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https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-red-cross-raised-half-a-billion-dollars-for-haiti-and-built-6-homes

Portions of the article:

QuoteThe group has publicly celebrated its work. But in fact, the Red Cross has repeatedly failed on the ground in Haiti. Confidential memos, emails from worried top officers, and accounts of a dozen frustrated and disappointed insiders show the charity has broken promises, squandered donations, and made dubious claims of success.
The Red Cross says it has provided homes to more than 130,000 people. But the actual number of permanent homes the group has built in all of Haiti: six.
After the earthquake, Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern unveiled ambitious plans to “develop brand-new communities.” None has ever been built.
Aid organizations from around the world have struggled after the earthquake in Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. But ProPublica and NPR’s investigation shows that many of the Red Cross’s failings in Haiti are of its own making. They are also part of a larger pattern in which the organization has botched delivery of aid after disasters such as Superstorm Sandy. Despite its difficulties, the Red Cross remains the charity of choice for ordinary Americans and corporations alike after natural disasters.

QuoteWhen the earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010, the Red Cross was facing a crisis of its own. McGovern had become chief executive just 18 months earlier, inheriting a deficit and an organization that had faced scandals after 9/11 and Katrina.

Inside the Red Cross, the Haiti disaster was seen as “a spectacular fundraising opportunity,” recalled one former official who helped organize the effort. Michelle Obama, the NFL and a long list of celebrities appealed for donations to the group.
The Red Cross kept soliciting money well after it had enough for the emergency relief that is the group’s stock in trade. Doctors Without Borders, in contrast, stopped fundraising off the earthquake after it decided it had enough money. The donations to the Red Cross helped the group erase its more-than $100 million deficit.
The Red Cross ultimately raised far more than any other charity.
A year after the quake, McGovern announced that the Red Cross would use the donations to make a lasting impact in Haiti.

QuoteNone of that ever happened. Carline Noailles, who was the project’s manager in Washington, said it was endlessly delayed because the Red Cross “didn’t have the know-how.”
Another former official who worked on the Campeche project said, “Everything takes four times as long because it would be micromanaged from DC, and they had no development experience.”
Shown an English-language press release from the Red Cross website, Flaubert was stunned to learn of the project’s $24 million budget â€" and that it is due to end next year.
“Not only is [the Red Cross] not doing it,” Flaubert said, “now I’m learning that the Red Cross is leaving next year. I don’t understand that.” (The Red Cross says it did tell community leaders about the end date. It also accused us of “creating ill will in the community which may give rise to a security incident.”)
The project has since been reshaped and downscaled. A road is being built. Some existing homes have received earthquake reinforcement and a few schools are being repaired. Some solar street lights have been installed, though many broke and residents say others are unreliable.
The group’s most recent press release on the project cites achievements such as training school children in disaster response.
The Red Cross said it has to scale back its housing plans because it couldn’t acquire the rights to land. No homes will be built.

And so on. I take this personally for a few reasons. I taught Advanced First Aid for free in my spare time for the Red Cross, including cops, firefighters and ski patrol. I got little support and a lot of promises not kept for equipment, use of swimming pools locally and so on- I used my own money to pay for pool time at a local high school so the participants wouldn't have to.

My son as a reservist went down to help them after Hurricane Katrina and saw money get doled out to help whining rich guys replace their daughter's cheerleader outfits when poor people with real needs got little if any. The whole thing was politically driven and whatever money was raised didn't get to the people that needed it.

While I was involved with them, myself and a Ski Patrol instructor both offered suggestions that were either never implemented or outright ignored. Both of us quit in disgust. They have a huge overhead, employing way too many useless people that pass paperwork around and pay huge salaries to international leaders that do nothing real, as far as I can determine. A bloated mess, all in all.

Don't donate money to them. Find other charities, preferably atheist ones to benefit people in emergencies. My two cents.

Thanks... I'd love to see how their entire budget looks. Also, I'd like to see a roll up of the bills of sale for the Haiti effort...

I knew of the scam that is the red cross way back in the 70s as a volunteer driver. I gave them almost 2 years of my time,  mostly full time and when it came time for me to ask for a reference for a job I might as well have asked them to lick my ass. It turned out that the guy running the show there was also a big union boss in town so it could have been really easy to get me into the UAW at Chrysler or GM at time, but being an unemployed kid he kicked me to the curb after using me for free labor. . 

Quote from: AllPurposeAtheist on June 03, 2015, 11:04:31 PM
I knew of the scam that is the red cross way back in the 70s as a volunteer driver. I gave them almost 2 years of my time,  mostly full time and when it came time for me to ask for a reference for a job I might as well have asked them to lick my ass. It turned out that the guy running the show there was also a big union boss in town so it could have been really easy to get me into the UAW at Chrysler or GM at time, but being an unemployed kid he kicked me to the curb after using me for free labor. . 

Doesn't surprise me. The person that ran the local chapter where I taught was retired military and treated everybody like dirt. The stupid part was that some of the people I taught were Air Force- courtesy of Hill AFB. After I left, I got calls for volunteering at several different tasks, even after pointedly telling them what they could do with their Red Cross. Among them was as a driver, even though I was working full time.

Quote from: stromboli on June 03, 2015, 10:30:21 PMDon't donate money to them. Find other charities, preferably atheist ones to benefit people in emergencies. My two cents.

Like what?  My list of trustworthy charities grows smaller and smaller.  The Red Cross is a probably the world's most recognizable charity.  Learning that it apparently squanders donations meant to help needy people is a huge revelation.  Next, you'll tell me that Kids Wish Network is a scam and that the Salvation Army is basically a cult.

Quote from: Hydra009 on June 03, 2015, 11:24:29 PM
Like what?  My list of trustworthy charities grows smaller and smaller.  The Red Cross is a probably the world's most recognizable charity.  Learning that it apparently squanders donations meant to help needy people is a huge revelation.  Next, you'll tell me that Kids Wish Network is a scam and that the Salvation Army is basically a cult.

The Children's Miracle Network is a good charity. Primary Children's in Salt Lake saved my new grand daughter's life, so I donate to them. It was set up by a Mormon and a Christian, but it is a charity that goes impartially to a number of hospitals that specialize in treating children. Primary Children's used to be Mormon, but it is now part of the Intermountain Health Network. She's alive and kicking because of their skills, so I figure they earned my respect.

Yeah, there's a big drive for Children's Miracle Network over here.  And it all goes to a local children's hospital that helps thousands of patients a year.

According to wiki, 89% of Children's Miracle Network expenses go directly to their programs.  Not bad.  Definitely beats Kids Wish Network's 2.5%.

The problem with large quantities of money sitting on a table, whether it be public donations for charity, a corporate pension fund, or the National Treasury, is that it becomes a magnate for opportunists who want to help themselves.  Six fucking houses?  You don't call that mismanagement.  Mismanagement is when 20 percent goes to overhead, when all they need is 15%.  The most likely explanation in this case is simple greed and corruption.

And here is why I don't give money to these charities.

The only charities I support would be local ones, like food drives, giving cans of food for homeless shelters. These huge charity organizations have so much red tape, and the money you give almost never goes to the people they tell you it does.

Whenever I see one of those red cross or other third world charities on t.v, plucking at our heart strings with videos of starving children living in slums looking at the cameras with forlorn eyes, I just change channels, because aside from the fact those children are all like 20 now, or dead, I know there is fuck all these charities really do for them.

What bugs me about the Red Cross is that they bill themselves as a charitable volunteer organization but are so top heavy with paid staff that the volunteers end up getting sort shrift. To teach advanced first aid you have to take a course that is 40-50 hours or so-not sure now what they require- and teach a minimum of 2 courses of 20-30 hours or so. That is a huge amount of time when you split that up between weeknights when you have other issues to deal with, and it is all free voluntarily given time.

They were running 3 courses at a time- in Utah, every kid in high school wants to be a Ski Patroler to get free skiing at the resorts, so the volume is huge. Some of the equipment, like the AMBU mannequins are quite expensive and they only kept 2, so we had to stagger time between 3 courses. There is upkeep on shit, classroom time to be divided and so on, so it was really arduous. And dealing with paid staff was ridiculous because they were never available at night, so you had to come in in the daytime to make arrangements and sign stuff out. Very frustrating.

Hey, they gave you donuts and coffee free in the service didn't they? No, they didn't did they? If it wasn't for Shriners I would be bankrupt now, and they will not accept money, only equipment, unless it too has been corrupted.