Keep these facts in mind when "donating". As you open your pockets for yet another natural disaster,

keep these facts in mind:



* Marsha J. Evans, President and CEO of the American Red Cross...

salary for year ending 06/30/03 was $651,957 plus expenses.



* Brian Gallagher, President of the United Way receives a $375,000

base salary, plus numerous expense benefits.



* The Salvation Army's Commissioner Todd Bassett receives a salary of

only $13,000 per year (plus housing) for managing this $2 billion dollar

organization.



* UNICEF CEO receives $1,200,000 per year plus all expenses and a

ROLLS ROYCE where ever he goes and only cents of your dollar goes to the

cause.

No further comment necessary.

I can't afford to give to any of these charities anymore. It is really sad how much money actually gets to the people who need it.

That is why they only want money for donations. Not food, clothing, toiletries etc.....

I worked for The Salvation Army and the unit where I worked the commanding officer last name started with an A. The payroll was alphabetical(sp?). He was the last name on the payroll. If we ran out of money he did not get paid. They get my donation every time!

I do support local charities throught payroll at work. I give to the United Way and to a charity that benefits our employees when needed. It comes out of my check before I get it, so I don't really miss the money.

I hope the UW contributions help in our area. I do support the Salvation Army by donating clothing, etc and also by buying regularly from them. And I always try to give the bell ringers money during the holidays.

More people need to know about this.... Maybe I should check it out on snoops and keep an e-mail going.
This is interesting. I cannot afford to send money to charities when I'm a charity case myself, or at least that's how I feel after the few groceries are bought and bills paid...

When I get a solicitor call at home I always ask what percentage goes to the cause. They will always studder and say they need to ask someone...like I'm the 1st person to ever ask them that. Then I tell them it's not enough percentage and I hang up. Though we give annually to some organizations I would rather give a family that had a disaster the cash. Benefit auctions are a great cause that we both donate and purchase from when community related. I also have given over 3 gallons of blood, which I am very proud to be able to do.

Do you expect people who run multi-billion dollar organizations to do it for free? Or for $25,000 a year? Good management costs money.

We have a local organization that was started about 15 years ago by a minister here. He feeds and clothes the homeless and "near" homeless. He has just branched into finding housing for them too. This man takes nothing money wise for what he does. He lives on a shoestring and is happy. I give lots of donations to him. He found his calling and I admire him.

My employer has a big United Way drive every year, expecting all employees to donate. I stopped giving to them years ago, though, when I found out that their overhead costs were huge and only a small percentage of donated monies actually went to the organizations they were supposed to be supporting, like boys & girls clubs, homeless shelters, etc. It is so much easier to just walk in the front door of one of those organizations locally and hand them the money. I know it will be used as it was intended....for helping the less fortunate folks right here in my community.