Braised Lambchop
a nurse trying to work while suffering with chronic pain - she rambles a bit

Currently playing in iTunes: Speed of Sound, from X & Y, by Coldplay

There are still 45,000 people left in New Orleans, including more than 500 at University Hospital. Why that hospital hasn't yet been evacuated, six days after the flood, I can't comprehend.

Someone on my brother's blog asked why we shouldn't send money to the Red Cross because 'it still needs money for the other causes it's working on' and 'the Red Cross knows money is needed most.'

Do we accept this 'father knows best' attitude with any other nonprofit group? Just read what the American Institute of Philanthropy said about the Red Cross in March 2002:

...the Washington Post and other media have reported on the Red Cross’ pattern over the past decade of not using disaster donations for the intended victims until pressured by the public and governmental officials. Examples in addition to the recent World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks include the San Diego wildfires in January 2001, the Red River flooding in Minnesota in 1997, the federal building bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995 and the Northern California earthquake in 1989. AIP continues to warn donors that if they want their donation to go to a specific disaster than they need to designate their contribution for this purpose. We suggest that donors write a letter or note with their checks. If donors only write the restriction on their checks, it might not be noticed by a charity that uses automated machinery for check processing....

AIP also blasts the American Red Cross for refusing to share its computerized database of victims with any other group after September 11, and also notes that the ARC Blood Services division (which accounts for half of the group's annual revenue) handles blood improperly and did not until recently screen for several bloodborne pathogens. During the post-WTC congressional hearings, the president of AIP asked the then-president of the Red Cross, Bernadine Healey, if she even knew what the short-term needs of the Red Cross were, and she couldn't answer the question.

The Red Cross raises all it can 'while the iron is hot' and uses the collected money however it sees fit, and it's not just one isolated occurrence -- they did it in Oklahoma City and on and on. It never stops, and they use their 'A' ratings from watchdog groups to burnish their image and ignore their monumental organizational problems.

Americans are incredibly generous and want to help the millions who are affected by this terrible disaster. Please give what you can, and give it to a group who will honor your intentions and that isn't also funded by your taxes.

CORRECTIONS: In my Red Cross story I said that the expense ratio for the Red Cross (the amount of money spent on organization relative to actual operations) was close to 33%; in fact, the ratio is 18%.

I also said that the Red Cross doesn't submit to audits, and that's misleading. After September 11, Eliot Spitzer, the New York Attorney General, wanted the ARC to answer for millions of dollars raised that weren't spent on WTC relief. That was the refusal to submit to audit which I referenced in the story, and it's accurate -- ARC refused to turn over figures to Spitzer claiming it was federally chartered (it is an 'instrumentality of the United States government') and not answerable to any state. However, the Red Cross is required to submit an annual report to the Secretary of Defense, including a "full, complete, and itemized report of receipts and expenditures of any kind" and to be audited by the Department of Defense. Nonprofits are required to register in about 40 states, but 30 of those states exempt the American Red Cross.