[meteorite-list] Re: [OT] No & charities

From: MexicoDoug_at_aol.com <MexicoDoug_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Sep 5 18:13:08 2005
Message-ID: <203.95e9dc8.304e1cee_at_aol.com>

Geoff N. wrote:
>We may not make a world of difference with our little charity project,
 
You are wrong there, Geoff. Totally underestimating your current
enterprise! Being a catalyst for a caring society when others are in need is about the
only good thing that is contageous and is what truly "MAKES A WORLD OF
DIFFERENCE" at this point and in just one day you sent the American Red Cross
enough money to deliver AT LEAST two truckloads of food with a fabulous shooting
star emblazened upon the bill of lading.
 
The American Red Cross donates 91.1% directly to projects and has an
administrative load of 5.4%. (The other 3.5% is in fund raising efforts).
 
The American Red Cross may not be a theoretical model of efficiency, but it
is more efficient than most of us can hope to be and FAST as lightning.
Perhaps those of you who have had a bad experience can check out a charity like
"Feed the Children". I don't endorse them, but in a challenge to fiind an
alternate I would check into them. They raised nearly a billion dollars in the
last year on record with administrative costs of only 1.9%. Their CEO makes
$155,000 a year (OK, this is actually small potatoes for such responsibility
in peer charities;-) ) compared with nearly a half million for the American
Red Cross CEO, and Feed the Children had alread sent 60 truckloads of food
into the disaster zone,according to their website. 90% of FTC donations are
medicine, food, and survival goods. The Red Cross and other big charities tend
to avoid these activities. No charity is perfect and FTC apparently makes
money on shipping - but certainly not by charging more than the folks the other
charities contract out to. A similar organization on the ground is
Americares.org which has very impressive statistics as well and 98% efficiency, and
also map.org, not to mention the United Way types helping out).
 
If you have a doubt about your charity check it out on _www.give.com_
(http://www.give.com) . This is managed by the Better Business Bureau. Don't
bother checking Samaritans Purse, they are one of the few big charities whose
"report is in progress - all material has been received", an odd comment given
they have been around for a while, but certainly not a smoking gun of any sort.
 On the other hand, the CEO of SP, a son of the Rev. Billy Graham, has been
involved in scandalous comments ("Islam is wicked, violent, and not of the
same God.", and was preaching 9 days after the fall of Iraq in Bagdad, as well
as opening Bush' inaguration on invitation:
_http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/04/16/national/main549684.shtml_
(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/04/16/national/main549684.shtml) ). So as in everything, believe what you are
comfortable believing and do what your heart says and purse allows...
 
Dave, please keep your cheers and criticisms for Mr. Blair and save them for
the moment the last person in New Orleans gets to go home to a nice bed like
yours and the option of having a job and going to the supermarket to buy
food, there is a lot of work to be done and I hope by now you see your comments
were bureaucraticus maximus, and terribly timed, if I may take the liberty
of being overly generous!
 
Saludos, Doug
 
Received on Mon 05 Sep 2005 06:13:02 PM PDT