Please don't EVER think that the only or even best way to donate money to a disaster is through the Red Cross. It is only the easiest way. There are lots of non-profit charity groups that give money to the same causes without strings attached, without charging the people. Inquire for yourself. All the information is available on the internet including the organizations administration's cost. Some organizations totally run on volunteer effort, some on reasonable salaries and some, like the Red Cross pay the CEO a tremendous, tremendous salary. Due to its size the Red Cross usually gets most of the media coverage but it isn't usually even the first one to give aid. Do you know that all the money collected for the victims of the Haiti earthquake was not given to those victims and there are still people living in tents that lost their homes from the earthquake?