Christmas Giving - Think About These

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

Christmas is coming. Think about these.....

As you open your pockets, please keep these facts in mind:

· The American Red Cross President and CEO Marsha J. Evans salary for the year was $651,957 plus expenses

· The United Way President Brian Gallagher receives a $375,000 base salary along with numerous expense benefits.

· UNICEF CEO Caryl M. Stern receives $1,200,000 per year (100k per month) plus all expenses including a ROLLS ROYCE . Less than 5 cents of your donated dollar goes to the cause.

PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE IT WILL DO SOME GOOD:

· The Salvation Army's Commissioner Todd Bassett receives a small salary of only $13,000 per year (plus housing) for managing this $2 billion dollar organization. 96 percent of donated dollars go to the cause.

· The American Legion National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

· The Veterans of Foreign Wars National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their
families and youth!

· The Disabled American Veterans National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

· The Military Order of Purple Hearts National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!


· The Vietnam Veterans Association National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

[tojo66]

That's a great suggestion, thanks for thinking of it! Would you mind sharing your source before I pass this along? Got some doubters that have to be convinced of everything

[geo in mi]

I'm figuring to stay local this year. Lots of out of work/hungry folks in my own back yard. Food bank empties pretty fast. I'll eat well, so maybe I can share with someone else around here.

geo

[stamphappy]

Thanks for this information!~

[jwal10]

So many ways to give right in your town. Holiday meal, hats, gloves and coats at the elementary school, Giving tree for children. Many more. I want my giving to help my friends and neighbors. Every penny goes to the cause....James

[twomeal]

I googled and got this, for what it's worth

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/charities.asp

[Beowulf]

Originally Posted by geo in mi

I'm figuring to stay local this year. Lots of out of work/hungry folks in my own back yard. Food bank empties pretty fast. I'll eat well, so maybe I can share with someone else around here.

geo

This is what I have been doing for the past .... well, as long as I have been doing charitable donations.

The Coven that the DW and I head up does a yearly food drive that gets donated to a local food bank, a yearly coat and blanket drive that gets donated to a local charity that distributes directly to the needy, and this year we also did a ritual supplies drive for Wiccan soldiers deployed to Afghanistan - not that they are "needy" per se, but it can be hard to find incense, candles, and/or other more durable ritual gear in a war zone...

Anyway, the point that I was getting at before the ramble is, "Charity begins at home."

[TheMartianChick]

In our area, there is a great deal of ill will toward the Salvation Army. They imported heroin addicts from New Jersey to participate in their lucrative treatment program and essentially unleashed them on the citizens here. While the program doesn't get federal funding to pay for the treatment, the SA gets free labor from the people enrolled in the program. This enables them to process all of the donations that they get in and tag them for sale in their many shops.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.s...ed_heroin.html

Most ended up involved in the illegal heroin trade here and ramped up crime for quite awhile. It wasn't discovered until the police chief was placed on the board for the Salvation Army.

Originally Posted by twomeal

I googled and got this, for what it's worth

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/charities.asp

I suspected as much.

[cayenne47]

Do you realize that $427,00 a year translates into $35,583 and change a MONTH???OMG

[oz in SC V2.0]

Snopes is kind of funny,it is inaccurate because the people have changed...and some of the amounts are incorrect.

Some are 'only' earning $475,000....

Funny how lucrative it is to run a charity.

[TheMartianChick]

Originally Posted by oz in SC V2.0

Snopes is kind of funny,it is inaccurate because the people have changed...and some of the amounts are incorrect.

Some are 'only' earning $475,000....

Funny how lucrative it is to run a charity.

When you run a nonprofit at a national level, you are in a sense a CEO and they have to attract those CEO types to run them, hence the high salaries. While many low-level may work for the organizations because they believe in the good works that they do and their paychecks reflect their commitment (lower pay than if they were in the private sector). At the executive level, those folks usually have never done any of the grunt work and were hired away from another executive position.

[oz in SC V2.0]

Yes of course,you can't expect a person to only make $250,000 a year running a charity....a charity where they expect people making much less then them to GIVE their own money and time.

Wait what?

[Backfourty,MI.]

I always put cash in the salvation army's bell ringers buckets & donate cash to them for nation disasters. When I donate clothes & household items that is usually where I donate those things as well.

I do take things to the St. Vincent DePaul's that's close to us sometimes as well because although they sell the items the money stays in that community to help those in need.

We do call the elementary school each November which I just got the information for our in-need family today & we buy clothes, toys, food, toiletries etc. for that family. I don't ask for their names & I don't let the school give the family our name either.
Dh & I decided to do this years ago, so instead of buying each other gifts we use that money to buy for a family in need.
The school & the families are always so appreciative.

The family we had year before last had 2 little girls & a kindergarten age boy. They had no coats, socks, gloves, etc. & it was cold so as soon as I got my families information I went right to town & bought them all a package of socks, hats, gloves & a winter coat to run to the school the following Monday morning(I don't take the food boxes & christmas gifts to the school until the first week of December) since it was already so cold the first week of November that year.

The secratary called me & said she called the kids in the office that day to give the kids all their coats, hats, socks, etc. before they left for home that day & she said the little boy cryed when she gave him the coat! This was a 6 year old boy that cried because of a coat!
I told Dh this is exactly why we do what we do!

Along with donated hat's, gloves & toys to our local boxes that are set up at the bank & dollar store in town.


I'm just glad we are fortunate enough to have what we need & we help others when we can.

[Maura]

I give to The Christian Children's Fund, now called, I think, Child Fund. Other than that I donate to local organizations, so I know where the money is going and who is doing it. When a big disaster hits, like Katrina, we fill up a semi with "stuff" and send it. Very direct. Toys for Tots, CPS, and church groups collect "stuff" and give it away directly. Very efficient in my mind. But, nobody is earning a 1/2 mil for the privilege.

[BarbadosSheep]

To check out the facts, go to this web site. http://www.charitynavigator.org/

It shows how much of the revenue goes to admin costs and how much actually goes to their cause. You can search local charities too, and find out all about them. This is the best web site to use for your charitable contributions.

[Old Vet]

I used to be a volunteer fireman and all the tornadoes we worked the Salvation army did more to help the victims except for the Baptist kitchen that fed everybody that was working and the victims 3 meals per day. The Red Cross was their but did not help except to deliver the food from the Baptist Kitchens and help fill out FEMA records.

[TheMartianChick]

Our charity of choice is a private one that doesn't sell any of the merchandise that is given to them. It is a private one that doesn't have any affiliates anyplace else.