Labor Day Weekend Challenge

[crowMAW]

A close friend of mine volunteered for the Red Cross this weekend.  She is giving her entire holiday (including a vacation day today) to help with the relief efforts.  Last night she was on duty at a shelter in Dallas...she was one of 5 volunteers to help settle 500 refugees.  The Red Cross is getting lots of monitary donations...but is in dire need of helping hands.

I just spent nearly 6 hours after work tonight helping to load relief trucks our city is sending to help.  Again the need was dire.  They did not have enough hands to sort, box, pallet, and load to keep up with the donations pouring in.  Everything was piling up in the street and the cops said it all had to go before noon Saturday.

The challenge is to volunteer.  Most of us have 3 days off.  Take one of those days or even just a few hours to help out.

Also if you do decide to donate items...only donate non-parrishable goods.  Some folks meant well by bring in milk or even bread, but those things will go bad or be crushed too easily to be useful.

[FiLtH]

I gave money to the Red Cross. Not much else I can do up here.

[oboe]

The CEO of the Red Cross, Marsha Evans, takes an annual salary in excess of $450,000.     I can only guess how much the accompanying bevy of VPs get their hands on.  

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/search.summary/orgid/3277.htm

I'm sure she appreciates all the donations, and sees to it that a portion of the money is actually used for its intended purpose.

I'm sorry to relay this info but I find taking advantage of people's charity very disheartening.   I know they are asking for cash donations, but maybe non-perishable food is a better way to go?
Or donating to organizations at a more local level?

[Sandman]

Well... at first glance, 450K seems like a lot, but the Red Cross is a big organization and if they expect to hire big talent to run it, they're going to have to pay.

[oboe]

Yep, that's one of the standard defenses for outrageous CEO salaries.   I don't buy it though.   I bet there are many capable, compassionate leaders out there who would be happy to perform her duties for half or even a quarter of what she takes away from the organization's operating budget.

I'm sure by the measure of donations received this year, the Red Cross will appear to be a larger organization than it was last year, hence Ms Evans will be entitled to a large salary increase.

Does it seem right to you that an organization that exists on goodwill donations of hardworking people, for the purpose of giving aid and comfort to people who have suffered disasters, should pay its CEO a salary that puts her in the top, what, 1% or less of all income earners?

[FiLtH]

Yes I know that, not all goes to who its intended for. But..I can either send 100 bucks, that hopefully equals 50 bucks by the time its channeled. That may feed a family a decent meal for a week, rather than send a box of canned peas, soup, and whatnot, that may be mishandled, damaged, or lost.

    Or I can just do nothing. I did my part.

[Ripsnort]

Deleted.

5- Flamebaiting, trolling, or posting to incite or annoy is not allowed.

[Jackal1]

You damn right the heads and employess of the ARC draw a salary.
  The ARC is a very large , diversified  and multitasked entity.
  Going in for relief in a major disaster is what most people think of when they think of the ARC. That is what we see and usualy only think about it when there is a disaster. They do everything from medical testing/lab, etc to debri cleanup.
  It takes large amounts of money to run such an operation as large as this and many, many talented people.
  ARC has one goal and that is to help those in need when the time comes, no matter what the circumstances.
  Compare the salaries with any large organization or company. These people do something GOOD and benificial. Most comapanies and organizations in our country do very little if nothing to benefit the citizens of our country and other countries. The majority of companies and organizations are nothing but money machines and a lot do very little more than make-do work and shuffle paper.
  If it wasn`t for the ARC many people would lose their lives or be left with no hope nor chance of survival when disaster strikes.
 Money very well invested if you ask me and that is very rare in these times.

  Sorry for the semi-hijack crowMAW. A very worthy and noble effort bud.

[eagl]

If any NO refugees make it to the UK, I volunteer beetle's pad as a shelter

[lazs2]

It's not so much what the originizations pay the top people... sometimes it can be worth it (although in the case of the red cross it is a waste)  It is what the organization spends overall in percent of money that you give that actually gets to the people that need the help.

The red cross is one of the worst (if not the worst)... If you give them $1,000 say... what probly happens with the money is that the people in need get to see some really cool vehicles and they get a few old clothes that were donated to the red cross and maybe a lukewarm cup of coffee in a cardboard cup.  To top it off... they often charge for the people they are "helping" for the service.   I would never give em a dime.

lazs

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by lazs2
The red cross is one of the worst (if not the worst)... If you give them $1,000 say... what probly happens with the money is that the people in need get to see some really cool vehicles and they get a few old clothes that were donated to the red cross and maybe a lukewarm cup of coffee in a cardboard cup.  To top it off... they often charge for the people they are "helping" for the service.   I would never give em a dime.

lazs

Incorrect. They get an "A-" for administration costs. AIP Comparison:




Using the AIP  formula, one can see that Charity X has a fund-raising efficiency of 50% or that it costs the charity $50 to raise $100. This ratio is useful because it tells donors how much a charity is spending to obtain your contribution and how much is left to spend on charitable programs and general administration.


http://www.charitywatch.org/toprated.html#asian

[lazs2]

ohh?  nobody on their list got less than a B... they give no numbers.

If the red cross gets an A... wonder what ones like salvation army get?

lazs

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by lazs2
ohh?  nobody on their list got less than a B... they give no numbers.

If the red cross gets an A... wonder what ones like salvation army get?

lazs

Go to the "A-Z" list. The list only provides the top rated of charities based on this:
The mission categories below list charities which get high grades from AIP for putting 75% or more towards program cost while generally spending $25 or less to raise $100. These groups also receive an “open book” credit from AIP for willingly sending the financial documents we request.

[lazs2]

I heard the site you gave got an F in research.... Actually... I have never heard of the site or the people on it.  

lazs

[oboe]

Originally posted by Jackal1
You damn right the heads and employess of the ARC draw a salary.
  The ARC is a very large , diversified  and multitasked entity.
  Going in for relief in a major disaster is what most people think of when they think of the ARC. That is what we see and usualy only think about it when there is a disaster. They do everything from medical testing/lab, etc to debri cleanup.
  It takes large amounts of money to run such an operation as large as this and many, many talented people.
  ARC has one goal and that is to help those in need when the time comes, no matter what the circumstances.
  Compare the salaries with any large organization or company. These people do something GOOD and benificial. Most comapanies and organizations in our country do very little if nothing to benefit the citizens of our country and other countries. The majority of companies and organizations are nothing but money machines and a lot do very little more than make-do work and shuffle paper.
  If it wasn`t for the ARC many people would lose their lives or be left with no hope nor chance of survival when disaster strikes.
 Money very well invested if you ask me and that is very rare in these times.

  Sorry for the semi-hijack crowMAW. A very worthy and noble effort bud.

I don't think the question is whether or not employees of ARC do work or deserve a salary.   No question in my mind that they do.  The ARC also does a great job of harnessing the time and talent of thousands of volunteer workers, who contribute out of the goodness of their hearts.    My disappointment and frustration are directed solely at the top of the organization - who I think must suffer from the same delusional sense of entitlement and outsize egos that infects most of the rest of large corporate America.

I would very much like to see a "60 Minutes" type investigative piece on Ms Evans - comparing what she does/earns in a typical day to what a typical low level Red Cross employee or volunteer does.    I'll bet she does a lot of make-do work, social engagements and paper shuffling.  The real work of the organization is done at the lower and mid-levels.

Personally, I'd like to see the CEO position at ARC become a volunteer position - where a "loaned-executive" from corporate America can spend a year out of their career leading an organization that fulfills a critical need in our country and serves a noble purpose.   Then you can take Ms Evan's $450,000/yr salary and buy more food, blankets, medicine, tents, etc.