# Is the Red Cross the best charity to give to for Hurricane Relief??? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 20, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-red-cross-the-best-charity-to-give-to-for-hurricane-relief/326998 "2005-10-20T00:57:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-red-cross-the-best-charity-to-give-to-for-hurricane-relief/326998/1 "2005-10-20T00:57:59Z")
I do a monthly show at a club in Los Angeles. It’s always at the end of the month. When I started this series a few months ago, I had always planned to make the November show (which is the week _after_ Thanksgiving) a Holiday-themed fund-raiser/benefit/charity thing. But I had not made a decision as to what the charity would be. Now, because New Orleans was my home for many years and I love it so, I fully intend to make this Holiday show a Hurricane Refief Benefit. All of the Hurricane benefits I’ve contributed to over the last month and a half have been for the Red Cross. So this is what I very well may do. Just checking here to see if anyone wants to recommend a different Hurricane relief fund that I should consider. Of special interest would be any fund that would specifically go to providing Holiday related services to those affected by Katrina and Rita (since it will be a “Holiday” show). ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-red-cross-the-best-charity-to-give-to-for-hurricane-relief/326998/2 "2005-10-20T04:22:12Z")
Well, I’ll suggest Noah’s Wish as an alternative. [http://www.noahswish.org/Donations.htm](http://www.noahswish.org/Donations.htm) The money will be used for good. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-red-cross-the-best-charity-to-give-to-for-hurricane-relief/326998/3 "2005-10-20T16:51:22Z")
Of the charities listed for hurricane relief in our newspaper in the days after the hurricane hit, it was the only one that wasn’t a Christian charity. I’m Jewish and ex-Christian, and wouldn’t feel right giving money that might be used to promote Christianity. So, until our synagogue announced a Jewish Federation hurricane-relief effort, the Red Cross and the Humane Society were the only charities I would give to for hurricane relief. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-red-cross-the-best-charity-to-give-to-for-hurricane-relief/326998/4 "2005-10-20T18:15:48Z")
[Click here](http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/content.view/catid/68/cpid/310.htm) for a nice summary of solid charities. American Red Cross is on the list. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-red-cross-the-best-charity-to-give-to-for-hurricane-relief/326998/5 "2005-10-20T19:14:33Z")
Great link **PunditLisa** I’ll review those. Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-red-cross-the-best-charity-to-give-to-for-hurricane-relief/326998/6 "2005-10-20T20:13:59Z")
Since you want to donate specifically to New Orleans Katrina relief, you might consider a charity that focuses on long-term needs rather than first response. I suggest [Habitat for Humanity.](http://habitat.org) [Here’s an article](http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-10-17-redcross-criticism_x.htm) with some interesting information about donating to Red Cross versus other charities. [This link](http://www.redcross.org/news/ds/hurricanes/support05/report.html) shows how the Red Cross is spending its Katrina money. If it is true that $1.2 billion was donated to the Red Cross for Katrina relief (second link above) and that $54 million was spent on fundraising costs (RC link), then the Red Cross used 22% of the donations for fund raising. That’s kind of high, IMHO.