# What percent of Red Cross donations goes to victims? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 3, 2005, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percent-of-red-cross-donations-goes-to-victims/319856 "2005-09-03T04:24:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percent-of-red-cross-donations-goes-to-victims/319856/21 "2012-11-03T20:30:25Z")
> [@chris3558](#): > > Donating - Interesting, ever wonder where that donation money goes? > > Keep these facts in mind when “donating”. As you open your pockets for yet another natural disaster, keep the following facts in mind; we have listed them from the highest (worse paid offender) to the lowest (least paid offender). > > The worst offender was yet again for the 11th year in a row is, UNICEF - CEO, receives $1,200,000 per year, (plus use of a Royal Royce for his exclusive use where ever he goes, and an expense account that is rumored to be well over $150,000.) Only pennies from the actual donations goes to the UNICEF cause (less than $0.14 per dollar of income). > > The second worst offender this year is Marsha J. Evans, President and CEO of the American Red Cross…for her salary for the year ending in 2009 was $651,957 plus expenses. Enjoys 6 weeks - fully paid holidays including all related expenses during the holiday trip for her and her husband and kids. including 100% fully paid health & dental plan for her and her family, for life. This means out of every dollar they bring in, about $0.39 goes to related charity causes. > > The third worst offender was again for the 7th time was, Brian Gallagher, President of the United Way receives a $375,000 base salary (U.S. funds), plus so many numerous expense benefits it’s hard to keep track as to what it is all worth, including a fully paid lifetime membership for 2 golf courses (1 in Canada, and 1 in the U.S.A.), 2 luxury vehicles, a yacht club membership, 3 major company gold credit cards for his personal expenses…and so on. This equates to about $0.51 per dollar of income goes to charity causes. Would you rather these massive multi-million dollar international organizations with thousands of employees around the globe be managed by some yahoo off the street at discount rates? If you want to hire a CEO, you have to offer a CEO salary. What do you count as “charity causes?” Few charities are in the business of just handing people goods and calling it a day. Much of the work that they do- training, medical services, education services, etc. is based on getting trained personnel to where they can help, and if you want to hire skilled people, you have to hire at market rates. The skilled managers, logisticians, trainers, and technical experts that charities employ have families to take of, student loans to pay off (many of these jobs call for advanced professional degrees), mortgages, a retirement to plan for and the same expenses that anyone else has. Pretty much all of their skills and qualifications are directly transferable to the private sector. Organizationally, charities are not that different than any other business- you need an HR department, a communications department, a legal team, a whole boatload of MBAs, etc. And while they are not selling the end services and products for a profit, the actual workers are still going to need to be paid competitively. There is a slight added value to working for a good cause, but the warm fuzzies only get you so far in the labor market. ---
**Author:** ![LiliesOfTheField](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c0e974/32.png) [@LiliesOfTheField](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiliesOfTheField)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percent-of-red-cross-donations-goes-to-victims/319856/22 "2012-11-04T00:44:42Z")
My friend is a Red Cross volunteer. She told me that when she went to help Katrina victims, she was given a per diem for food. My friend was living under the poverty line at the time, so she asked the organization if she could just eat the Ramen she brought with her and take the money home. She was told that they “strongly encourage” her to eat at local restaurants and grocery stores because part of the purpose of the per diem was to help the local economy. Doing the right thing to assist people in a disaster can be counterintuitive. For example, donating food and blankets sounds right when people are hungry and cold. But buying food and blankets local to the disaster helps both the local economy and the people who are in direct need. I remember one event at my college in particular that wanted to donate clothes to the homeless. The organizers soon discovered that “the homeless” turned down the warm winter coats because it was springtime. Turns out when you are homeless, you don’t have a closet to store the coats in for winter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-percent-of-red-cross-donations-goes-to-victims/319856.md?page=1)