In 'Blood' we talked a bit about American Red Cross. Texas (Louisiana) flooding may stimulate charitable thoughts here. Given that ARC has issues Don’t give money to the Red Cross. We need a new way. And any local disaster coverage you might watch is likely to have ARC 'in the scroll', I link Charity Navigator for (at least) a listing of well-ranked organizations. Charity Navigator - Your Guide To Intelligent Giving | Home
idk, it's easy to criticize, but on what criteria does one judge response? the top charity is 'the hawaiian language shall live'.
Yes, I know, we discussed that in the blood donation thread. My point is that here as well there are many choices. Do not let bad feeling about ARC (or any other) be one's deciding factor.
I am going to give an example, UMCOR is the United Methodist Committee on Relief. The 'overhead' is funded by the Methodist congregations via a yearly Sunday Donation by all UMC congregations, called UMCOR Sunday. As such, any donations you make go 100% to the named cause. Since the Methodists assume only Methodists will donate to UMCOR, there is almost no fundraising expense. Charity Navigator (correctly) counts that Methodist money as part of their finances and states that only 93% of donations go to the Program Expenses, but as a unaffiliated donor, 100% of YOUR donation goes to the desired program. Several other charities have similar schemes, their overhead is funded separately so they can use 100% of the targeted donations can go to relief. (My wife is a Methodist, so I am most familiar with UMCOR, but it is not unique. The Catholic Medical Mission Board, as an example, would be similar, very low overhead, and almost no fundraising costs) Charity Navigator - Rating for United Methodist Committee on Relief Charity Navigator - Rating for Catholic Medical Mission Board
I don't send money to those big major charities. I mail a check or donate online directly to the local food banks. (Just do a Google search for the food bank and city you are interested in contributing to.) In Texas, I sent my donation to San Antonio. Their food bank is one of the main distribution centers. It's been around for many many years. Please say a prayer for all the people in Texas.
NEA...four stars. That tells me everything I need to know. (I searched certain others, but Prius People are very thin-skinned, and I want to keep this thread out of the Chuck E Cheese portion of the forum.) I followed the link in the OP to see who had a special hate on for the ARC, and it was Slate. Again......everything I needed to know. I run hot and cold on the red cross. I figured that if they paid people to "donate" blood as much as hospitals charge to distribute it then 'blood drives' would look completely different, and the only shortages would involve storage. Fortunately.....we're probably on the cusp of 'fake blood' that will render such things unnecessary. Like many such NGOs however, the whole blood thing is merely the tip of the iceberg, and despite my temperature fluctuations towards the blood suckers, I won't elevate Slate by calling them out for slagging a dot.org that is probably much more good than bad.....an example to follow. I pray that their editorial staff never have to find out how much the ARC really does on a smaller scale.....and Slate isn't the 'worst of the bad.....' All Charity is Evil | HuffPost UK
