Community Chat

[this is my nic]

If you are planning to make donations this holiday season, please remember the Salvation Army.  They do great work and donations don't go to administrative personnel in outrageous amounts as compared to other charities.  Do some research and compare.  

[blackhole99]

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@this is my nic wrote:

If you are planning to make donations this holiday season, please remember the Salvation Army.  They do great work and donations don't go to administrative personnel in outrageous amounts as compared to other charities.  Do some research and compare.  

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Yes, in 1969 a friend of mine who was in the Air Force at that time, mentioned that the Salvation Army was much better at providing help than the Red Cross. This criticism of the Red Cross is nothing new, I always give to the Salvation Army.

[Cakers3]

I would think the IRS will also be looking at them for the $$; they are not a charity so any donations would be income, would it not?

The story didn't pass the smell test once the "homeless man" brought fraud charges against them.

We will still continue to hand out a few $$ to panhandlers; not everyone we see but some of them.  When we are heading home with bags of groceries why wouldn't we share.   We are comfortable with that.

I agree about the Salvation Army, too, as a good place for donations.

Our Catholic Charities is working very hard to help out with the b-o-r-d-e-r issues.

[cherry]

WE had a terrible experience with United Way. I am not saying the entire organization is like this, I don't know

At our local level hundreds of thousands of dollars were embezzled by the head honcho..Peoples were furious so they cancelled their paycheck deductions

The charity lost a huge amount from this, not including what was stolen, all from this event. They decided to give people a tour of some of the charities they  fund. Which was a good idea

Then they decided to give everyone attending a free lunch, which I felt was a violation of peoples trust. These people were well able to feed themselves. This kind of thing just takes money away from the people that really need it. I felt if after the theft ,they were still not careful stewards,  and we could find people that were

I don't know what shape the local UW is in now. This was many years ago, and after this happened, we started being very careful, about who we funded. We never stopped giving, but we did stop giving to them

[cherry]

@Cakers3as far as I am concerned the Sally Army ,and Caritas ,are two of the best charities in the world

[lulu1]

I always thought there was something odd about a young woman who would allow a homeless man to spend $20 on her gas.  A few gallons maybe, $10 top.

[cherry]

I read today, they all  face 10 years in prision. I hope they have to serve every ,single ,day ,of that 10 years

[cherry]

@lulu1  before the little fiasco we were privy to, I would have donated to this bunch .most likely. too

[Cakers3]

Charity Navigator is a start but they have had to revamp its methodology because the evaluations were based on finances, assets, distribution of $$ (overhead vs. what actually goes to the purpose of the charity, e.g.).  IRS filings are not always the best indicator of HOW the $$ is spent.

Charity Navigator wasn't evaluating the outcomes of these charities; in other words how were people etc. helped and on what level.

So while an organization may receive 4 stars it doesn't necessarily mean that the $$ was spent in the most efficient manner.

They may have upgraded their methodology in the past few years; but one can always ask for the same info from their own charities.

[bathina]

There are many different factors for ratings on Charity Navigator, including efficient use of the monies collected. Unless the charities are filing fraudulent tax returns, I would assume that their donations vs. expenditures are pretty accurate.

To trash charities lilke United Way and The Red Cross on dubious information is just not right. I don't care who people donate to, but to spread false information about charities rated 3 and 4 stars is wrong. The information is available for people to look, but some just blindly make proclamations, facts be damned. What else is new.

Still waiting for the "list on-line" that shows how bad United Way and Red Cross are.