Believe what you want. It will come to light soon.
But I won’t be the type to say “I told you so”
Gosh - ya know it sounds like you just did.
Oh - hey - it looks like your tinfoil hat is slipping a tad there - you may want to adjust it…
Tsk…did you get caught with your hand in the kettle again?
Come’on everybody,stop the pile on. If Omnipresent says so, it must be true…:rolleyes:
>As for their lifestyle, well frankly, it appears to be even more
> service-oriented than the Mormons.
bummer of a comparison…I’m LDS and I’ve supplied/served food at the local SA. Several others there were LDS. Everyone doing their best to help, lots of nice karma.
Actually, MarsDragon, I didn’t think it was a bummer comparison, I thought it was flattery for both groups. And omnipresent, I’m not sure why you have decided to pick on the SA and why you can’t give an actual, reasonable explanation as to your problem, refusing to fight ignorance. One thing I must say, however, is that because of your OP, many people are becoming aware of the good things that the SA is doing/have done. Nice job. 
In Australia, at least, fundraising costs can be very high. While many of the established charities here receive some government funding to cover their basic overheads, it isn’t nearly enough and much of that funding is tied to specific programmes and can’t be spent for any other purpose.
Over the years, I’ve served on the committees and executives of a large number of interagency welfare groups. While there are most certainly charities whose staff are extremely well paid (and many would contend that given the size of the organisation and a huge budget which needs to be spent with minimum wastage that the CEOs of charitable organisations more than earn their salary), they tend to be in the minority. I, personally, have yet to meet a paid Salvation Army captain who is earning any thing more than a living wage.
FTR. Although my lack of belief in a deity is well known, the disadvantaged in this nation (and I suspect in many other nations) would be a great deal worse of if it were not for the stand alone religious charities (The Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul, Anglicare etc) which operate nationally, and the combined religious charities which operate at a local level.
Outside of the debate over the particular situation at the SA, let me just add that paying your people well, including their airfare, is not quite as unjustifiable as it might seem. First of all, money is what attracts talent: and that’s especially the case when you’re competing with the private sector. To a talented fundraiser who also has two kids to put through college, a higher salary/housing/perk package can really make a difference in what line of work one chooses. If getting good talent behind you can really improve an organization’s operation, and there are good reasons to think it does, then these compensation packages really CAN be justified.
If you want to gripe, gripe about the United Way. I can’t see any justification other than laziness that would explain why you couldn’t think about which charities were most important to you, and contribute to them directly. Giving to the United Way generally means giving money to all sorts of different groups, and I dout very much that a moments thought couldn’t reveal the possibility that there are charities who even you would think are worth more than others. Thankfully, the UA is starting to at least give people options for targeting your donations, but they are still highly inefficient.
Also, keep in mind that however disasterous things may be for people in the US, giving to charities that do most of their work in the US basically involves shuffling around money amongst people who, no matter how impoverished, are relatively already among the wealthiest in the world. That may matter to you, or it may not, but it’s something worth thinking about.
I intend to take this up with my local minister; he’s a Methodist, but I feel the same situation applies:
-this guy never goes to work at all; all he does is swan around visiting people all the time - if he stopped wasting his time with the sick, elderly and lonely, he might be able to get some proper work done.
What is yet more galling is that he gets paid the same as a junior shop assistant for this behaviour and gets a house for nothing - I might add that he won’t have to move out and buy his own home until the day he retires.
It is truly shocking - something needs to be done. :rolleyes:
Omnipresent may be on to something here! I have always suspected that the Salvation ‘Army’ (rather suspect by name alone!) cooks people in those collection kettles during the off-season, but I could never get proof…
I used to do volunteer work for a charity which provides development loans and business advice in third world countries. It had (and still has) a fair number of full-time salaried staff. And it needs them; it needs their specialised training, their talents, and their committment on a professional basis. If it relied solely on volunteers, it wouldn’t be able to do the work it does. So, it needs to pay salaries. (Which are not, incidentally, close to the money these people could earn outside the charitable sector.)
Sorry for the lack of hard-core evidence. But, that’s why this is in bbq or else I’d have put it in General.
Again, I’m still too close to the situation to be THAT out! Granted the SA helps some in need when needed. But understand, that’s ALL that most people see. “Aww, look at them, they’re helping people”. Not many see what goes on behind the scenes. Be advised, it’s more sinister then what appears.
When you see pictures or if you’re actually volunteering on-site, understand that, yes, something “good” is being done but, also understand that this is how they advertise. They want to give this “do-gooder” persona. While it may actually be pulled off, the end effect is the general public having an infallible and unrealistic attitude toward the organization which results in more funds channeled to things that the org. blows in a disgraceful manner (party’s, soft money etc) that the “donator” is completely unaware.
Fair enough then, just chaulk this up to a ranting and venting post. More will come out in public eventually. But, since people have taken the time to respond, that proves they’ve thought about this. That was the goal!
You’ve got a piece of tin foil stuck in your hair.
I think that should read “Sorry for the lack of ANY evidence…”
Omnipresent this is a anonymous message board, your profile gives no information about your location or anytihng else, if you have “evidence” post it or does the Salvation Army conspiracy run so deep they can crack into the the SDMB database get your IP address, then work out your physical location and call in the crack squad Salvation Army StormTroopers to “silence” you (using their neafarious Christmas Brass Band torture)
This is a classic tactic of people who claim to have evidence, but just can’t release it for some reason or other. Usually it means they don’t have evidence at all.
So I’m calling you out: Put up or shut up.
Omni, a couple of years ago our local Salvation Army office got ripped off to the tune of $47,000 by a staff member. The reason I know about this is because I was interviewed by the fraud squad - my name happened to be one of the inactive client names that person used to perpetrate their fraud.
Knowing how the fraud was perpetrated, I’m aware that the only way it can be prevented in the future is by adding another level of administration which either randomly verifies allocations of funds or which periodically verifies every payment made for a certain period of time.
The person got caught, but that branch was still down $47,000 - not an insignificant amount of money to lose from a very strained budget.
Yes, I’m aware that individual offices of some major charities sometimes do the wrong thing, as do individual staff members. The same can be said of private enterprise, which has a much greater budget to cover checks and balances on the propriety of its financial expenditure than charities.
Quite seriously, if you have demonstrable evidence of impropriety within a registered charity, then present that evidence to both the executive of the organisation and whatever government body oversees the conduct of charitable organisations within your state; but please don’t assume the improper actions of a few reflect the official policy of the organisation as a whole or have the endorsement of those in authority within the organisation.
Are you sure you didn’t mean to say that posting this was just a daring sociological experiment?
Omnipresent, PROVE that the SA doesn’t do what it claims. You can’t. Know why? Because everyone can see the SA trucks at fires, giving food and blankets and much needed gatorade to the victims and the firefighters. We can see the SA community centers, open to all, free to all, in every major city. We can see the drug treatment centers. We can see the homeless shelters and drop in centers which are open and often filled beyond capacity, especially as the weather gets colder.
You’re claiming waste, but indepedent accounting doesn’t bear that out. You claim money going to inappropriate places, but you won’t elaborate. You must’ve had a point, somewhere in your dusky brain, to have started this thread, so why won’t you put up anything more than “Oh, I can’t say anything I’m too close.” What, the SA is going to have you whacked for spilling their secrets?
I think it’s time to put up or shut up.
Just so y’all know that I don’t agree with the op, I have the greatest respect for the SA. They were the ones that were able to get in touch with me shortly after I was stationed in Germany (and I mean within hours of hitting a new duty station) to let me know that my newborn daughter was in the hospital. They were also the ones that were able to get ahold of me THREE hours after I got back to Germany from the Middle East to let me know about a death in the family.
I still think that all churches and church owned businesses should be taxed though.
Well, I’m still pissed at their craven capitulating on the domestic partners issue.
http://www.hrc.org/worknet/workalert/2002/0504/article17.asp
http://www.hrc.org/worknet/workalert/2002/0506/article04.asp
http://www.hrc.org/newsreleases/2001/011113salarmy.asp
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/1113-06.htm
I think we are forgetting the real danger here. The Salvation Army is an international organization with operations on every continent with the exception of Antartica. Their operatives have infiltrated nearly every free society in the civilized world and maitain large operations in the third world as well. These soldiers are permitted to move freely and in mass.
No other Army in the world today has that type of reach or access. The SA is a sleeping dragon poised for world domination. Materials available to the public make no mention of the armament capabilities of the SA. Why the secrecy? Why do they never talk about their weapon systems? What are they hiding? The UN must act now to break up this large and secretive military force before it is too late.