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How the Red Cross Raised Half a Billion Dollars For Haiti and Built 6 Homes

An anonymous reader points out an investigation from NPR and Propublica into how the Red Cross spent the $500 million in relief funds they gathered to help Haiti after the country was devastated by an earthquake in 2010. They found "a string of poorly managed projects, questionable spending and dubious claims of success." While the organization claims to have built homes for 130,000 people, investigators only found six permanent homes they could attribute to the charity. The Red Cross admitted afterward that the 130,000 number included people who had attended a seminar on how to fix their own homes.

"Lacking the expertise to mount its own projects, the Red Cross ended up giving much of the money to other groups to do the work. Those groups took out a piece of every dollar to cover overhead and management. Even on the projects done by others, the Red Cross had its own significant expenses – in one case, adding up to a third of the project’s budget." The Red Cross raised far more money for Haiti than any other charity, but is unwilling to provide details on where the money went. In one case, a brochure that extolled the virtues of one project claimed $24 million had been spent on a particular area — but residents of that area haven't seen any improvement in living conditions, and are unable to get information from the Red Cross. The former director of the Red Cross's shelter program said charity officials had no idea how to spend the money they'd accumulated.

2 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Re:They throw money at shit they don't need... by rtb61 · · Score: 0, Troll

    You just made the same mistake the headline made and the whole article repeated. Not the Red Cross, on no but the AMERICAN Red Cross, there is a huge distinction between the two. So yes the AMERICAN Red Cross, like so many other so called charities, AMERICAN charities, is one grand get rich scheme for the insiders and a marketing and PR scam so that Americans can pretend they care about people. Corruption under the tutelage of conservatives has reached into every single part of the US, psychopathy inc,. is not an insult it is a reality.

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    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  2. Re:Article 1, Section 8, sentence 1. by mi · · Score: 1, Troll

    Yes, Virginia, the United States government has the Constitutional power to tax and to spend for general welfare

    Are you seriously going to argue the legislative intent with the guy, who wrote the very law? I linked to the quote already, but you are too righteous to click on some wingnut's links, aren't you? Well, here it goes by value, rather than reference:

    I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.

    — James Madison

    Or, maybe, you are confusing "general welfare" with the Welfare-check? That must be it, Virginia... Because if Madison says, spending taxes on benevolence is against the Constitution, then it really must be...

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    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.