Slashdot Mirror

Yes.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Busin...
http://charity.lovetoknow.com/...
http://www.give.org/charity-re...

http://www.csmonitor.com/Busin...
http://www.give.org/charity-re...
http://charity.lovetoknow.com/...

Ummm... Not according to Charity Navigator.
http://www.charitynavigator.or...
They get 4 stars.
Or give.org
http://www.give.org/charity-re...
Or the Christian Science monitor.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Busin...

I worked in "charity" for five years. In all that time, I cannot name one thing other than "not having to fire anyone" that we accomplished.

If that's true, then you need to report it to the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance, as well as to Charity Navigator -- groups which track the return-on-investment aspects of charitable organizations.

If you truly and literally spent five years not helping anyone, your charity is a scam. This hardly means that all charities are scams; most are not.

As for connecting donors to recipients: sure, that's a nice idea, except for:

• Economies of scale. You get ten thousand donors together to buy food, supplies, etc., then you can get a lot more solution for your money.
• Addressing root problems. Sure, a thirsty family in Africa might be able to buy safe drinking water for a month on the $20 you send them. But it would be better if a bunch of people could collectively send over $2500 and build a new, clean-water well. Or if somebody organized the money together and built dozens of clean wells all over the region. There are tons of problems like this.
• The problem isn't always money. Sometimes the problem is education. Or identifying problems in service delivery. Or advocating for change in government policies. How would you solve these problems by sending your money to the needy people?

Sometimes direct support works well. Kiva has a really interesting approach that seems to be successful, for example. But it's hardly the answer to every problem that nonprofits try to solve.

Hmmm, how much does it cost to get a Better Business Bureau seal?

It might be even more interesting to take a look at this link, but hey, information reliability is for losers, huh?

The American Red Cross spent about 1 billion on relief for 911. 4000 people dead, but very few people displaced. Lets see if we treat the rest of the world as well. Over 70,000 dead and over 1.5 million people displaced. If the US does not put in at least a 1 billion (including private donations) I will be very dissapinted (not that I have much faith left), but since the scale here is so much different it really should be 10 billion+.

Lets see the christian fundamentalists put their money were their mouths are, love thy neighbor. I am an athiest who makes only 30k and I gave 100$.

The Better Business Bureau's give.org charity reports web site says Red Cross CEO Marsha Johnson Evans' base salary is $450,000 and former American Red Cross CEO Dr. Bernadine Healy received total compensation of $1,921,913 (which includes a $1,569,630 severance)!! I know some charities offer high salaries because "executive-quality" people can find high paying jobs elsewhere, paying THAT much for a charity does not project a good image. >:\