Yes, yes, I know - “Ask the” threads have been done to death. The latest OP (especially the “secret agendas, secret owners” bit) really makes me wonder what, exactly, the general citizen knows about the American Red Cross.
I’m neither an expert nor a spokesperson but I’ll answer questions and comments the best that I can.
What percentage of the money that gets donated actually ends up being used to help people? I.e. what’s the overhead in an organization as big as that?
Also, I saw a TV show a number of years ago wherein a guy was training some Red Cross drivers to go over all the terrain that they’d likely encounter. That seemed like an awesome job. Do they still need these people? Can you choose where you get deployed to? How much does it pay?
The last numbers I have say that the Society as a whole spends 80% of its money on programs, 7% on administration and fundraising, and 12% on things like salaries and building maintenance. Different chapters will have different numbers, though. My chapter is small, covers a large area, and we own our own building. Our numbers are more like 91%/3%/6%.
That’s International Services, and the International Committee of the Red Cross has oversight. I don’t work for the ICRC and I don’t know a whole lot about it, but those delegates are the people who get to do prison visits, run refugee camps, and deliver food and supplies to people caught up in war. I know nothing about how much those jobs pay or if you can choose where you go, but I can tell you they don’t take neophytes. There is a great resource here if you want to learn more about that stuff.
If blood is so vital, necessary and is often to claimed to be in critically short supply in various communiities, why are many people who want to donate turned away via screening requirements, because they might have been exposed to infectious agents in the past. If blood is that valuable why can’t they test the potential donor on site prior to donation?
Because the FDA says so. We’ve tried to circumvent FDA rules in the past and received fines as a result. Since we can’t afford to pay the fines we follow their rules.
Don’t want to stomp on your thread Chique, but I can answer that. Sorry if it is out of line.
The tests that you wish to perform are done in batches of 20 or so from one of the little vials that is collected with your donation. Even with doing it in batches of the same blood type, wach donation still costs individually about $400 to test. If you did everyone pre donation, the tests that you need to perform would take hours if managed to be done right away, and individually would cost in the neighbourhood of $6000 just for that one donation.
Not very cost effective for blood you may not be able to use anyway. The screening questions might be overprotective in your eyes, but the resources would be wasted otherwise that could be put to better use elsewhere to ensure more blood for the populace.
No worries, CuriousCanuck, but each unit is screened for at least nine things before being declared safe for transfusion. Despite this, the FDA still mandates the pre-screening process.
I was a bit simplistic in my response of course so as not to have to go into all those details, but yes, here too the blood is screened for the same multitude of things. The totality of these tests is what I was referring to.
The prescreening process is necessary of course, not only for monetary, but also safety concerns, as well as resource management within the clinic.