A Better Way to Help Haiti

[Badtz Maru]

There's been a lot of news about how thousands of people are using text messages to give to the Red Cross after the earthquake in Haiti. It's good that people care, but what many of them do not realize is that this money is not going to reach the Red Cross for months, and some of the phone carriers (Sprint, as an example) are taking a portion out of each donation for their own expenses. The Red Cross is sending aid workers to Haiti, but they are using the resources they already had and donations made now are going to be budgeted for future crises.

There is a smaller (but not small) charity that has been helping in Haiti for years, has aid stations and a well-known local presence already established there, that desperately needs donations to cope with the sudden increase in need for help there. They are called Partners in Health, their website is here - http://pih.org/home.html. More of their budget is devoted to actual aid as opposed to administrative salaries than Red Cross (the Red Cross pays their president over $500,000 a year), and they were helping Haiti before they were newsworthy. I just want to spread awareness and let people who want their money to be used effectively know that this is a better option. You can donate money on their site with a debit or credit card, and you can make as small (or as large) a donation as you like. I gave to them this morning, and I hope to encourage others to as well.

 

[warpus]

the Red Cross pays their president over $500,000 a year

Seriously?

There goes my support for the Red Cross...

 

[Badtz Maru]

Seriously?

There goes my support for the Red Cross...

Charity Navigator is a great tool for researching charities. Red Cross has a 3 star rating, spends almost 10% of their money on administrative and fundraising expenses, and pays their president $565,000 a year.

Partners in Health has a 4 star rating, spends just over 5% of their money on administrative and fundraising expenses, and pays their executive director $74,127 a year. AND they have been in Haiti for 25 years, not just when the news crews start getting their pictures taken in front of dead children.

 

[downtown]

I dont see whats so bad about the 500,000 salary, given how big the Red Cross is?

Smaller charities may be better for Hati, but I don't think that makes the RC *bad*

 

[Badtz Maru]

I dont see whats so bad about the 500,000 salary, given how big the Red Cross is?

Smaller charities may be better for Hati, but I don't think that makes the RC *bad*

Why does he need THAT much money? I don't see how size of the charity matters over a certain point. It's not like he works 7 times as hard than the executive of a charity that helps in nine different countries and brings in over 50 million a year.

 

[warpus]

I dont see whats so bad about the 500,000 salary, given how big the Red Cross is?

Seems irresponsible to be asking people for money for the purpose of helping the unfortunate, and then giving half a million of it, a year, to some dude who's very well off.

 

[El_Machinae]

I forwarded Charity Navigator in the other thread. It's interesting peeking around the salaries of the CEOs of the various charities. I emotionally agree with Warpus, a charity that has a CEO willing to work at a discount is probably a better charity.

 

[Cutlass]

From what I've heard, it's not so much that the RC is bad, it's that it has become bureaucratic and bloated and poorly run. And as far as a $500k salary, well that's peanuts compared to the private sector. So sometimes you have to look at it in terms of 'what does it take to hire a person that fills our needs?' And sometimes organizations pay more than they should simply because they don't know they can pay less.

 

[oagersnap]

Charity Navigator is a great tool for researching charities. Red Cross has a 3 star rating, spends almost 10% of their money on administrative and fundraising expenses, and pays their president $565,000 a year.

Partners in Health has a 4 star rating, spends just over 5% of their money on administrative and fundraising expenses, and pays their executive director $74,127 a year. AND they have been in Haiti for 25 years, not just when the news crews start getting their pictures taken in front of dead children.

You know, I don't really see the big difference between "almost 10%" and "just over 5%". And also, money spent on administration isn't always completely wasted; some administration is necessary to properly coordinate the efforts to help in times of disaster.

 

[Patroklos]

If you want someone talented enough to run an organization the size of the RC compentently then you pay for it.

If you think letting Joe Shmoe hippie peace corps dude with white boy dreads run a multi billion dollar entity is a good thing, think again.

 

[RedRalph]

If you want someone talented enough to run an organization the size of the RC compentently then you pay for it.

If you think letting Joe Shmoe hippie peace corps dude with white boy dreads run a multi billion dollar entity is a good thing, think again.

One of my few concessions to racism is that white people should never, ever be allowed to have dreads, with the exception of Zack de la Rocha. I don't know why people lay into Joe Shmoe so much though. seems like a nice bloke to me.

 

[Shekwan]

Barack Obama's salary is $400,000. Running the RC must be a difficult gig if we're evaluating the difficulty of a job by the salary.

 

[RedRalph]

Barack Obama's salary is $400,000. Running the RC must be a difficult gig if we're evaluating the difficulty of a job by the salary.

And just think, Cowen gets significantly more than Medvedev. What a world.

 

[Shekwan]

Fourth highest paid politician in the world. Still not as much as this Red Cross guy though.

 

[Cutlass]

Barack Obama's salary is $400,000. Running the RC must be a difficult gig if we're evaluating the difficulty of a job by the salary.

The salary of the US president is about as far from market rates as it's possible to be. Considering the CEO of a company that earns far less than 1% of US GDP can easily earn 100 times what the president does.

 

[Lay_Lay]

Once again, I get an opportunity to chuckle at some of ya folks who almost cannot believe that it takes a 500,000 salary to run the RC. I am going to assume that you are young and naive as to what people out there in the real world are earning.

Along the same lines I will add that a "6 figure salary" is no longer some glass ceiling or some indication of grand wealth. Regular working schmucks make 100,000 so yes I think the president of the RC can pull in 500,000. Get this through your noggins OT.

 

[Fëanor]

If you want someone talented enough to run an organization the size of the RC compentently then you pay for it.

If you think letting Joe Shmoe hippie peace corps dude with white boy dreads run a multi billion dollar entity is a good thing, think again.

The Banking and Car Industry have shown us how paying high salaries and bonuses is the only way to attract the extremely talented people necessary to run their businesses competently.

Once again, I get an opportunity to chuckle at some of ya folks who almost cannot believe that it takes a 500,000 salary to run the RC. I am going to assume that you are young and naive as to what people out there in the real world are earning.

Along the same lines I will add that a "6 figure salary" is no longer some glass ceiling or some indication of grand wealth. Regular working schmucks make 100,000 so yes I think the president of the RC can pull in 500,000. Get this through your noggins OT.

I think most people are disgusted to see a Charitable/Nonprofit organization paying top bucks to someone to run it, especially since there are plenty other equally qualified persons would do for free.

 

[Badtz Maru]

You know, I don't really see the big difference between "almost 10%" and "just over 5%". And also, money spent on administration isn't always completely wasted; some administration is necessary to properly coordinate the efforts to help in times of disaster.

10% is twice 5%. Tell someone running a business that 10% of your budget is not very different from 5%. Yes, it's a big difference.

There are a lot of large charities that are run by people paid a lot less than the president of the Red Cross. Just because the Red Cross's budget is 10 times bigger than another charity doesn't mean the guy at the top has to work 10 times as hard - he just has more administrators below him to delegate stuff to.

 

[Traitorfish]

One of my few concessions to racism is that white people should never, ever be allowed to have dreads, with the exception of Zack de la Rocha.

The Mycenaeans would be very hurt.

 

[dirtyparrot]

Barack Obama's salary is $400,000. Running the RC must be a difficult gig if we're evaluating the difficulty of a job by the salary.

That will be a trifle compared to what he'll get afterwards (if he wants it). The post-presidential period is much more financially lucrative than the time someone is presidential.