine]

I read somewhere that $.92 of every dollar will go to the victims if you donate to the ARC but I can't find it now. I know several people who work with non-profits and they could get paid a lot more if they were in the private sector but they do it because they care.